Years ago I used to find Rodney Dangerfield hysterically funny. I don't know how I would react now. Some of Woody Allen's stuff is side splitting. Some of it makes me cringe it's so bad. Moliere's School for Wives is hysterical. My all time favorite is W.C. Fields. Comedy Channel stand up is to be avoided at all costs. Some of the G rated animated movies that aren't too G rated are funny, like Finding Nemo and Shark Tale. Wallace and Grommit was too sweet. I'm waiting for Madagascar to come out on DVD. Renting comedy is iffy. A lot of it is terrible. Andy > [Original Message] > From: david ritchie <ritchierd@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Date: 12/2/2005 9:30:49 PM > Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Scrushy and the King of Arkansas > > > On Dec 1, 2005, at 5:17 PM, Mike Geary wrote: > > > > > DR: > >> I tried this anecdote on one of my classes. They didn't find it > >> funny either. On my end, I'm trying to imagine why it's not funny. > > > > Maybe because they were afraid there was some classical, literary > > or historical allusion that eluded them. Whenever anyone more > > educated in the arts and humanities says anything that remotely > > sounds as though it might be an allusion that I don't know, I'm > > feel intimidated. > > > I've thought about this and now agree that it's at least as plausible > as the explanation I had concocted, which was that they didn't > recognize the rhetorical form, that they hadn't been brought up on > banter for breakfast, light wit at lunch, allusive tales after > dinner, insults all over. When I taught my history of comedy class > last year, I discovered that I don't find funny what current students > find funny--Chris Rock and a Chinese-American stand-up whose act > included a long riff on what it's like to have an accident in your > underwear. I haven't remembered her name. > > Who do you currently find funny? > > David Ritchie > Portland, Oregon > ------------------------------------------------------------------ > To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, > digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html