Humor entertains different types of people. Older people probably prefer intelligent comedy over beavis and butthead. Teenagers prefer Office Space over The Usual Suspects. Whenever I ask my dad what he thinks of those slapstick comedies, he scoffs at me. By the same token he could have a two hour conversation about a comedy he prefers. Generally, he prefers the intelligent comedy, because toilet humor is not funny to him. I asked him if he ever liked slapstick humor, perhaps, The Three Stooges? He laughed when he said, “That shit is hilarious.” Today, I wonder to myself what changed him. Obviously, he matured. What a loser I thought. I know in 30 years I am still going to laugh my head off at Billy Madison. This type of maturation made me think about whether comedy would be funny yesterday.
It was not until writing my mid-term papers did I really take this thought into consideration. Back to the previous claim. I want to preface myself by explaining the proposition. By yesterday, I mean decades ago. And by comedy, I meant things that make me laugh today. The Jim Gaffigans’, the Lewis Blacks’, and The Office are sure to tickle my fancy today. The question is, would my ancestors think Dane Cook’s piece on Church-goers be funny? So, I did some research, I called my grandma, round 78 years old this year, she has laughed more times than I could imagine. Influenced by my stats class, I know how to ask the right questions. I asked her what she thinks is funny. Obviously in her time she loved Charlie Chaplin, and recently she likes I Love Lucy. And yes, she said I Love Lucy is recent. So I then asked her what she thought of the show Seinfeld because it has been around for a decade or so. I knew she had seen the show because I sometimes watch it at her house. She said it is okay, the witty characters control the plot, if I could paraphrase. She still preferred I Love Lucy, over Seinfeld. I was appalled because I Love Lucy episodes really don’t have me rolling on the floor laughing, I personally think their characters are thin and the situational humor is corny. So it was decided, Grandparents and their future generations have different tastes in comedy. The question to why must be hidden in the depths of time.
This conclusion brings me to my next claim. Would modern humor be funny to generations of long ago? Would the colonists think Eddie Izzard is funny? Granted Izzard would have to be talking about pilgrims and the Mayflower and such, but the essence is the same. I can generally speak on behalf of my generation when I say Ann Stephen’s finest is not funny. The generic teenager would not be enthralled to go to a book club discussion on Ann Stephens. I am fairly confident the sheer shock of Izzard’s performance would have blown those Englishmen’s minds. The puritans would laugh their heads off if Izzard was doing a stand-up skit on the Separatists or the “City on a hill.” On the contrary, the comedic interests of the 1700’s would be different than ours today. So to say that they would laugh at todays stand-up would be a bold claim. I am interested to know what they would have said about Chris Rock or Eddie Murphy?
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I think a lot of this is due to the progression of "acceptable" material. What many, younger people find funny (Dane Cook, South Park, shows on Comedy Central) would not be embraced if shown 50, 100, 200 years ago because of the shock value and moral "flexibility" of comedy now versus comedy then. Over the years, as each new show or comedian pushes the envelope, the material we once found shocking becomes commonplace. The envelope has to keep getting pushed for new comedy to stay relevant and edgy to younger audiences.
ReplyDeleteNow you have boundaries that are far, far removed from what was acceptable "back in the day." Couple that with changing world conditions, personal values, and societal tastes, and you've got an ever-shifting view of what's funny.
By the same token, you will probably still like the same music you like now when you age and "mature", which will probably prompt your children to make the same comments you have made about parent and grandparent. If you wnat to comment on the Puritans, you might look a bit more closely-Izzard would probably have been burned at the stake along with the other witches. I'll try to find the Puritan humorist I have read--can't come up with his name right now and not near my books--but what I remember of his humor was that it was mostly at the expense of wives or of men in the community who were not following the "simplicity" that Puritan tenets proscribed.
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