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The Forum > General Discussion > What's so funny?

What's so funny?

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My introduction to Aussie TV humour was “Hey Hey It’s Saturday.” I didn’t find it funny.

OK, Hey, Hey is low brow. You would expect an intellectual snob like me to deprecate this Aussie “salt of the Earth” production. But what about the Japanese cult movie, Weather Woman, much believed by, well, by intellectual snobs like me?

Nope, found that monumentally unfunny.

Here are some actual jokes from an Iranian joke book.

"Would you like your father to die so you would inherit his belongings?" they asked a naughty child. "I would like someone to kill him instead so I would receive blood money as well as inheritance," he replied.

"The devil went to a young man's bedside in a hideous form. 'I am death,' he roared. 'And if you want to be saved, you will have to perform one of these three alternatives: either you kill your old father, strangle your sister to death or drink a few mugs of wine.' 'I cannot commit such crimes against my father or sister,' the young man said shaking with fear. 'But I can drink some wine.' Then he drank mug after mug and in his drunkenness, the young man killed both his father and sister."

See:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fisk-heard-the-one-about-the-child-and-the-blood-money-2319085.html

Nope, they don’t even raise a glimmer of a smile.

At this point you may ask what I have found funny.

Here are some examples:

--The Goons

--Monty Python

--A Fish Called Wanda (hilarious)

--Muhammad – I’m sure he was an early incarnation of Monty Python

--The Hollowmen – A documentary mislabelled as a comedy but funny nonetheless

--Q & A – A comedy mislabelled as discussion

--P.G. Wodehouse – especially Blandings Castle

--Julia Gillard (a riot)

--The ABC (I mean, come on, their attempts to be a down under version of the BBC are uproarious)

--The Institute for Public Affairs (A bit esoteric I know but generally when I’m half way through one of their ponderous studies I have to restrain myself from rolling on the floor)

What do other posters find funny?
Posted by stevenlmeyer, Sunday, 24 July 2011 10:42:52 AM
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Chris Lilley, Jimoein, Kitty Flanagan, Carl Barron, Shaun Micallef, Wayne Hope & Robyn Butler, Francis Greenslade....
This:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryW29CNO_jw
Posted by Jay Of Melbourne, Sunday, 24 July 2011 11:58:19 AM
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Steven,

Just have to say that P. G. Wodehouse is a favourite of mine....very funny....What Ho!

Will think of some more later.
Posted by Poirot, Sunday, 24 July 2011 12:00:49 PM
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Nope Jay, yours don't do it for me.

Poirot, what are your favourite Wodehouse books?

More that I find funny:

--The Sarah Palin / Michelle Bachmann / Che Guevarra phenomena. Not so much Sarah, Michelle and Che themselves as the hype that surrounds them. How do people manage to delude themsleves to that extent? I don't know but their adherents are hilarious.

--Big Bang Theory - I mean like wow!
Posted by stevenlmeyer, Sunday, 24 July 2011 1:07:35 PM
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OK, I cannot resist this one from the Daily Mail:

HEADLINE:

>>Who are you calling fat? Children's weight fluctuates 'depending on the time of day'>>

Reasonable enough. Everyone’s weight fluctuates according to time of day because we eat, drink, sweat, micturate and defecate. I wouldn’t have bothered to look at the article if it weren’t for this subhead:

>>Scientists at the University of Worcester found that children were heavier in the afternoon due to a decrease in height throughout the day.>>

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ushome/index.html

So kids shrink during the day and this makes them get heavier?

Really?

Well here’s a link to the article. You can work it out for yourselves.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2017935/Who-calling-fat-Childrens-weight-fluctuates-depending-time-day.html
Posted by stevenlmeyer, Sunday, 24 July 2011 2:00:02 PM
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Dear Steven,

I agree with the Monty Python series, even The Big Bang Theory, but my favourites were - Blackadder, and also the wondrously good sketch show - A Bit of Fry and Laurie. Love Stephen Fry.

And of course who could resist the charm and wit and humour of people like Peter Ustinov, and David Niven, to name just two. Niven's book,
"The Moon's a Balloon," had me laughing for weeks. Then also - Watching some of the old classics on
DVD - like the wonderfully talented Danny Kaye. His films often had me laughing out loud. Then there's people like - Groucho Marx, Jack Benny, George Burns, - all had their moments of hilarity. The Dave Allen jokes - also made me laugh. I'll add more current names - in my next post
Posted by Lexi, Sunday, 24 July 2011 2:01:42 PM
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cont'd ...

I should have added Adam Hills and Jimeoin of the current generation.
And of course I love the talented American actor/comedian - Robin Williams.

And on this Forum - you can't go past Shadow Minister and Col Rouge.
Who are absolutely hysterical.

And on the political scene you can't beat Tony Abbott's take
on all things political.
Posted by Lexi, Sunday, 24 July 2011 2:10:07 PM
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Agree that the current manifestation of Hey Hey was less than spectacular.

But if you could've seen it in its heyday :) in the mid 70's when it was raw and unscripted and unstructured and uniquely Aussie. Well, those who weren't around to see it missed something very special.
Posted by mhaze, Sunday, 24 July 2011 2:10:09 PM
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I haven't yet seen an equivalent of the two Ronnies or Tommy Cooper or on the buses.
They made people laugh out of control without having to resort to crudeness.
Posted by individual, Sunday, 24 July 2011 2:35:35 PM
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Parts of Monty Python are funny but I do find MP generally unfunny particularly the highly exalted Holy Grail despite it's cult following during my uni days.

The British do very good comedy in the main - such as Not the Nine O'Clock news and some of the British Sketch shows. Hated some of the more slapstick humour such as Benny Hill and On the Buses etc.

There are some side splitting funny bits in the IT Crowd and some episodes which leave one a bit flat. The disabled toilet episode and the Russian Concentration Camp smoking episode had me crying with laughter.

The Colbert Report and Jon Stewart are very good.

The American Tea Party must be great fodder to all aspiring comedians in the US.

Hey Hey got a laugh out of me in the early days and I liked it's raw approach.

Just goes to show SOH is as varied as there are people.
Posted by pelican, Sunday, 24 July 2011 3:25:45 PM
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its not funny at all

like this iranian joke
[seems mossad hit the wrong iranian]

first this
The semi-official ISNA news agency
identified the victim as Darioush Rezaei,
a 35-year-old physics professor involved in Iran’s nuclear program,

BUT THAT WAS A LIE...joke?

but here is another sad mossad joke
it began..a few days ago
ended in mass murder

it began with this
http://theforeigner.no/pages/news/abbas-to-meet-norwegian-foreign-minister/
Palestinian leader President Mahmoud Abbas is in Norway, Monday, for a working lunch with FM Jonas Gahr Støre to discuss the peace process and the current situation in Palestine

next

http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/07/19/53408557.html
Norway to support Palestinians – Norwegian FM

Norway will support Palestinians
who are set to press for recognition of the independence of their state by the United Nations,..says the Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre...

next we had a youth rally
in support of a free palistein
http://tinyurl.com/3zhsj4w

http://www.moonofalabama.org/2011/07/youthcamp-killer-may-have-anti-palestine-motive.html

the murders own words
http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=auto&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.document.no%2Fanders-behring-breivik%2F

of course the usual al quarda propaganda[lies]

http://theforeigner.no/pages/news/islamic-extremist-claims-responsibility-for-oslo-bombing-group-retracts/
Helpers of the Global Jihad [read mossad]

have since issued a retraction
of their earlier statement claiming
that they* caused the bombing in central Oslo.

Oslo bomber is a Norwegian Freemason and a super ZIONIST!
http://wakeupfromyourslumber.com/blog/joeblow/oslo-bomber-norwegian-freemason-and-super-zionist

He was part of the Jewish anti-Muslim movement
in Europe by way of the Fjordman Organization.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fjordman

Quote:
Fjordman is an anonymous Norwegian blogger.
He writes articles critical of Islam and
he regards Muslim immigration as posing
a threat to Western civilization.
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/2575

fake?
http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/fakealqaeda.php
other flash backs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lillehammer_affair

mossad fake blogging army
http://beforeitsnews.com/story/850/298/Israel_Hires_Internet_Soldiers_to_Penetrate_American_Forums,_Chatrooms.html

http://www.activistpost.com/2011/07/analyzing-oslo-attacks-part-two-if-it.html

http://desertpeace.wordpress.com/2011/07/23/norwegian-terror-when-in-doubt-blame-the-muslims/

http://lonestarwatchdog.blogspot.com/2011/07/is-false-flag-terror-card-getting.html

http://alethonews.wordpress.com/2011/07/22/yet-another-program-on-what-do-white-jewish-think-tankers-in-d-c-think-the-u-s-should-do-about-iran/

recall christ church
seems a mossad agen[with multiple pasports
was found in a crushed car]
no link..but

more FROM..
the same old jokers

http://www.bobtuskin.com/2011/07/23/israel-urged-to-stop-faking-foreign-passports/
http://www.jeff-goodall.com/?p=5403
two killers
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110723/165350450.html

http://revolutionarypolitics.tv/video/viewVideo.php?video_id=15810
http://bullionbullscanada.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=21642:economic-rape-of-europe-nearly-complete-part-i&catid=45:international-commentary&Itemid=133

http://www.intifada-palestine.com/2011/07/israel-shamir-why-palestine-is-important-2/
http://12160.info/profiles/blogs/the-omnipotence-of-al-qaeda-an?xg_source=activity
http://revolutionarypolitics.tv/video/viewVideo.php?video_id=15819

looks like an insiders job
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com/2011/07/norway-attacks-suspect-anders-breivik.html

ripe for exploitation
http://yayacanada.blogspot.com/2011/07/norway-tragedy-already-exploited-by.html

just..like
911 practice pr/actice pr/act-ice
http://theintelhub.com/2011/07/23/norway-terror-attacks-now-being-compared-to-oklahoma-city-bombing-as-evidence-of-false-flag-operation-continues-to-mount/

yeah i know
you dont read links

but see the joke
http://www.bobtuskin.com/2011/07/23/no-normalisation-unless-israel-apologises-erdogan/
Posted by one under god, Sunday, 24 July 2011 3:45:50 PM
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Lexi

Thank you for reminding me of Peter Ustinov. Yep, his droll humour enthralled me back in the day.

The postings of Col Rouge along with the inimitable trio of Arjay, rexw and OUG, contribute greatly to what Samuel Johnson called “the harmless stock of public pleasure.”

I have no doubt that should he ever become Prime Minister Tony Abbott will achieve true comic greatness, maybe even exceeding Gillard in that respect. But as Leader of the Opposition he’s not quite there. It's a limitation of his position rather than lack of innate talent.

Pelican

I find Jon Stewart a bit lame.

I confess to some sympathy with members of the Tea Party. They have more in common with the Egyptian protesters in Tahrir square than either group would care to acknowledge.

Both groups live in countries where the rich are getting richer while they are getting poorer. Both groups feel, justifiably, that they are being exploited, lied to and ignored.

And both groups are being manipulated – by the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafists in the case of the Egyptians and by powerful financial interests in the case of the Americans. Neither group started off that way of course. But that’s how it seems to be ending up.

Egypt and the US are two very different countries so the parallels are not exact. But they are there nonetheless.

Of course I do not subscribe to the economic lunacy of the Tea Party. But are they any more lunatic than the economic policies that started under Bush and have continued under Obama?

Are they more lunatic than Australian economics? How do we, a major mineral exporter, manage to have a budget deficit in the midst of the biggest minerals price boom in decades? What happens when, as will inevitably happen, the boom ends and commodity prices resume their centuries’ long downward trend*?

*In real, inflation adjusted, currency terms
Posted by stevenlmeyer, Sunday, 24 July 2011 4:27:45 PM
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Steven,

Regarding Wodehouse - I like just about everything that I've ever read by him. I love Blandings Castle and Lord Emsworth and company. I can't help but adore Bertie Wooster and his coterie of associates.
Have you read a short story titled "Honeysuckle Cottage"? It's about a hard boiled crime writer who takes a romantic little cottage to finish his latest book - and the cottage begins to affect his style - much to his chagrin - slowly transforming his detective style to romantic mush...very funny.

I like Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert.
Old favourites are the BBC sit-coms from the 60's and 70's - too many to name off the top of my head, but Steptoe and Son comes to mind.
Loved Dave Allen, Father Ted and Blackadder.

Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels are a hoot.

and lastly, but certainly not least, my special favourite, Rumpole.
Posted by Poirot, Sunday, 24 July 2011 5:04:18 PM
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Steven,

Just thinking of Wodehouse again and his mastery of the mirth-inducing metaphor and simile.

I found this piece by Wodehouse from 1971 in The New Yorker" when he was 90 years-old - about his craft.

"....but I have always been alive to the fact that I am not one of the really big shots. Like Jeeves, I know my place, and that place is down at the far end of the table among the scurvy knaves and scullions.
I go in for what is known in the trade as "light writing", and those who do that--humourists they are sometimes called--are looked down upon by the intelligentsia and sneered at. When I tell you in recent edition of "The New Yorker" I was referred to as "that burbling pixie", you will see how far the evil has spread.
These things take their toll. You can't go calling a man a burbling pixie without lowering his morale. He frets. He refuses to eat his cereal. He goes about with his hands in his pockets and his lower lip jutting out, kicking stones. The next thing you know, he is writing thoughtful novels analysing social conditions, and you are short another humourist....In order to be a humourist, you must see the world out of focus, and today, when the world really is out of focus, people insist that you see it straight...."

Lexi,

Niven's "The Moon is a Balloon" is superb.
Posted by Poirot, Sunday, 24 July 2011 5:49:32 PM
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Poirot,

Thank you for that beautiful Wodehouse quote.

I think that to be a humourist, or to have a sense of humour even, you need to see the out of focus world out of focus which means you're actually seeing it in focus.

To use a more modern paradigm, you need to escape the matrix.
Posted by stevenlmeyer, Sunday, 24 July 2011 7:23:01 PM
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A Fish Called Wanda ( the old woman & dogs scene is a killer)
Men In Black
Lawrence Leung’s [ Lawrence Leung’s Unbelievable –ABC TV ]
Big Bang Theory
Shaun Micallef [Talkin About My Generation]
Chevy Chase
Woody Allen
Oscar Wilde
Wayne Swan & Milhouse Van Houten ( It’s hard to tell them apart !)
Paul Howes [AWU Chief] ( and, I laugh even more when I hear that some have designated him labor’s man of the future.)
Posted by SPQR, Sunday, 24 July 2011 8:15:03 PM
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Loved Australia You're Standing In it. Especially the cartoon of the Melbourne trams turning into submarines, sailing north and invading Sydney. (and I'm from Sydney originally!)
Posted by Cossomby, Monday, 25 July 2011 10:41:56 AM
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Dear pelican,

You said; "There are some side splitting funny bits in the IT Crowd and some episodes which leave one a bit flat. The disabled toilet episode and the Russian Concentration Camp smoking episode had me crying with laughter."

Amen to that. They were very, very funny.

I have been finding how much my favorites like Black Adder have dated as I introduce them to my teenagers, though my eldest has taken a shine to the Young Ones and Red Dwarf. Yes Minister has yet to get their attention but it was my favorite. Black Books has them hooked and we are off to see Dylan Moran next month. Should be good.
Posted by csteele, Monday, 25 July 2011 12:03:08 PM
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Hi There,
Give me British comedy any time (except Benny Hill), I grew up with the Goons on radio, as a small child, and Spike Milligans books on his WW2 days are full of poignant humour., not to mention his other books.
Puckoon was his funniest, and when driving through Melbourne in the '70's I spied a small Theatre which was advertising the play "Puckoon".
So, I wrote to my Parents who dwelt in NSW at the time and lived near Spikes' Mother, I wrote to her to obtain Spikes address in UK, she passed in on, I wrote to him about "Puckoon" as a play. He replied instantly, saying that it isn't in play script form, but good luck if you can do it. Signed Spike. I still treasure that letter today.I found out that the Theatre advertising the Play, had actually scripted the play themselves.
NSB
Posted by Noisy Scrub Bird, Monday, 25 July 2011 12:28:07 PM
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stevenlmeyer,

I have a T-Shirt of Che wearing a Che T-shirt.

Humour is subjective. Who would have thought. I must admit every time I hear the term 'Family Values' I chuckle. One could spend all day using sporting and political cliche's and slogans.

Some people are funny even before they open their mouth. Like John Doyle aka Roy Slaven, and John Clarke. Jimoein and Micallef can be a bit like that too.

And Charles Manson of course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2oZWpqtNi4&feature=related

It also depends on mood. 1% of the time I can find Jim Carey funny, where 99% of the time I wont even crack a smile.
Posted by Houellebecq, Monday, 25 July 2011 12:57:17 PM
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Houellebecq

Humour is both subjective and context dependent.

The sight of a funny little man with a Charlie Chaplin moustache dressed in a silly uniform yelling and frothing at the mouth in front of a rapt audience would be hilarious if we didn't know he was responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people. I know a Life of Brian was supposedly a parody of the Life of Jesus but it could easily be a parody of the life of Hitler or, for that matter, the probably non-existent Muhammad.

Cossomby

Australia you're standing in it was before my time here. However I thought the Melbourne trams had invaded Sydney. Are you telling me it never happened?

I confess I occasionally like watching some of the really old time comedies with Charlie Chaplin or Laurel and Hardy. Charlie Chaplin, of course, was more tragicomedy than outright comedy.

Seinfeld never worked for me.

Anyone here remember "The Odd Couple?"
Posted by stevenlmeyer, Monday, 25 July 2011 5:01:41 PM
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OK this links to a youtube video of Hitler in "full froth"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q-6H4xOUrs

If it was Charlie Chaplin sprouting this garbage with a laughtrack we might find it somewhere between mildly amusing and side-splittingly funny. But knowing that it led to tens of millions of deaths makes it most unfunny.
Posted by stevenlmeyer, Monday, 25 July 2011 5:13:46 PM
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Steven, my wife had a touch of food poisoning and in between changing the buckets and towels I thought I would inject some humour into the event. As she looked up all red faced and sick I said "want to hear a joke" then launched into the horse walks into a bar and the barman says "why the long face". She just glares and tells me to go. When I came back 10 minutes later to check on her she said that the joke was all wrong, it should go:

A horse walks into the bar and the barman say's "why the long face".
Then a donkey walks into the bar and the barman say's "why the long face".
Then a zebra walks into the bar and the barman say's "we don't serve your kind in here".

It broke me up
Posted by sonofgloin, Monday, 25 July 2011 6:18:40 PM
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Scene from Married with children:

Peg and Marcie sitting in the kitchen:
Marcie: Oh Peg, men are such fools.
Peg: I know, I married their king.

But generally my comedic leanings if we are not talking home grown is British over American 70% of the time, and out of the 30% American the Marx Bros take up 15%.
Posted by sonofgloin, Monday, 25 July 2011 6:28:47 PM
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Steven,

Humour is an excellent medium through which to transmit a deeper message,
John Mortimer knew that, and Rumpole is a character who unceasingly undermines the establishment by mocking it.

Stewart and Colbert are capable of infinitely more astringent attacks on the neo-cons due to the use of sharp topical humour.

The final episode of series 4 of Blackadder (in the trenches during WWI) concentrated on the characters coming to terms with the fact that they were all destined to go "over the top". The poignancy of that moment and the message it contained stood alone, and wasn't overshadowed by the humour that preceded it.
Posted by Poirot, Monday, 25 July 2011 6:31:52 PM
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Dear Steven,

I don't fully agree that Hitler's not funny. He can be made
to be.
Take the musical (and later film) by Mel Brooks, "The Producers."
The scene, "Springtime For Hitler," was very funny. As was
"Haben Sie Gehort Das Deutsche Band?" and "Der Guten Tag Hop-Clop."
I thoroughly enjoyed both the film and the musical. Comedy is
subjective, of course.

As Mel Brooks stated, "Tragedy is when I cut my finger.
Comedy is when you walk into an open sewer and die."
Posted by Lexi, Monday, 25 July 2011 6:48:09 PM
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Dear stevenlmeyer,

I recall an essay on humour in one of Arthur Koester's books, from memory either, Age of Longing or The Ghost in the Machine. 

He told of a joke doing the rounds in Hitler's bunker as Berlin came under siege. I have heard versions since but this is my earliest reference. It went something like...

There was an executioner of great renown in the court of a powerful Chinese king. He was famed for both his dedication to his craft and his humanity. It was his practice to behead from behind those destined for the block as they had climbed the final step rather than prolong their terror. It was also his practice to strive for the cleanest stroke with a razor sharp sword that had been handed down over the five generations this role had been assigned to the eldest in his family.

As his ruler was a powerful king with many enemies years of constant and frequent practice were afforded the executioner, but still he trained, honing both body and blade, striving for a perfection only he could comprehend.

Then one day he achieved it.

An errant nobleman had reached the top step and turned to the executioner gently chiding him, "Your fame with your blade and your compassion are known throughout the kingdom yet you have failed to afford them to me, why was I not deserving of your pity?"

At that moment the executioner knew his life was complete. He said in a quiet, differential voice "Kindly nod please".

That phrase was said to have been a common saying with the officers in the bunker during the final weeks of the war.

Koester was of Jewish heritage yet he flagged this as having deep humour. I would agree but I also acknowledge the pathos which makes it complete. Perhaps really good humour needs it, something I credit Chaplin with understanding.
Posted by csteele, Monday, 25 July 2011 7:25:39 PM
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One thing I've noticed over the years is that humour often doesn't work very well between cultures. Some jokes just aren't even seen as funny, or can even be inadvertently offensive. On the other hand some cultures find stuff funny that others just don't 'get'.

I fully understand what stevenlmeyer says about 'Hey Hey' - as an educated young Aussie I used to find the original show cringeworthy, but my Mum loved it and watched it religiously. Over the years, I sat though enough of Darryl and Ossie with Mum that I developed an affection for it, though I never found it side-splittingly funny like a good episode of Fawlty Towers or Mr Bean... or even the Young Ones.

Anyway, since people are contributing jokes, this one's a classic, IMHO:

>< There’s an old joke about a comedian convention where the celebrity comics are scheduled to tell jokes at the event’s big banquet. Everyone in the audience knows all the jokes already because the jokes have been catalogued for the convention. To save time, the speakers decide to just say the joke’s number instead of telling the whole joke. The first speaker is a star, a legend in the business. “Forty-seven!” he calls out to laughter all around. “One-hundred and sixty-two!” The audience explodes with deep belly laughs and leaps to its feet in an ovation.

The second speaker, a newcomer to all this, thinks, “Wow, this is easy.” When it’s his turn, he strides onto the stage and in his best stage voice proclaims, “Twenty-six!” Silence. Undaunted, he tries again: “Eighty-four!” Silence again, and the audience is now shifting uncomfortably in its seats. With a mighty roar the newbie lets loose with his finale, “One hundred and thirty-five!!” Crickets. After his ordeal, the shaken comic approaches a veteran and asks, “What happened? I did everything the guy ahead of me did. But I bombed. Why?” The old comedian puts his hand on the younger man’s shoulder and says gently, “Kid, you just didn’t have the timing.” ><
Posted by morganzola, Monday, 25 July 2011 7:48:44 PM
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Well here’s a joke from Apartheid era South Africa. We are back in the days of President PW Botha.

The cabinet meets. The first item on the agenda is prison reform. It is proposed that all the old prisons be replaced with modern new ones. Instead of cells the new prisons will have luxuriously appointed self-contained suites complete with colour TV, private bathroom and minibar.

All prisons will employ cordon bleu trained chefs.

The prisons will be located in rolling parklands next to beaches where the prisoners can swim or loll about in the sun.

Prisoners will enjoy unlimited “conjugal visits” with partners of their choosing.

Prisons will have cinemas showing the latest movies. They will also have night clubs featuring top line entertainers.

The estimated cost of the program is 100 billion rand.

The cabinet approves the prison reform program unanimously.

Next is an education bill. The young newly appointed minister for education, his name is Barend, requests 50 million rand to repair some leaky roofs and do some much needed maintenance on old school buildings. The cabinet rejects the request.

Surprised Barend asks why his colleagues are prepared to be so generous towards criminals and so stingy towards schoolchildren.

President Botha looks pityingly at his young colleague and says, “Barend, when Mandela takes over he’s not going to send us to school.”
Posted by stevenlmeyer, Monday, 25 July 2011 8:13:13 PM
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nd then there was the one about young Beethoven. He had a music shop in his home town. When he had to go out, he would put up a sign in the window:

"Gone Chopin, Bach in a minuette"!
Posted by stevenlmeyer, Monday, 25 July 2011 8:15:17 PM
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So long as didn't forget his Liszt...
Posted by morganzola, Monday, 25 July 2011 8:26:28 PM
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From the great Stan Cross, often described as the funniest cartOon in the world.

Aussie humour that worked everywhere.

http://www.pandasthumb.org/archives/images/StopLaughing.jpg
Posted by csteele, Monday, 25 July 2011 9:10:00 PM
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Metaphors be with you.
Posted by Lexi, Monday, 25 July 2011 11:24:36 PM
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Agree that humour is often subjective. I know while I was living in the USA I began to find shows like Cheers much funnier than when watching the same show back here in Oz. Somehow hooked into the American zeitgeist.

Personal favourites are Black Books, IT Crowd, Young Ones, Gimme Gimme Gimme, Red Dwarf - this is looking distinctly British. Australian satire such as The Chaser, the Gruen Transfer and the warm and fuzzy Spics and Specs. Back to the USA - Jon Stewart and Robert Colbert are very sharp - not at all lame(?), they give me hope that irony in the USA is not dead and a guilty pleasure is the Big Bang Theory.
Posted by Ammonite, Tuesday, 26 July 2011 9:58:07 AM
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Dear Ammonite,

Doug Anthony Allstars were also a favorite for me but more recently Flight of the Concords and especially The Mighty Boosh. Who can ever forget Old Greg's manjina.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4CgzfjxElY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Big hit with my teenagers and I.
Posted by csteele, Tuesday, 26 July 2011 10:52:43 AM
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csteele

Forgotten Mighty Boosh - only on SBS and didn't manage to see all episodes, but one of those shows that with regular viewing begins to make a weird sort of sense and no-one can forget Old Greg's manjina. Old Gregg - the kind of person you back away slowly from at bars or parties.

Listened to the Flight of the Concords on radio, but didn't catch the TV series.

Loved Wilfred - haven't watched the American version yet, although by keeping Jason Gann as Wilfred sounds promising.
Posted by Ammonite, Tuesday, 26 July 2011 11:18:09 AM
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Love puns. Thank you stevenlmeyer and morganzola. Special mention to Lexi - that was a stunner.

But I heard that Beethoven's sign also said, at the bottom, in smaller letters...

"Offenbach sooner..."
Posted by Pericles, Tuesday, 26 July 2011 3:19:26 PM
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What did Beethoven do when he returned to his store after Beatling off to the local Coles?

He turned the Handel on the door and walked right in.
Posted by stevenlmeyer, Tuesday, 26 July 2011 3:41:06 PM
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But stevenlmeyer, on Debussy on de way home, things began to unRavel... when somebody asked him a Fauvre.

Alas! He had no Ticket to Ride.
Posted by morganzola, Tuesday, 26 July 2011 5:02:03 PM
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He attempted to Borodin a few coins from a fellow passenger, but was told to Rachmaninoff in no uncertain terms....
Posted by Poirot, Tuesday, 26 July 2011 5:20:27 PM
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One night he got very Bizet trying to Keep The Customer Satisfied. He had a Hard Day's Night. Fortunately his housekeeper, Mrs Robinson, made him a nice cup of tea. Ain't She Sweet?

His young chauffeur, Baby Driver, took him home and soon he was Sleepin' Like A Log.
Posted by stevenlmeyer, Tuesday, 26 July 2011 5:36:10 PM
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Ah, Sleepin' Like A Log, California Dreaming,
trying to make the plump ladies see
the error of their weighs.
Posted by Lexi, Tuesday, 26 July 2011 9:47:13 PM
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Here's one more - Sleeping Like A Log, Working Class Man,
laboured so hard that he worked his fingers to the bonus.
Posted by Lexi, Thursday, 28 July 2011 6:05:07 PM
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Come on, admit it - we all enjoyed the odd episode of Two and a Half Men :)
Posted by Loudmouth, Friday, 29 July 2011 4:59:28 PM
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Dear Joe (Loudmouth),

I admit it! I admit it!
Loved Two and a Half Men.

What about "Little Britain,?"

And -

"Everybody Loves Raymond?"

And -

"South Park?"

And -

"Are You Being Served?"
Posted by Lexi, Friday, 29 July 2011 7:17:39 PM
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Yeah, Lexi, you're right. Where would we be without comedy ? What a bl00dy poe-faced world it would be. Bob Newhart, Shelley Berman, Moe, George Wallace, Jonathan Winters, so many great artists. Yes, I get a real kick out of the IT Crowd, Robin Williams (he made me f@rt with uncontrollable laughter once), Wilfred - thank you, thank you, thank you !
Posted by Loudmouth, Friday, 29 July 2011 8:08:31 PM
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