Jokes - are they a thing of the past?

[WhenDanMetHelen]

Growing up in the 1960’s … humour was all around but nowadays it’s difficult because it’s based on different parameters that can’t touch on stereotypes etc …

Modern day examples sound funny but apart from the World’s Funniest Joke (as told by Monty Python) it was so funny that everyone who read it, allegedly died laughing, a lot of comedy we’re told is funny - just isn’t -

I read a joke online last week;
If you go into a bathroom as an American and Come out of the bathroom as an American … What are you while you’re in the bathroom?

ANSWER:
European!

What kind of jokes (these days) make you laugh?

I'm in the middle. I'm glad the Jim Davidson/American frat boy era is done. I think its just a different sort of humour now and more character based. I enjoy things like This Country and more gentle comedies like Detectorists as I can relate to them more. Mrs Browns boys is popular but i find it cringey and old fashioned. I'm in my 40's so have seen humour change over the years and lot.

What did the zero say to the eight?
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.Nice belt!

What do you think it is about Blackadder that would mean it didn't get made today?

Jokes against the nobility being in charge of anything but being thick as anything and needing social inferiors (Baldrick, Blackadder) to dig them out of holes? Punching up is fine

Jokes against the empire? (as in stealing land) sure, go ahead

Jokes where Blackadder is trying to get one over people but fails? no problem, he is a dick a lot of the time, but most of the time he's a social inferior trying to get by

And so on. The WW1 episodes were a MASSIVE poke at how the "higher-ups" were incompetent and wasteful of human life.

There are excellent comedians about now, some are bland, some are edgy, some cross a line. People say Ricky Gervais and Chris Rock are problematic - but they're still telling misogynistic jokes and doing quite well. Tim Vine is flipping hilarious. John Oliver is good, but you have to sit still and listen for 20 minutes to appreciate his wonderfulness. Trevor Noah and his crew manage to be funny without being patronising racist twats. People who think there are no comedians around aren't looking. Or they're looking for 70s style shit "jokes" that punch down and have victims in the punchline.

i would really like the fans of 70s humour to post their favourite hilarity that simply can't be matched these days. (Dave Allen had some brilliant observational humour, ditto Jasper Carrot, Clive James was funny, Peter Ustinov - afaik none of those were awful people)

Which side of a sheep has the most wool?

...the outside! 😆

Why is 6 afraid of 7?
Because 7 8 9 (7 ate 9)

I think Blackadder is relatively unproblematic compared to some if the others like It Ain't Half Hot Mum for example

I disagree people are humourless - I would say a lot of people’s sense of humour is a bit more sophisticated now and they are more witty but often more subtle. I see a lot of gentle and clever (and sometime brutal) humour on Twitter, and often laugh out loud or go down a rabbit hole reading replies and exchanges - but I suppose like anything it depends what you look at!

I do like a bit of Kunt and the Gang though he doesn't do so much in the way of comedy outside of songs now. The one that always makes me crack up is when he said that his local paper had printed that he was a racist. He made a complaint and they apologised and said it was a misprint, it was supposed to say rapist.

It's subjective isn't it.

There was an acquaintance I used to see occasionally socially and she had (what I perceived as) a fairly mean sense of humour, constantly taking the piss out of people in an effort to be funny and get a laugh at someone else's expense.

Most of it fell flat with me, I prefer humour to be intelligent, but my biggest bug bear with her was that if anyone ever turned the tables on her and tried to take the piss she'd get all defensive and refuse to see the funny side, her double standards just pissed me right off. She could dish it out but not a chance she'd receive it.

Happy to say I no longer have this dullard in my life!

Are you asking why people don't tell racist, sexist, xenophobic, disabilist etc jokes these days?

Sadly they do but thankfully there are fewer of them.

Jokes, actual jokes, are still plentiful.

What do you get if you mix human DNA and whale DNA?

Banned from SeaWorld.

@00100001 😂👏

Short answer: no.

Long anser: no, of course not.

‘Growing up in the 1960’s … humour was all around but nowadays it’s difficult because it’s based on different parameters that can’t touch on stereotypes etc …’’

personally in ever found racist and homophobic jokes funny, not even as a kid when it was ‘okay’ … plenty of jokes around. Dad jokes are my fav.

I never found…

Ah yes, the classic 'you cant joke about anything any more'
There is a thriving comedy circuit in the UK full of acts making audiences laugh every single night without being offensive.
Glad that Tim Vine has already been mentioned - a great example of someone who writes very clever, funny material without needing to punch down or rely on outdated stereotypes.
There is a whole wide world out there, and people find joy and humour everywhere - if you need to resort to punching down, or using outdated stereotypes, then you just arent that good of a comedian.
And dont come at me about the old greats as obviously we had some very funny people who mixed in with some great material had some horrible stuff.
I mean today, right now, comedians on the circuit know full well making misogynistic jokes isnt okay, as its 2022. So making jokes about that instead of one of the billions of other topics available is just laziness or lack of ability.

Go to the Edinburgh Fringe and you will see there is plenty of humour, comedy is just as funny.

Bit weird to want the racist/sexist/other 60s 'humour' back.

Does anyone actually find Mrs Brown's boys funny? I cringe if I see even an advert for it.

DD17 is very funny.

She's LQBTQ+ and makes a lot of jokes about that too.

Exactly what I was going to say. Sounds like you're just mad you can't make offensive jokes without being called out anymore. Humour is still here, people tend to get more miserable the older they get

Am curious what in Blackadder amongst other comedies makes it un-commissionable today.

Elements of Thick of It and Yes Minister still simultaneously funny to me and a documentary.

Cringe/The Office and imitators seem a relatively recent development that perhaps didn't exist pre-90s?

I loves sketch shows and I think they've gone. Even Tim nice but dim would get people complaining and asking to be kind.

What do you call a Scottish cloakroom attendant?

Angus McOat-up

Just remembered my favourite Billy Connolly line...

"I'd like to thank the Catholic Church for the rhythm method of birth control, without which I wouldn't be here at all"

What happened to the frog when he broke down on the motorway ?

He got toad away.