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I have not seen a funny comic in such a long time. Maybe it my age, but I thought I had decent taste in comedy. I never thought Leno was funny. Seinfield was

I have not seen a funny comic in such a long time. Maybe it my age, but I thought I had decent taste in comedy. I never thought Leno was funny. Seinfield was tedious. It just seems like the last two decades have been pitiful? I heard a convict being interviewed a few years ago. The interviewer asked him what he does all day. He said, "I try to figure out why Saturday Night Live is not funny, and ways to make it funny again." The lady looked at him like he was crazy, but I kinda understood what he was getting at. I think about some of my favorite comedians over the years, and they all had two things in common: were poor, or low middle class, griping up. And did a fair amount of drugs. Drugs that would get you fired these days. I'm not equating drugs with good comedy. I just don't know the reason. It couldn't be that all the material has alwready been said?

hguant 5y ago
Most cities have comedy clubs; don't go to those. Go to the bars that do weekly standup, those are the places the comedy show folks go to try out new material, or where newer folks try to break into the scene. You get exposed to a lot of things that would never be allowed on any sort of broadcast medium, and are often uproariously funny.
dsr_ 5y ago
Humor is notoriously subjective and also dependent on mood. The Goes Wrong Show is reliably funny for me; the premise is that a small-town serious theater troop has lucked into a time slot on a BBC channel, and they do their earnest utmost to do theatre well. But -- it all goes wrong. There's a stage version and two (UK) seasons of the show. Whose Line Is It Anyway? typically manages a few howlingly good bits in any given show. Key and Peele did five seasons and I get something hilarious out of basically every show, but I also think they fall flat several times per show. Saturday Night Live has had good years and bad; they've always had a problem with knowing when to stop a sketch, but they're still worth watching, if not worth staying up for. There's a lot of survivorship bias with SNL: you can see the best bits of 45 years, and compared with that, how's this week's show going to rate?
nkingsy 5y ago
Ronny Chieng Bill Burr Nate Bargatze Fortune Feimster Gary Gulman Just a few I was able to dig up who made me laugh a lot. I guess it depends what you like, but the art form has been really sharpened over the last 10-20 years, to the point where, similar to film, the majority of the content out there conforms to a style that everyone seems to agree is good. In comedy, that style is confessional, tagged storytelling with interwoven callbacks. If you don’t like that, yeah, you probably don’t like modern comedy.
xsmasher 5y ago
Saturday Night Live peaked when you were in high school, and has been downhill ever since, with occasional flashes of brilliance.

hguant 5y ago

Most cities have comedy clubs; don't go to those. Go to the bars that do weekly standup, those are the places the comedy show folks go to try out new material, or where newer folks try to break into the scene. You get exposed to a lot of things that would never be allowed on any sort of broadcast medium, and are often uproariously funny.

dsr_ 5y ago

Humor is notoriously subjective and also dependent on mood. The Goes Wrong Show is reliably funny for me; the premise is that a small-town serious theater troop has lucked into a time slot on a BBC channel, and they do their earnest utmost to do theatre well. But -- it all goes wrong. There's a stage version and two (UK) seasons of the show. Whose Line Is It Anyway? typically manages a few howlingly good bits in any given show. Key and Peele did five seasons and I get something hilarious out of basically every show, but I also think they fall flat several times per show. Saturday Night Live has had good years and bad; they've always had a problem with knowing when to stop a sketch, but they're still worth watching, if not worth staying up for. There's a lot of survivorship bias with SNL: you can see the best bits of 45 years, and compared with that, how's this week's show going to rate?

nkingsy 5y ago

Ronny Chieng Bill Burr Nate Bargatze Fortune Feimster Gary Gulman Just a few I was able to dig up who made me laugh a lot. I guess it depends what you like, but the art form has been really sharpened over the last 10-20 years, to the point where, similar to film, the majority of the content out there conforms to a style that everyone seems to agree is good. In comedy, that style is confessional, tagged storytelling with interwoven callbacks. If you don’t like that, yeah, you probably don’t like modern comedy.

xsmasher 5y ago

Saturday Night Live peaked when you were in high school, and has been downhill ever since, with occasional flashes of brilliance.