Humor

A comment I just made to Bob made me think about what's funny to me. My very favorite of all is British humor along the lines of Monty Python, Eddie Izzard, Peter Sellers, Christopher Guest, Dudley Moore & Peter Cook (Beyond the Fringe), Hugh Laurie & Stephen Fry's Jeeves & Wooster and Fry & Laurie, Blackadder, Graham Norton, Ab Fab, Billy Connelly, Craig Ferguson, Ricky Gervais, Russell Brand, Alistair Coleman aka Scaryduck, and just regular Brits with that droll, self-deprecating hilarity. Benny Hill was too over-the-top for me, but I've seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail so many times that I have most of it memorized. As Hank Azaria said when he began rehearsals for Spamalot, he's been off-book since he was 12.

Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie as Jeeves and Wooster

I enjoy puns but am not as quick and prolific as Kim, Aled, and Rik are. They are the champs. The Most Excellent Dawn ranks right in there with them, too. Their bantering in the comments sections of their blogs is always entertaining.

Mel Brooks is hilarious, and I have watched Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights many times. The others, not so much. I'm also a big fan of William Goldman - The Princess Bride and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, especially. Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies makes me laugh when he just stands there with that expression on his face.


There are many American comedians who nearly always make me laugh (or did) - Steve Martin, Chris Rock, Richard Pryor, Martin Short, Robin Williams, Ellen DeGeneres, Carol Burnett, George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Dana (Jose Jiminez), Don Novello (Father Guido Sarducci), the Smothers Brothers, Tina Fey, Whoopi Goldberg, Stephen Wright, Mike Nichols & Elaine May, Bob Newhart, Paula Poundstone, Wanda Sykes, Lily Tomlin, and that's all I can think of off the top of my head other than David Dust.


Do not like: Sascha Baron Cohen, Andy Dick, Carrot Top, Gilbert Gottfried, Kathy Griffin, Howie Mandel, Pauly Shore, Ben Stiller (but liked his parents comedy duo - Stiller & Meara), and Sarah Silverman (makes me cringe). (Edit: After Miss Ginger's comment and paying more attention to her comedy, I struck out Kathy Griffin's name from this list.)

I don't like slap-stick or put-down routines that make me squirm too much. It's hard to define because some of it is funny and some just comes across as mean. The Three Stooges are much more popular with males than with females, enough so that it could be a test. As much as I love Lucy, some of those shows made me tired because of the mess that had to be cleaned up. I don't like those adolescent male movies like American Pie, Porky's, and that type because I was around that way too long teaching teenagers!

Some on my list are comedians and some are comedic actors and writers. It's not a complete list but close. I appreciate and love comedy. We use it daily in my extended family since many of us think like stand-up comedians. It's a blessing and a curse! :-)