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?

Joyce Grenfell and Buster Keaton are vintage comedy and they aren't offensive in any way.

I love the Golden Girls but there are a few episodes that I'm surprised made the cut to go on Disney Plus. It's obvious what the writers intended to do but it really looks awful now. I can't think of any racially sensitive Monty Python material. A few things that might be considered sexist or homophobic....would have to watch again. (The skit with all the soldiers doing a somewhat effeminate dance and making the commanding officer uncomfortable for reasons he can't articulate.)

Frasier has aged like a fine wine. There are a couple of episodes where there's a joke on people not realising someone is gay but the joke is never about them being gay. I suppose there's the question about Gil's sexuality but he turned out to be straight so I think they were just poking fun at the idea that gay men must all act a certain way.

The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town - Two Ronnies

Frasier has aged like a fine wine. There are a couple of episodes where there's a joke on people not realising someone is gay but the joke is never about them being gay. I suppose there's the question about Gil's sexuality but he turned out to be straight so I think they were just poking fun at the idea that gay men must all act a certain way.

I remember when Gil first mentioned his “wife” Frasier saying “Well that’s the first time anyone’s gone back into the closet.”

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

Banned from SeaWorld.

@IncompleteSenten How dare u promote the captivity of sea creatures. That's offensive! 😜😜😜

Same here. Can't bear it. So crude.

There’s nothing to debate with the assertion that under-40s are humourless, since it’s so clearly nonsense. What age do you think most of the performers and audience of the Fringe are?

My three year old is big on jokes. Well, one joke:

Knock knock
Who's there?
Cow goes
Cow goes who?
NO! Cow goes MOO!

She'll cackle at this for entire minutes before heading off around the corner to repeat it.

My favourite is the alligator in a vest, as told upthread, and this:

What's the difference between a weasel and a stoat?
One's weaselly identified - the other's stoatally different.

Is usually find those who claim people are humourless under 40, or you can't make jokes these days often mean 'you can't get away being needlessly offensive anymore'

I actually disagree with PP and actually I find the older people get, on here especially, the less humour they seem to have, the amount of lighthearted posts that get serious replies for example, is embarrassing.

People seem to forget their audience matters when it comes to humour, and knowing what people find acceptable. I wouldn't whip out a Nazi joke around strangers, but around some friends who I know share history humour i do. Same with dark jokes, rude jokes, even offensive jokes.

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!

I was waiting for someone else to ask so I wouldn't look stupid, but... I don't get if!

You're-a-peeing...

And I agree with @candycaneframe - a lot of the older humour is just punching down, which is a shitty thing to do, or going for low-hanging fruit, which is either shitty or just a bit easy and cheap. My friends and I laugh and tease and banter a lot - we just also know that some topics really aren't that funny. And, again like candycaneframe, we all calibrate our humour for our audience so that nobody's hurt and everyone has a good time. I can't see what's problematic about that.

Do you mean jokes as in "one liners" or the kind of jokes in joke books?

Or practical jokes?

Or comedy shows/ programmes?

Or more general humour?

Whether "Jokes" are less popular and whether people generally have less of a sense of humour aren't really the same thing are they?

In day to day life I think people I encounter laugh a lot, and have a sense of humour about the little day to day things. They're not reciting "set piece" jokes or making cruel, snide comments or humiliating anyone though.

"Jokes" which rely on humiliation of a victim to make an audience laugh should be a thing of the past IMO, but the kind of humour that gets everyone through the day without despairing is essential!

Its true that many jokes are considered offensive these days. And many actually were!!
Its also true that some people go out of their way to find offence in anything and everything. It must be hard work being so miserable all of the time.
Those of a certain age ( and thankfully well before the internet)
Will remember that if there was ever a big disaster or a famous person died, there tended to be some quite sick jokes circulating, and some of these were extremely offensive!!
The last time I think I ever heard a really sick joke was upon the death of Michael Jackson, which I won't repeat

My favourite.. ahem..

Why did the washing machine laugh?

Because it was taking the piss out of your knickers

😂 never fails to make me laugh.

I like smutty jokes, dark humour, ‘inyourendo’s’, sarcasm, slapstick (Laurel and hardy makes me howl), general piss taking out of each other, my kids being daft, physical comedy like Jim Carey and sometimes just being stupid with my husband (like mock interviews of his new CD- “all
about the trumps”, where he exhibits the songs and I ask in depth questions about their trumpy meanings).. that kind of shit really 😊

Im 32 by the way.

nowadays it’s difficult because it’s based on different parameters that can’t touch on stereotypes etc

I don’t think this is true. There is just less humour based on offensive stereotypes or punching down. Here’s a recent song by comedian Bo Burnham which is based on stereotypes: m.youtube.com/watch?v=xHotXbGZiFY

Most humour comes at someone's expense but the context and nature of it matter.

I said earlier that Joyce Grenfell is inoffensive but her monologues were poking gentle fun at certain characters, like the stressed out lady in church or nursery teacher. Still, I don't think there's anything unkind in any of it. It's more about the situations they're in than the people themselves.

A PP upthread said that jokes weren’t allowed at work any more. That certainly wasn’t true in my operating theatre - I had a completely mad male anaesthetic nurse from an agency, who was very experienced and great at his job, but cracked non stop dodgy jokes every time he turned up.
We once had a competition for who could make the most offensive joke. He won with:
“Two prostitutes chatting. One says “Have you ever been hauled up by the Fuzz?”
”No, but I’ve been swung round by the tits!”.
Second place went to: “What did the leper say to the prostitute? You can keep the tip…!”
I think those are both worse than anything I heard back in the 60s. As is Jimmy Carr with his vile rape jokes.

My current favourite joke.

My wife is kicking me out because she's fed up with my South American animal puns...
'OK,' I said, 'Alpaca my bags.'

As a child in the 70's I remember Till Death Us do Part, even aged 12 I knew it was poking fun at Alf Garnett for being a racist and challenging many societal norms of the time.
Steptoe & son was very funny, all about a son aspiring to be better.
The awful sitcoms were the contrived middle class comedies that frankly didn't relate to anyone I knew in real life.
I remember Some mothers do ave em being pilloried for mocking a person who may have sen. So we weren't as ableist a society as pp's on here think.
At the time I thought it was hilarious and saw Frank Spencer as just socially awkward and a bit clumsy.
Interestingly my friends dm spent her life volunteering at what was called the physically handicapped, of course she'd be criticised now, rightly, for referring to anyone as handicapped.

Oh yes, Joyce Grenfell! I love her school reunion monologue.

Maybe jokes are a thing of the past (although kids still enjoy them) but there are a few comedians that still tell short jokes. Most do a longer sort of set up.

There are loads of great comedy shows available , old and new. The Other One, Gameface, the outlaws etc are some of my more recent favourites.

🤣
I'm a monster.

I like quick one liners.

Comedians don't tell jokes anymore it's all stories which aren't even funny by the time you get to the end?

That is my favourite joke ever, along with....
What's brown and sticky ? A stick

My favourites are:

Q: How do you get Pikachu on a bus?
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A. Pokémon

And:

Q. In a field of cows, how do you which one is on holiday?
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A. The one with the wee calf

And finally:

Q. What do you call a deer with no eyes?
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A. No idea

Q2. What do you call a deer with no eyes and no legs?
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A2. Still no idea

You're welcome.