Humour, is it based on cruelty?

You're starting to sound like E-griff on a lemmingade binge, Nemesis.

Ah your sidekick Mykle. He has already been put to death for crimes against humour.

awwwww ...... go to bed ...... everyone think about it all in the morning maybe if you don't have a hang over ..... I'll be 'dinky' if you want after all I've spent sometime being six inches high with fairy wings ...... if it suits what ever it is your after god the lenght you have to go to to please people but I much prefer to be me if you don't mind as I have no cause to be anyone else ..... thank you ... I must say Liana we must be something for people to want to copy us ...... I mean pretend to be us also Liana as to your only liking me because your 'nice' .... I'm not into same sex relationships .... and I'm not into friendship with people because their being 'nice' to me ..... always found them to be false ... I can do 'nice' but I don't do it just to please ..... and to be honest I think your the same ... so ... I don't really care whether you like me or not ... life is far to short and I should know that one .... to be bothered .... also for the record I'm not a christain either ..... just thought I 'd add that for good measure .... says a pray and crosses oneself ... ha ha ha I really don't know what everyones problems is and don't really to be honest care ...... well not when I've drunk as much as I have without being sick and being able to get my words right way round .... well at least I hope I have ....

Don't try fluttering around on your little fairy wings tonight pioden - the breathalyser goblins might get you.

I thought you were Dinky as well Pioden - it did seem to be your style and it was your ISP. Come to think of it - come on Geordie own up are you Dinky???

you see dot dot dot dot no dash sometimes a crime dot dot dot still no dash dashit dot is easy to dot dot solve but other crymes speshully dot dot the crue'l ones are'nt easy dot dot dot dot dot and dot dot that is wehn dash they cry for there help dot dot dot dot I know this dot dot because I had to solve a dash cryme today dot dot dit and had only one choice dot dot dot as my othres wre al gon so I phoned a friend dot dot dot dot ( mr. A.B.) who said dot dot dot dot you are all rongw and he shoold now dort dort dort dort he was pefickly normal. dot dot dot dash dash dash dot dot dot. cotton?

Want me to bang her up sir?

I must have missed something with all the dots and dashes of Morse code. I just have to say: Huh? ...Must be some kind of "in" joke? I don't get it.

yes please Lewis, but get me another pint of old peculiar first. Oh! Lewis! do you know how to get two whales in an old jag?

kathyb, Inspector Morse is detective in a television show here. His assistant is named Lewis. Inspector Morse likes classical music and booze, among other things. The actor who played Morse died recently. You can probably find reruns on PBS in the U.S.

Well Morse and Lewis seem to have proved my point about the cruel, moronic, 'humour' amoungst the pathetic proxies ;o)

Oh I see, Justyn. Thanks for letting me in on that! :)

*would like to point out that not all proxies are pathetic* *would also like to point out that Pins.and needles is an NTL tag - are all ntl'ers nutcases then?*

probably no more so than aol or btinternet, but I could be wrong. :))

Liana: Why are you so paranoid? I'm talking about the pathetic posters that hide behind proxies so they can insult people or indulge in other behaviour that they are too ashamed of to do using their real e-mail address or identity. Surely you aren’t one of them are you? As for NTL nutters - well I admit to being a bit strange on occasions - but then aren't most writers? In fact here in Yorkshire we have a saying "There all strange but me and thee - and thar's a bit funny." ;o)))

Oppss - that should be "They're" all strange...

that should be oops JT - there are a few oddities on bt addr too :oP

Have you been taking the Pedant Pills again Liana? :oP

how about a compromise, in that all humour is based on shock.. either from the cruelty, or the unexpected.. for myself, being a typical Brit, i find the funniest jokes are truly cruel... that black humour thing...

Good point, about the shock aspect. Sometimes I laugh most at something that is so ridiculously understated, that it is funny. Not quite sure if that qualifies as shock, but maybe. Of course politicians are also quite amusing, but usually not on purpose.

I don't think you have to be cruel. You can be critical with humour, e.g. satire, without making personal or cruel attacks. I agree that humour often relies on shock, a jolt to what you may have been expecting. There's also the times when you laugh at others' misfortunes, not in a cruel way, but just glad it didn't happen to you (I'm thinking of Homer Simpson jumping over Springfield Gorge, and not making it)...

I dunno it's like: 'The League of Gentlemen' is one of the funniest comedy series I've ever seen. Like for example there is this vet and every time he goes to help an animal something terrible happens to it. I mean it's sick, what happens to some of these animals; but for some wierd reason, you can't help laughing. I don't know why.. I'am scratching my head tring to work out why I find it so funny. Then there's things on the league of gentlemen that aren't sick but are just plain absurd: like the roundabout zoo. This old bloke who has a few animals on this roundabout, that cars go round.. and he calls it the roundabout zoo. It's one of the funniest things I've ever seen. I think humour can be many things.

I had a friend who said she didnt ever watch any comedy on TV because humour always seemed to be about hurting someone. I felt like pulling her entrails out very slowly every time she said it.

So Matt, was that the episode where Homer jumps over Springfield Gorge trying to stop Bart from doing it? That was funny! All the bouncing off rocks. I have dreams like that... though I never actually hit the ground. And satire is often really amusing without being based on cruelty either, though some is. I think too that humour sometimes comes from a recognition of yourself in someone else, coupled with exaggeration sometimes. For example, a lot of stand-up comedians use this type of humour. They set up a situation common to a lot of people then run with it to the point where it becomes absurd, and fairly often then, funny. I wish I had seen the series that you are talking about funky, it does sound amusing even just from hearing about it from you, though I don't know why it should either. freda, I just have to say..Eeewwww! :)

The roundabout zoo is extremely funny, and no malice in it at all. Also the Fast Show's Ted and Ralph is hysterical once you get into it, but there's no cruelty there, you just feel affection for both characters. Unexpected is closer to the mark, although sometimes you can still laugh at the expected - a lot of jokes rely on repetition to set up the gag and quite often in sit-coms you can see what is coming, but the delivery is so good (Think about the episode of Faulty Towers where YOU KNOW Cybil is going to ring just as the crisis with the fire bells is at its worst, or the elaborate stunts in Some Mothers Do Ave Em)

Behave yourself Mykle. Or is it...?

but "some mothers do ave em" isnt funny andrew...

;o)

Red Dwarf was one of the funniest series ever and rarely resorted to cruel jokes (except in a caricature way) - unlike Black Adder which relied on them. Which was the funniest - Red Dwarf!!!

***PUNCHES MYKLE***

***FALLS OVER LAUGHING***

I say! That should stop him speaking. Michael x x x

Here's a funny story. At least I think it's funny. Today my Polish cleaning lady arrived at 11am as usual. She only speaks Polish. She launched into an elaborate description of her experience at the St John's Wood tube stop, explaining how there was a huge crowd, armed police controlling the crowd, streets roped off, etc etc. She asked if I knew what was wrong, perhaps a robbery or a terrorist alert..... Now, I live on the same street as an American school and a very large Jewish synagog, so the terrorist alert idea is not totally far-fetched. Still, I answered that I had no idea. Would it be OK by the time she's done? she asked. I don't know, I said, but you can take the bus if necessary. OK she said. I left and walked to the High Street, passing the tube stop on the way. Ahem. Yes, there were a lot of people at the tube stop. They were arriving for a CRICKET MATCH at Lords. I don't think there's any cruelty in this story. It's funny to me because of the misunderstanding....the difference between perception and reality. Though I must admit, a big crowd of cricket fans could look like a riot in the making if you don't know what's going on.

Here's a little story about something that happened to my brother Joe: He had had his wisdom teeth out and was driving home in his small convertible car with the top down. He had been driving along, and then stopped at a traffic light. Looking over at the man in the car next to him, he noticed that the man blanched, and looked fearful. Considering it may have been his driving- he is not the best driver- that intimidated this man, he smiled to show that he meant him no harm. At this the man looked terrified and took off squealing his wheels. Joe couldn't understand it, and then he happened to notice his reflection in the mirror. The packing had come out of his teeth, (he hadn't felt it because of the novacain) and great streams of blood had spattered along his face from the breeze of driving with the top down on the car. When he then smiled experimentally he saw that his teeth were completely covered in blood as well. We laughed ourselves silly over what the man in the car next to him must have been thinking, but I'm not sure if this qualifies as cruelty, do you think?

That's not cruel at all! It's just one of those things, something along the lines of returning to a party from the men's room with your fly undone. I guess in some cases that could cause people to run off screaming as well.... :))

A lot of moronic humour relies on cruelty - particularly amoungst the pathetic proxies ;o)

Mykle behave ..... allow people to expose their cruelty in there own way .... you know it's for there own good to get it out ..... it can only do them harm to keep it under raps after all you know what they say about over exposure .... making their true character show ..... ignore .... they've got nothing better to do ... poor lost souls ....

Blimey. I'm a proxy too.

am we're sure that you .... Liana ..... would never be cruel to another human being even if they didn't think like you .... you would want to respect their difference ...... after all your a Nice person are you not ?

Oh yes. I am a Nice Person alright. No false names for me.... pioden...oops... i mean dinky...

Justyn, your story was funny, and there was no cruelty involved, just a shifting of perception as you say. Those types of things are some of the funniest to me.

I'm not convinced that anyone who finds that “the funniest jokes are truly cruel” - can also be truly nice, Liana, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt ;o)

;o) indeed mykle. *nod, exaggerated wink, nudge*

:o)

I'm not entirely sure if those stories are entirely untrue, the story about the polih lady, true it is only a misunderstandin but we are laughing at her misunderstanding and so singling her out. As for the story about the terrified man? who shot off down the road....both very funny and i may be a nasty person but i'm pretty sure in both these cases it is someone else we are actually laughing AT and therefore singling out and being cruel. Then again no one is actually hurt unless they realise we are laughing at them and then it's only mild bruising that can be deflected with even paper thin skin. Personally i think your perspective of cruelty has to be taken into account when this question is tackled. Of course i could just be taken this a little too far. Isn't laughter some sort of defence mechanism as well to deflect cruelty, don't we laugh to stop ourselves crying sometimes. I remember my grandmothers funeral where we all told jokes and laugh for the whole night reminiscing and getting drunk. Truth be told i'm quite happy telling jokes that are cruel as long as i don't offend anyone we might take it personally, but i do believe that humour stems from cruelty in many cases, but NOT ALL.

i meant uncruel (if that's a word) not untrue....dammit most literate thing i've written in months and i make a mistake in the first sentence....oh well

I'd also give Liana the benefit of the doubt ......errrrr I think but now I'm in one hell of a dilemma!?!?! Errrrr ..... whose Dinky ?

and why does Liana dislike me?

Aww pioden... i dont dislike you! i am a Nice Person, remember?!

* feels confused, wondering who everybody is. Looks to check he's real, can't tell.. starts piling pillows up against his front door.. *