Humor…your opinions wanted

[michaelsnyder]

I’m doing a bit of amateur research (for an article, not a book) and would love to hear your thoughts on the following:

#1
Can humor be learned and/or taught?
If not teachable, can a sense of humor be developed and honed over time?
Or, are you just born with a certain sense of humor and that’s that?

#2
Do you actively pursue humor in your reading, watching, listening, and/or personal interactions, or do random things strike you as funny interruptions, then you just get back to your regularly scheduled life?
If you do indeed go in search of funny things, care to elaborate?

#3
As it specifically pertains to humor, what is your favorite…
-Movie
-Book
-Comedian
-TV show
-Other

And if you have the time I’m curious for as many...
a) specifics to the aforementioned questions ("I love this movie because _____" or "I like slapstick humor and hate stand-up comedians" etc.), and/or...
b) whatever other theories, thoughts, insights, or opinions you have on the topic.

And…thanks!

Mike

[JCdudette]

Great topic.

#1. I believe that humor is both inate, and can be learned or honed. Some people just naturally understand what is funny, but others must learn timing, inflection and other details to attain the laugh. I remember my daughter trying to be funny when she was about four years old. She just didn't get it. My son, however, is a natural. He could make a career as a comedian, I think. Eventually, she learned what made something funny, though, and now she can crack wise with the best. I saw in a biography about Drew Carey that he began his comedy career by checking out a book at the library on joke writing. Developing his humor skills certainly paid off for him.

#2. Yes, I pursue humor. And I pursue drama, and mystery, etc. The first thing I read when the Reader's Digest arrives is the humor and jokes. I love to write with humor. One of my professors in college required a weekly essay on a given topic. She told me once that she read my essay first (out of 350 students in all her classes) every week because I had a unique writing style and I could put a humorous spin on the subject. That was when I first began to realize that I had a knack for writing.

#3. Pick one. I love all genres for comedy.

a. I like intelligent humor, and plain old silly funny. While I can enjoy good physical comedy at times, I have never been a fan of slapstick so I am not one to watch The Three Stooges marathon. Gratuitous vulgarity is completely out.

b. I think humor is relative. When a person can relate to the situation or topic, it is funnier to them, whereas someone else won't find it funny at all. For example, my husband and I were both in the Marines, so we find the boot camp scene at the beginning of Full Metal Jacket absolutely hilarious. Other people would find it only mildly amusing or even offensive. There are some subtle little things in there, that, unless you were a Marine you wouldn't get it, so we bust up. But we shut it off after the graduation ceremony, because we think it is ridiculous and implausible after that.

God gave us the gift of laughter. I am so thankful to Him for that. There are so many exhortations in the Bible to have joy, rejoice, and laugh. (I challenge you to look for them all.) I think the church is missing out on a lot of fun that could be had with our God, because we think He is soooo serious. God knows how to have a good time. We need to lighten up and enjoy our lives in God.

I want to say, also, that my favorite funny man is my husband. No one makes me laugh harder and more often than him. Many people upon first meeting my husband think he is a very serious and stoic military man because his appearance is intimidating. Several people have admitted to me that they were even afraid of him at first. But he is hilarious. We have a wonderful fun time together.

Hope this helps you. If not, it's been fun. Have a laugh.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

#1
Can humour be learned and/or taught?
If not teachable, can a sense of humour be developed and honed over time?
Or, are you just born with a certain sense of humour and that’s that?
I'm not sure. Some people seem to have no sense of humour, some lots. I think there's a degree of natural ability when it comes to humour but to a certain extent it can possibly be taught.

#2
Do you actively pursue humour in your reading, watching, listening, and/or personal interactions, or do random things strike you as funny interruptions, then you just get back to your regularly scheduled life?
If you do indeed go in search of funny things, care to elaborate?
I enjoy reading, watching, listening etc. for humour. I'm a fun-loving person and a very random thinker much of the time. I struggle to think up jokes on my own but I'm able to make humorous and widely random comments based on what someone has previously said.

#3
As it specifically pertains to humour, what is your favourite…
-Movie - Monty Python and the Holy Grail/Arsenic and Old Lace
The first for it's silly, random and at times very intelligent humour. It's also very quotable. The second for it's visual humour and awkward situations. The story is dark but presented in a humorous manner.

-Book - The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Everything - it's intellectual nonsense. I know it's not a very original choice but I haven't found many good humorous books. The Almost True Story of Ryan Fisher is very good (introspective and challenging too) but peters out towards the end.

-Comedian - Bill Bailey, Dylan Moran (both British)
The first is a great musician, incredibly random but strikingly intelligent. The second is sometimes foul-mouthed (not so good) but makes interesting observations about life. His character for stand-up comedy is an Irish guy who smokes and drinks far too much.

-TV show - Fawlty Towers, Black Books, Pushing Daisies
The first is a classic of comedy, there's not much more to say. It has great visual humour, good word-play, interesting characters and awkward situations. The second follows a similar formula but is set in a book shop instead of a hotel. It's surreal, book, drink and food related, has fantastic characters who are inept at almost everything they do. The book shop owner hates customers. The third and final finds humour in life situations and death situations. It has eccentric characters, there's great word-play and some strange visual scenarios. It deals with some heavy topics but is presented in the manner of a children's storybook.

Web videos: - Homestar Runner, Making Fiends
The first is random and nostalgic. It looks back at video-games, music and movies from the 70's and 80's. The flash-based cartoons feature eccentric characters. There's visual humour, great word-play and obscure pop-culture references.
http://www.homestarrunner.com/main20.html

The second is random and just plain weird. It's a bit gothic. There's a girl bully who creates monsters to terrify her teacher and classmates. But there is one extremely optimistic girl, who, to the point of stupidity, isn't fazed/doesn't understand that the bully doesn't like her and is trying to do horrible things to her. Makes for some very funny situations (think Roald Dahl with some Lemony Snicket and old horror movies).
http://www.makingfiends.com/

Web comics - Hark a Vagrant, Daisy Owl, Xkcd
The first is a web comic about historical figures. They do some things recorded in history, they do something things differently. Some of them are given modern sensibilities/language (which often proves hilarious). It's random and fairly intelligent (sometimes inappropriate language and themes).
http://harkavagrant.com/archive.php

The second is random and intelligent. It's a bit like Calvin and Hobbes (although, not as good).
http://daisyowl.com/comic/2008-07-03

The third is random and intelligent (often more than I can understand). It makes observations about maths, science, relationships, pop-culture and everything in between (sometimes inappropriate language and themes).
http://www.xkcd.com/

[kdawgs34]

Good questions.

1. I think it has to be a part of who you are as a person. A part of your personality or disposition. I'm sure you can work on being funny. But it may not come off as natural and fall flat. You could say actors learn to be funny. Some are funny playing things straight and serious. But their behavior is outrageous.

2. I enjoy humor. I have any where from Far Side Comic books, movies, stand up, books and t.v. My humor is a wide range. You name it and I have read or seen it. I read smart and silly humor.

3. The list of movies is long. Some of my favorites are Ferris Buellar, A Fish Called Wanda, Major Payne, Naked Gun, Hot Shots, most Jim Carrey movies, Biloxi Blues, John Hughes films, Coming to America, Will Smith, Some of Eddie Murphy, Steve Martin movies, Chevy Chase movies, Rush Hour movies Chris Tucker character, and Jack Sparrow. Thats a few things. Stand up comedians go from Steven Wright to Steve Harvey. Again a wide range. Most who are not too filthy or at least get a bleep. I have seen some good Christian comedians. I can go from the Monkees to Andy Griffith to Sanford and Son to Everybody Loves Raymond. Books go from clean Bathroom humor book, smart humor, and quirky.

Whenever people laugh the most at something I say or write its usually from a reaction to something I had read or seen.

I have a little published humor book called Rated:Christian. What I have learned is that not everyone gets certain humor or its not their type. Some folks have no sense of humor. It seems harder to find the humor audience. Do you find much humor on CW? I hope this helps a little.

[AnnieJ]

1)I don't know if you can learn it. I think you can hone it. You can be more open to it and you can find out what makes you laugh. My husband has a very dry sense of humor but then he laughs like a kid when we get tickled at him, so he's learned to do that, to laugh at himself.
But I think people who don't have a sense of humor, don't get what they are missing. They think it's silly and not important, so maybe they don't try,

2)I find humor in everything. I once wrote a book where the heroine had post partum depression and went in search of the mother who abandoned her to find out that mother had died. Marketing wanted a more serious title than Sadie in Waiting. The art dept wanted to do a dark cover, my editor told them to trust her, the book would be funny, and poignant, but funny. So while I DO seek it, I find in everywhere

3) Yikes - so many - big range, all over the place. I can't even begin to name favorites.

4)I answered this because I do write a lot of humor and because I agree with Bob Newhart who said in his book that not many people have the ability to make others laugh and if you have that talent, it is your moral imperative to use it (paraphrasing)

He expressed his views in this speech from 1997:
http://publicaffairs.cua.edu/speeches/newhart97.htm