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The part where he says comedy is genetic and not taught seems so… ironic? I don’t get how he can’t see that because his father was funny he was able to learn fr

The part where he says comedy is genetic and not taught seems so… ironic? I don’t get how he can’t see that because his father was funny he was able to learn from him just like his daughter learns from him. So weird. I guess admitting that you can learn how to be funny would take away some of the mystique and cheapen his abilities. Learning to be funny is definitely learnable. I’ve seen folks - especially autists/aspies - learn how to be funny over the course of a relatively short period of time. They learn various formulas and start applying them - boom… they went from bland and boring to they’re suddenly pretty funny.

nickm12 4y ago
Do you happen to have children? I don't know that it's "genetic" but I think Jerry is trying to say that it is innate. I have three children and one of them is extremely funny and has almost always been that way. I think it is both a talent he was born with but also developed once he saw the reactions he could get from it.
kikokikokiko 4y ago
So ain't the ability to "learn how to be funny" encoded genetically in them? And some people, no matter how they tried, would never be able to become funny, since they simply do not have "the genes" that would allow it? Do you think everyone comes from the womb as a tabula rasa? Everyone has the same inherent ability to "learn to be funny"? And on a related note, an autistic guy "being funny" around his family or friends is a lot different than a professional comedian being funny on national television. Just as a national champion track and field competitor must have a baseline genetic ability to achieve this level of success, it's pretty much obvious that a highly successful comedian must be "born" with something special. By definition, he at least must "not be born" with something that impedes him to achieve it.
- telesilla 4y ago
  >autistic guy "being funny" around his family or friends is a lot different than a professional comedian being funny on national television Hannah Gadsby would agree (as an autistic comedian) https://youtu.be/XxETTrbh-WM https://youtu.be/XxETTrbh-WM
  - bambax 4y ago
    She's super funny! Thanks.
- youssefabdelm 4y ago
  Everything is a Remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJPERZDfyWc&ab_channel=KirbyFerguson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJPERZDfyWc&ab_channel=Kirby... "A child never writes his own alphabet. A seed does not grow, it needs soil, water, and radiant energy. A sailboat does not sail, it's shoved by the wind. Nothing in nature is self-activating." - Jacque Fresco We claim to be self-made, to be "born that way", yet we all have accents. But not just accents of speech, accents of action (the surfer learning to skate will skate with a 'surfing accent': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-Boys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-Boys), accents of thought (many of us are familiar with the archetypal poor person in a difficult environment which imprints a 'roof could fall in at any moment' mentality, who then becomes rich yet remains in that frugal mindset), accents permeating every atom of behavior we exhibit. Why are we drawing a line around speech and saying "accents only develop here... everywhere else, we can be totally original or totally genetically talented!" The mind is fashioned by what it feeds on.
nxmnxm99 4y ago
Isn't his father being funny evidence of his claim that it's genetic?
- latexr 4y ago
  Not unless they were estranged (but even then, a sample of one is not evidence). If someone spends a lot of time with their father—who is a chef—and they themselves become a great cook, does that mean cooking skills are genetic? No, it means that having frequent access to a professional is an effective way to learn.
  - hunterb123 4y ago
    Or a combination of both.
comfypotato 4y ago
This stuck out to me as well. It’s a pretty usual thing to hear comedians say that humor is tragedy with time. I wonder if Jerry would say that you need the genetics too.
- youssefabdelm 4y ago
  https://youtu.be/ZiAjERMwMWw?t=606 https://youtu.be/ZiAjERMwMWw?t=606
  - comfypotato 4y ago
    This is very to my question. Also, his egomaniacle attitude is killing me.

nickm12 4y ago

Do you happen to have children? I don't know that it's "genetic" but I think Jerry is trying to say that it is innate. I have three children and one of them is extremely funny and has almost always been that way. I think it is both a talent he was born with but also developed once he saw the reactions he could get from it.

kikokikokiko 4y ago

So ain't the ability to "learn how to be funny" encoded genetically in them? And some people, no matter how they tried, would never be able to become funny, since they simply do not have "the genes" that would allow it? Do you think everyone comes from the womb as a tabula rasa? Everyone has the same inherent ability to "learn to be funny"? And on a related note, an autistic guy "being funny" around his family or friends is a lot different than a professional comedian being funny on national television. Just as a national champion track and field competitor must have a baseline genetic ability to achieve this level of success, it's pretty much obvious that a highly successful comedian must be "born" with something special. By definition, he at least must "not be born" with something that impedes him to achieve it.

telesilla 4y ago
>autistic guy "being funny" around his family or friends is a lot different than a professional comedian being funny on national television Hannah Gadsby would agree (as an autistic comedian) https://youtu.be/XxETTrbh-WM https://youtu.be/XxETTrbh-WM
- bambax 4y ago
  She's super funny! Thanks.
youssefabdelm 4y ago
Everything is a Remix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJPERZDfyWc&ab_channel=KirbyFerguson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJPERZDfyWc&ab_channel=Kirby... "A child never writes his own alphabet. A seed does not grow, it needs soil, water, and radiant energy. A sailboat does not sail, it's shoved by the wind. Nothing in nature is self-activating." - Jacque Fresco We claim to be self-made, to be "born that way", yet we all have accents. But not just accents of speech, accents of action (the surfer learning to skate will skate with a 'surfing accent': https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-Boys https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z-Boys), accents of thought (many of us are familiar with the archetypal poor person in a difficult environment which imprints a 'roof could fall in at any moment' mentality, who then becomes rich yet remains in that frugal mindset), accents permeating every atom of behavior we exhibit. Why are we drawing a line around speech and saying "accents only develop here... everywhere else, we can be totally original or totally genetically talented!" The mind is fashioned by what it feeds on.

nxmnxm99 4y ago

Isn't his father being funny evidence of his claim that it's genetic?

latexr 4y ago
Not unless they were estranged (but even then, a sample of one is not evidence). If someone spends a lot of time with their father—who is a chef—and they themselves become a great cook, does that mean cooking skills are genetic? No, it means that having frequent access to a professional is an effective way to learn.
- hunterb123 4y ago
  Or a combination of both.

comfypotato 4y ago

This stuck out to me as well. It’s a pretty usual thing to hear comedians say that humor is tragedy with time. I wonder if Jerry would say that you need the genetics too.

youssefabdelm 4y ago
https://youtu.be/ZiAjERMwMWw?t=606 https://youtu.be/ZiAjERMwMWw?t=606
- comfypotato 4y ago
  This is very to my question. Also, his egomaniacle attitude is killing me.