Unfunny comedy tropes

[Louzerman102]

The 'Oh look it's not human but it drinks Alcohol. SO FUNNY! HUR HUR HUR HUR' trope.

It got old in Futurama very fast.

It got old in Family Guy very fast.

It was old in American Dad from day one.

I get the joke, it's funny because they are a robot, dog, alien. Ok, that's great, but you've beaten that joke into infinity now, and the blackhole you've made could very well swallow all existence.

I always felt the joke of Bender was that he was the Openly-Obnoxious-D-Bag(tm) that every closet d-bag wanted to be, however I might just be projecting.

On topic: Most "this character is useless, LOL" jokes get old very fast see Ron Stoppable for reference.

 

[cerealnmuffin]

I hate when people do the Benny Hill/Scooby Doo chasing around the set with the characters going in and out of random doors. It even shows up in things that aren't cartoons and have humor that relies more on sharp dialogue. Even as a kid I never laughed at such a 'joke' and have never known any simple minded (even a child) to find that funny. It is especially annoying when they use the Benny Hill music. Some net comedians who do reviews on movies think speeding up a movie and playing that Benny Hill music think that is funny, it's not.

 

[Fr]anc[is]

The attempts to be funny by being as deliberately unfunny, juvenile or forced strange as possible; aka the Tim and Eric/Eric Andre method.

I couldn't agree more. I hate Tim and Eric. There were a few funny moments in Tom Goes to the Mayor, but they were rare.

I didn't know it was meant to be funny. I mean it, I had no Idea that show was meant to be funny. I didn't know what I thought it was I just didn't think anyone could be that unfunny without trying.

The problem was you weren't high. Adult Swim is exclusively for stoners.

 

[DJ_DEnM]

Cursing repeatedly to make it funny. That's why South Park just never clicked with me. Fuck Shit Stack is funnier then that, and it's pretty much the same concept.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

anc[is]

The attempts to be funny by being as deliberately unfunny, juvenile or forced strange as possible; aka the Tim and Eric/Eric Andre method.

I couldn't agree more. I hate Tim and Eric. There were a few funny moments in Tom Goes to the Mayor, but they were rare.

I didn't know it was meant to be funny. I mean it, I had no Idea that show was meant to be funny. I didn't know what I thought it was I just didn't think anyone could be that unfunny without trying.

The problem was you weren't high. Adult Swim is exclusively for stoners.

Ah, not true. It may be that way now, but I remember when it was for anime too, similar to Toonami, really. Though, I guess it was for the more generally adult anime that Toonami simply couldn't or wouldn't air.

Now though... Cartoon Network in general has really gone down hill. Live-action shows, shitty night-shows. At least now Toonami is back again.

 

[Lieju]

Any tropes that rely on homophobia/misogyny/racism;

A man is dressing like a woman! Surely this is funny!
A woman beat up a guy for something silly! Funny!
They think he is gay! Funny!

 

[RustlessPotato]

The way they portray the geek culture annoys me a lot. The only show I found the geeks not annoying was the IT crowd. Big Bang Theory on the other hand...

This may not be a specific thing. But I certainly HATE trailers for comedy movies. You'll always have a part where the background noise stops and a character or the voice-over guy says a line. It annoys me.

 

[King of Asgaard]

I could list them, but I can just point at Two and a Half Men and Big Bang Theory and say pretty much those.
TaaHM was fine for the first 4 series or so, but then the jokes really got old, and the episodes predictable. The same thing goes for BBT, only it's mainly focussed on the 'HURR DURR NEEEERDS' aspect, which was downplayed in the beginning, but became the focal point as the show progressed. The writer is clearly someone who has no idea of geek culture, but finds it amusing, so he wrote a show based around stuff that your average Joe won't know two shits about and that he can look up on Wikipedia for a quick reference.
Basically, Chuck Lorre is a talentless hack pandering to the lowest common denominator demographic, and futilely attempts at comedy by repeating overused jokes.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

The only kind of comedy I fail to find funny in any way is when they try to play rape for laughs. A perfect example is at the end of "40 Days and 40 Nights", when the main character, who has tied himself down to his bed in order to fulfill his intention to abstain from sex for Lent, gets raped by his ex-girlfriend, with his current girlfriend walking on on the act.

He ends up apologizing to his current girlfriend, the ex wins a bet and gets off without any trouble, and his friend makes a joke about how "this doesn't seem like a time when the truth will set you free." All played for laughs.

 

[Signa]

What comedy tropes do you not find funny?

Well, I've never been amused by the flamboyant gay male often employed in sitcoms, but they end up being more annoying than anything and they often make them even more feminine than the female characters, as if to shout in our face, "Look, this guy's gay! He likes men! He talks with a lady's voice! Laugh!"

And then there's the sassy/streetwise black character; there's always one. The only exceptions I can think of are Will Smith in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (because it's Will Smith) and Chris Tucker in the Rush Hour series (partly because of how well his dynamic with Jackie Chan works), and even then, part of the reason they actually work is because the show surrounding them are genuinely good by themselves.

Buddy just insisted that I try the series, "Always Sunny in Philidelphia" that has a twist on both of these tropes in the very first f'n episode!

The twist is, rather than make fun of gays and blacks, it makes fun of the discomfort of straight whites around blacks and gays and black gays. Very, very, very annoying.

I gave the show another chance. Episode 2 about dealing with unplanned kids. A little better. But the homophobia, stereo types of all of the above...lame, lame, lame.

To be fair, the first season is borderline awful. I can enjoy it now, but when I started, I had little commitment to actually like the show. The longer it went on, the funnier it got. Do yourself a favor and find "the gang solves the gas crisis" from season 4. If you can't find that funny, then I guess you should give up. Just don't use the first season as the barometer for the whole show.

EDIT: Just remember, the main characters are awful people, and the show is about the shit they get themselves into because they don't know how to be good. The unplanned kid episode was exactly that: instead of having the characters learn something about the issues surrounding unplanned kids, they just saw it as an opportunity to get laid. The whole first season is plotted around big issues, like underage drinking or gun control, but every single time, the gang does the wrong thing and tries to twist the issue to be about themselves. It's surprisingly smart comedy surrounding some very stupid people.

OT: Random gags like Family Guy. They can be very funny if they are used sparingly, but I had to stop watching FG entirely, because entire episodes were becoming gag reels.

 

[Dr. Thrax]

Anything that follows the "Here is Jim. Jim is a giant moron. Let's follow Jim around and laugh at his moronic.. Ness...." (i.e. Practically everything Will Ferrel has ever done.)

EDIT: Also, shows that have to have that one really dumb, super oblivious character that everyone can poke fun at. (i.e. Ashton Kutcher being.. Himself in That 70's Show, when I was unfortunate enough to watch it.)

 

[bigfatcarp93]

Moviebob said it best: Nothing is more cringeworthy than adults writing teenagers in kids shows. Or maybe Linkara said that...

 

[Dr. Crawver]

I don't know what it's really called, but the one I hate I'll just put down as the "Dane cooke" effect

 

[Offworlder_v1legacy]

LOOK!! THOSE PEOPLE ARE DOING SOMETHING GROSS!!! HOW FUNAY IT THAT!!! HAWHAWHAW!!!!

 

[Vrex360]

Jokes that stretch on for like five minutes. Look at the one from the third Family Guy Star Wars 'movie' for reference. I don't care that they drew attention to it ironically it was still boring and wasted like two whole minutes of run time.

Also 'lol rape' 'lol holocaust' 'lol death' 'aren't we so edgy?!'
No you are not, you are being disgusting and vile and in the least imaginative way possible.

 

[CpT_x_Killsteal]

Kath and Kim.

My mother's favourite show...

 

[gorfias]

To be fair, the first season [It's Always Sunny in Philidelphia] is borderline awful. I can enjoy it now, but when I started, I had little commitment to actually like the show. The longer it went on, the funnier it got. Do yourself a favor and find "the gang solves the gas crisis" from season 4. If you can't find that funny, then I guess you should give up. Just don't use the first season as the barometer for the whole show.

EDIT: Just remember, the main characters are awful people, and the show is about the shit they get themselves into because they don't know how to be good. The unplanned kid episode was exactly that: instead of having the characters learn something about the issues surrounding unplanned kids, they just saw it as an opportunity to get laid. The whole first season is plotted around big issues, like underage drinking or gun control, but every single time, the gang does the wrong thing and tries to twist the issue to be about themselves. It's surprisingly smart comedy surrounding some very stupid people.

OT: Random gags like Family Guy. They can be very funny if they are used sparingly, but I had to stop watching FG entirely, because entire episodes were becoming gag reels.

I'll skip the rest of Season 1, thanks!