February 08, 2004 - 1:10 AM

What's So Funny?

I'm intrigued by the repeat accessibility of humor to people. The strange way that certain funny things can elicit a laugh every time they are presented to an audience, no matter how many times the audience has been exposed to them. Thus, we can continue to see a comedian's act, watch a comedic movie, or enjoy the syndicated run of a sitcom over and over again and not get tired of the jokes.

But I can't figure out why, when you know what the punchline is, when you are in on the gag, when you can regurgitate the lines word for word before they are spoken, why it doesn't become old. How many times can you hear Captain Oveur ask little Joey "Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?" before you think to yourself, "dude, this Airplane movie just isn't funny." The first time, ok, you get the joke and it makes you laugh. Subsequent hearings, you might get a little something more out of it, something that you missed, a little nuance or subtext or reference. But after 20 times, really, hasn't the humor horse been flogged to death? No. No it hasn't, as evidenced by my continued laughter.

I know it's not just me and the geeky friends and family that I have. Sure, there's something to be said (such as "god, you are such a dork") about the "cult"-ish nature of those of us who can quote bits from Monty Python sketches and giggle, or effortlessly incorporate non-sequiturs from NewsRadio or The Upright Citizen's Brigade into our everyday conversation. But it's not limited to us. Numerous sitcoms live on in syndication every weeknight. The Simpsons airs three times an evening in many areas; Seinfeld, which ended it's run 5 years ago still runs strong on basic channels as well as cable; hell, I Love Lucy and MASH can be seen half a dozen times a day and twice that on Sunday, it seems. So scores of people are yukking it up to reruns of shows that they've already seen numerous times. But why?

And what is the determinant that steers some people towards one show and others away from it. Why do I bust a gut at the Simpsons like so many other people, and yet I find the club of Sports Night fans or NewsRadio fans so comparatively small? Why do I not find myself counted among the afficionados of Friends or Everybody Loves Raymond, but I covet a new episode of Arrested Development like pajamas straight out of the dryer on a winter's night? Why aren't you all lock-step with me in appreciating the good stuff? Fools.

Here's me, still hee-heeing along to a Paula Poundstone HBO special that I taped over ten years ago (and recorded to audio cassette as well). Watch me as I proudly proclaim to my sister that "I try to be hard worker man, but refridgemator is messy...so, so messy." Listen, I'm explaining to Nick that this is the amount of pure cocaine it would take to enjoy this Mystery Science Theater 3000 movie we are watching. And would you look at that, I'm taunting Mark with the line "humans rule, so dolphins can suck it!"

I think that perhaps I am mad.

And please, keep calling me Shirley.

Now Listening To : Bic Runga-Live with the Christchurch Symphony (which Matt bought for me while in New Zealand!)
Random Thought : Taxes. Taxes suck big balls. damn the man.

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