h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I agree that you shouldn't make fun of vulnerable people, but humour is closely linked to the culture you live in. It's not always easy to understand, and what makes you laugh may only raise a with others.

I agree with Bel that one person's joke can be another person's .

For me, schadenfeude can be a legitimate source of humour. You could, for example, build up a picture of pompous, self-opinionated person, then bring him down to earth with a bump. That could raise a .

I was a bit surprised you use Conan Doyle as an example - surely the Sherlock Holmes stories aren't supposed to be funny?

When I think about it, doesn't humour often work by overturning our expectations?

So, a scene where a boss is bullying one of his workers would not be funny, but if the worker outwits his boss we might laugh at the bully's discomforture.

No, I don't think Schadenfreude is ever really funny. It is a revenge fantasy. What's funny about that?

What I was trying to say was that real humour, as opposed to 'what makes some people laugh', gets everybody on the same side. People have foibles, but humour finds a way through. This is true whether what you're writing is labelled 'comedy' or not.

Perhaps, when we laugh at the scene where the little man - like the character Charlie Chaplin played- gets the better of the bully, it appeals to our sense of fairness.

Not that I claim to be an expert on humour. I've been known to read a story and, when people say 'Wasn't that funny?', think 'Oh, was it? Thanks for telling me.'

I have that reaction. A lot.

I'm afraid I've never found Chaplin funny. I find him sad, most of the time.

On the other hand, I found the first 'Ghostbusters' film delightful. Why? Because they did insane things - and they *worked*.

Hi Dmitri, I also liked Ghostbusters. There's a very specific angle of humour I'm thinking of: humour used to make almost intolerable situations more tolerable. This has featured in my own country's history a lot. The Boers for instance found ways to joke about it when the English destroyed their farms and everything they owned in life, sent their women and children to concentration camps, executed prisoners of war without trial, beat them at the war, and sent many of the survivors to prison camps on the islands of Saint Helena and Ceylon. The thing is this may sound awful - joking about things that are extremely serious and traumatic - but WHAT IF that is a way to make such situations SURVIVABLE, for the people who are actually IN them?

I agree with that, Willem. That's a good point about humour - the kind that gets people through tough places.

I can think of two examples.

Back at university, I stumbled across a book published in Czechoslovakia in 1938. It was a collection of anti-nazi jokes told by refugees, and used as a weapon against the tyranny. Some of the jokes wouldn't seem funny today, but I'll bet they helped people keep their spirits up at the time.

The second example is Margaret Cho. Ms Cho is an American who jokes about ethnic mistunderstandings and gay issues. Some of her material might be shocking to those of a delicate nature, but they are never mean.

Here's my favourite bit from Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnnvRjwSCPo

(I hope you can see it.)

Hi Dmitri,

Your article make a lot of sense and something which upsets me when so called comedians whole act is putting people down and don't see how pathetic it makes them look.

It seems to be the modern comic trend and see people rolling up with laughter at at this cringing humour.

Comedians tell people who complain about their humour to lighten up, about their offensive remarks, they are only joking. Doh !

Most rags sell their papers by putting people down. Guess why I don't buy their rags.

Glad to see the h2g2Post has some common sense behind it.

I agree these people are bullies in the guise of being funny or selling papers, TV / Radio programms, books and stage shows.

Although I agree, I think the world is going PC mad. Hopefully comedy will not clean up and go totally PC but offensive comedy is something we can do without.

LivLuv&Bhappy
vegiman

Thanks for the vote of confidence. (Made my day.) Good point, Vegiman. Making fun of other people is not funny, but they don't need to police it - just find better ways to be funny. It should be 'us', not 'us' vs 'them'.

I'm a Southerner who grew up in Pittsburgh, home of multiculturalism - that is, everybody in my township hailed from a different European country. We joked about our cultural differences. That's not a question of PC/not PC, that's taking an interest.

A friend once asked me, 'When are you going to lose that accent?'

I thought. 'If I lost my accent, how would I talk?'

She came back with, 'Why, normal, like everybody else.' In broadest Pittsburghese.

Yeah, like that. No PC, just respect and fun.

Your welcome

I am a southerner too, South UK and grew up in a town called Gravesend. No Jokes now

This too was multicultural, as most Indian / Asians got of the boats at Tilbury, crossed the river (Thames) and settled in what we locals called the GraveYard 20 on the CB.

There were a lot of jokes between races and many friends made

off to bed now as it is 00.15 in the morning here.

all the best
vegiman

Oh, how . Pocahontas is buried at Gravesend, I believe. (She was a Southerner, too, from Virginia.) Yup, multicultural.

Yes, seen her bronze statue many times in the graveyard of St Georges church. No one really knows where she is buried and St Georges was chosen to be her home for eternity.

On arriving in England she was transferred to the hospital ship anchored just off the Gravesend river shoreline. This ship was replaced a number of times and decommissioned about 30/40 odd years ago.

I saw the ship / boat many times when playing as a child from the promenade.

Also Gravesend people have a royal charter. They are the only ones allowed by law to ferry people up the river to London which was originally done with Long Boats.

The origin of the name is a bit grey but believed to come from either the graves end from the plagues of London or gravel end as Gravesend is where the gravel pits ended and the chalk pits started.

Must go now - Off to work

vegiman

Thanks for the info.

She was a very remarkable person, Pocahontas. I always felt sad about her death, so far from home. I believe her little boy stayed in England to go to school, while his dad went back to Virginia to work.

Her real name was Matoaka. (Pocahontas was an affectionate nickname.)

http://apva.org/rediscovery/page.php?page_id=26

Hi Dmitri

Sorry for throwing this thread into disarray. The truth is putting people down is not funny and although Slap Stick is not everybodies cup of tea, not sure it's mine anymore, but at least it is not offensive.

Popping over to the Post Office and starting a thread there.

vegiman

And no problem. These threads don't even earn a marker.

And you've all inspired me - watch 'Writing Right' on the 28th for more thoughts and links on laughter. Thanks for the food for thought!

People laugh when a comedian makes fun of others out of relief. They are happy it is not them being rediculed.
This is a form of cowardice hidden by laughing only when others laugh. Bill Cosby once said that he learnt what was funny by
listening to what others laugh about. To write funny material you need to know your readers. In Australia, laconic humour works best.
In Russia it is tragic humour that works. In France it is humour of the absurd. I heard a Russian joke and did not get the humour.
It goes like this. A man in Moscow, during the 1970s, was bragging to his neighbours about his son playing a great part in William Tell. His closest neighbour asked in a high voice, "And just where did they get the apple from?"

Now, I think I get that. Educational.

By the way, speaking of funny, France, and absurdism, has anyone seen 'Rubber'?

http://www.rubberthemovie.com/

It concerns an automobile tire that becomes sentient and marauds around the countryside, blowing things (and bunnies, and people) up. (The site's claim of 'gore' is exaggerated. You don't really believe the bunny was blown up, trust me.)

What might have happened had someone given Ionesco a film crew...

Love the Russian joke.

I watched satirical political comedy last night and thought of this thread.
Dieter Hildebrand, THE political comedian is 80 and they celebrated it.
Wonderful.

This was broadcast last night, too (among other things):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnqKwGetjz4

I loved that, Bel. Thank you. Dieter Hildebrand is wonderful.

I wish everybody could understand that one.