Why arn't we funny anymore.

[Kikosemmek]

Eh, for me random humor does little to be funny. 4Chan, Family Guy, youtube- not for me. I think it's a waste of time and brain cells.

I like jokes to have a meaning, no matter how trivial, or a relevance to a situation. I like satire more than farce, and irony more than shock, is what I mean to say.

 

[The Franco]

Real wit and comedy that's smart and isn't revolved around the word "Fuck" is pretty rare, although I love ZP, anything by Noah Antwiler, and Photoshop Phriday - which all happen to be littered with more vulgarities than a tragic car accident. No one really cares about new intellectual properties in the internet comedy realm, most people just put mention things that have already been said before, but in a new light. I like to call it the elementary school book report method. But most comedy on the internet really does follow a Parametric formula:

Comedy = X + Y + "curse words"
Only if X and Y are functions of time since they've been mentioned by anyone else, "curse words" is a constant according to function Y. Function X returns a topic and function Y returns a situation. X and Y can also be a subject prone to fanboydom and still work (with surprising results) in the equation and both work best as t approaches infinity.

Look, here's an application: a 1920s gangster stuck in a middle American high school. Or this: Bruce Lee's high pitched "fatality" scream dubbed over some scene from Die Hard. It's not hard, it's pretty much the formula that the writers of Family Guy have written on their folders when they're making Manatee Gags.

 

[end_boss]

The odd thing is that when I look at TV these days, I see a quality of humour that far surpasses a lot of what I grew up on. When I watch shows like House, Scrubs, and Corner Gas, and even going back to shows like Futurama, Clone High and Undergrads, I see a lot of comedies that are finally starting to exercise cleverness and giving me something witty and often unpredictable. Sure, every generation had its gems, from Cheers to Simpsons to Seinfeld, but maybe I just don't watch enough TV, but what I see is pretty good quality. The only thing I lament is the current cartoon offerings. Now that Clone High and Undergrads are gone, I don't really see anything that particularly makes me laugh. I've tried watching Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and I've watched a bit of Metalocalypse, and I just don't find them biting enough, or at least not as frequently as I hope. Family Guy amuses me the first time through, but has no re-watch value for me. But as far as some of the new series are concerned, I find that quality has improved a bit, overall.

And, as much as De-Rez might be improving, they're still far from the quality that would put them on a level that I actually enjoy watching them, let alone anticipate the next one. And ZP is great because it's short and to-the-point. I think that it will really lose a lot of its impact by trying to spread itself to full length, as much as I love Yahtzee.

EDIT: I take back some of what I said in my last paragraph. I tried watching the new De-Rez films about Mortal Kombat and had to stop. They need to take a page out of Yahtzee's book, rather than Tim Buckley's. They have good ideas for premise, but they drag their bits on for so long that I completely lose interest, especially since they don't do or say anything that is actually funny, and the acting is atrocious. I can't even watch a full minute of their show without skipping ahead to see if they decided to start being funny, and quite often I find that even after I skip ahead, they're still on the same scene. They need to improve at a MUCH faster rate if they plan to amuse me within the next five years.

 

[elffymon]

if you like it crowd try black books, or... pushing daisies which i find quirky, however i am female so by default my logic is flawed (it might be too girly for a gamer).

 

[Lvl 64 Klutz]

if you like it crowd try black books, or... pushing daisies which i find quirky, however i am female so by default my logic is flawed (it might be too girly for a gamer).

NEVER! Note my last post
Pushing Daisies is perhaps the wittiest, cleverest, show on earth. And honestly, anyone who doesn't find *something* to enjoy about it, really just doesn't get it. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.)

 

[sirdanrhodes]

Seriously people, occasionally you get a web sensation like everyone (inc forum members) of the escapist, but if you look at our youtube material, new tv shows, we really have become boring old farts. (Coming from a 15 year old). TV wise, I would like to see more comidies such as bottom, family guy, the it crowd and scrubs, and were ether possible, a full length yahtzee/ de-rez full length tv show.

You ask why we aren't funny anymore but then you list 3 current TV comedies. So you've kinda contradicted yourself there.

With a few exceptions, and there was 4. 2 of those shows are no longer being filmed (or about to stop).

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

They cancelled Arrested Development and they keep funding the "movie" movies, there is no humor any more, humor is dead. Washed away by idiots who like Family Guy and Larry the Cable Guy.

 

[AvalonSkies]

I don't think it's that funny things are turning less funny, I think it's that clever things are turning less clever. If you find that your day-to-day run-of-the-mill mommy-mommy-please-make-it-stop comedy gigs are steadily hiking into the dark and sylvan wilderness of stupid (which they are), cut on a typical modern Saturday morning cartoon and compare it to something like Darkwing Duck or Inspector Gadget (or Branston Pickle, maybe). That rotten taste you get in your mouth--and the accompanying desire for mercy from a higher power--is the same reason why American media shows up as a bunch of your "boring old farts". (Not your farts specifically, but you get the idea.) Media just ain't as clever as it used to be.

 

[sirdanrhodes]

I love it when stuff like this type of thread happen.

Guy 1: There needs to be more shows like (insert shows here)! Those are the only good ones!

Guy 2: Those shows suck! (Gives subjective reasons why said shows are shit).

Me: Guys, comedy, like any other form of entertainment, is completely subjective. You giving reasons why one show is "good" or "bad" does nothing to sway the other party to your way of thinking. Saying that a show is good with no reasons given aside from saying "it's the best!", or saying a show is bad because "it's retarded" does nothing to convince anybody anything. Humor is only funny if the viewer says it is. I for one like Family guy, and there's not a damn thing anybody here can say that will change my mind. And there is not a damn thing I can do to convince somebody to like it if they just do not find it funny. To attempt to do otherwise is pretentious and puts you on the same intellect level as the common troll.

Guys 1 and 2: Shut the fuck up!1! WEs trying to have teh smart conversations!

Me: "Gives a sigh and walks away".

I don't talk like that, I respect what others like, and expressing yourself (in an none gamespot way) is what the net was made for, that and yahtzee.

Plus, family guy has ran it's course on reflection, and I LOVE south park, well, used to untill the first episode of this series.

 

[m_jim]

The recent Jud Apatow flicks (with the exception of Dewey Cox), are all pretty funny. Knocked Up, Superbad, etc. make me laugh and aren't just a bunch of gags strung along to fill out the length **cough Family Guy cough **

 

[wilsonscrazybed]

I will address the title of your post, as the rest of your post seems a little, how do you say? Incomprehensible? I am sorry I don't make you laugh, but If I was to spend all my time online trying to get fifteen year olds on the internet to laugh I'd be a pretty sad man. Or, at the very least a likely candidate for that "To Catch a Predator" show. (Which to my dismay didn't feature predators with head slicing lasers and wrist blades at all.)

There's a lot of humor on these forums if you look for it. I realize that most of it isn't your typical "skateboarding dog" and "Mentos-Coke rockets" but it does exist. I for one am glad that I don't have to sift through a mess of cat pictures, Rick Rolls, and sexy ascii art, every day while trying to find the stuff that really makes me smirk. I suspect you'll really appreciate the absence of these things until you've grown up a bit and gotten more irritable.

I am guessing this isn't what you were asking about, but be this a lesson to you young'un, never tell your real age on a forum.

 

[Melaisis]

Because The Big Bang Theory is more popular than The IT Crowd.

Anyway, I'm not really out to stir anything here, but I think The Escapist's forum has made me laugh out loud only a few times, in all honesty. I'm a much bigger fan of PC Gamer UK's community - or at least their sense of humour. Those guys work more with themes of wit and irony (very British ideas, apparently?) rather than bland 'lol!' moments. Besides; that's not necessarily a problem. You've probably all realised (and agree) that I come here from intellectual discussion on the issues facing gaming culture in this day and age; not to be amused by STALKER puns.

Edit: And everything end_boss said.

 

[EnzoHonda]

The best humour is the stuff that comes up in everyday life. You know with co-workers, classmates, friends, and family.

For TV, my humour needs to be either: weird, current, or pushing the limit of decency. Weird is Scrubs. Current is The Daily Show and Colbert Repor(t). And Family Guy pushes the limit. (Herbert the pervert? Dumpster babies? Stewie getting shot in the head by Lois?)

 

[Gyrfalconne]

sirdanrhodes has got a point. I mean, when was the last time a really funny (clever funny, not fart-joke funny) movie came out? Stuff like Police Academy, Naked Gun, and almost anything by Mel Brooks is classic because it was memorably hilarious. I think a lot of writers are a little too focused on 'shock-value' entertainment, and need to take a few steps back and recall what made movies great in the first place.

 

[lokust2001]

and I LOVE south park, well, used to untill the first episode of this series.

Care to expand?
Did you have a problem with the AID's joke?

 

[sirdanrhodes]

and I LOVE south park, well, used to untill the first episode of this series.

Care to expand?
Did you have a problem with the AID's joke?

I LOVED!!! the AIDS joke, i meant to say I thought it got boring untill now, especially since they killed chef.

 

[Same River New Water]

Young people, especially men aged between about 14 and 35, have stopped watching TV. Not entirely, but compared to ten years ago, they're a much smaller percentage of the audience. These are kids who've grown up with the internet - TV stations don't know how to get them back, so instead they focus on older generations. Which is why we get shows like National Bingo Night [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krUvTFhXa7Y].

 

[Parallel Streaks]

Ok, time to put in my theory then go for tea and crumpets. I'm serious, Crumpets are my cocaine and Tea is my rolled up fifty-pound note. People at the moment seem to think that shows like Family Guy are still funny, I for one am among that number on occasion. I think that shows like Family Guy will occasionally do a joke which will make me shoot the proverbiall AND literal milk out of my nose, other times I just think they have gone to far. Also, on top of that, there is the fact that shows like Family Guy are always switching writers for episodes, so some can be hilarious and some can just make me deeply sad. It's the same with South Park, back in the golden age of South Park episodes used to be hilarious for no good reason, such as the episode where the boys find the last two Jackovosaurs, who I think were phsyical manifestations of what comedy is becoming. "We're making you aq junior representative of the Nature Organisation" "I have authoratah?" "Yes, and peoplke have to respect it." "Well that sounds fine just fine." "Fine just fine." "Fine." You see? That's what South Park used to be like! And the Simpsons used to have witty and slightly INTELLIGENT jokes occasionally, instead of just breaking out the dancing baby. It disgusts me so much I'm only going to eat seven crumpets. Good day to you.