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?

Why do jokes hurt wealthy people less
They don’t but apparently they deserve it in some way and they can’t answer back as that would be ‘punching down’.

look, if you don't understand what "punching down" means, you only have to ask.
Clue, you have misunderstood it here.

Oneliners are supposed to make you groan in a lot of cases. Comedy, as we have discussed here ad infinitum, is subjective.

What we are saying is that racist, homophobic, sexist etc jokes are not acceptable. And since a lot of examples of comedy from previous times has been cited here and plenty of people still find it funny, amusing, rib-tickling, hilarious etc, i ask again: what are these jokes from former times that you can't tell?

I understand what it means but I don’t accept the premise. Again, do you think jokes about Caroline Flack would’ve been acceptable when she was alive, because she was a wealthy able-bodied straight white woman? Do you think her money and whiteness would’ve shielded her from them?

I don’t believe in ‘punching down’ because when people do this, they’re joking about entire swathes or groups of people as opposed to just one person. When they punch up, it tends to be about just one person, whether that’s a royal/celebrity etc. I believe the two are on par for ‘hurt caused’.

Do you think it’s acceptable to joke about the elderly or Christians?

What do you call a man with a one inch willie?

Justin

I understand what it means but I don’t accept the premise. Again, do you think jokes about Caroline Flack would’ve been acceptable when she was alive, because she was a wealthy able-bodied straight white woman? Do you think her money and whiteness would’ve shielded her from them?

I am going to assume you haven't read any of what i've written. Or read but not inwardly digested. And i refute the suggestion that you have understood about punching down. And there is no need to re-engage with someone so willfully misunderstanding things just to try a "ha! gotcha!"

It is NOT OK to make anyone the butt of your "jokes" without their connivance.

I loved the (deaf) Mrs Richards scenes in Fawlty Towers when the series first came out but cringe when I watch it now. However, DH has now started wearing hearing aids and DS and I will good humouredly say “Switch them on!” If he misses what we say - its all context and DH is amused,

I started this thread to give people an opportunity to have a laugh - I rather feel as though we’re drifting down the usual “analyse every single word in case it’s ‘woke’ or a further opportunity for ‘cancel culturalists

eh you clearly knew the tone the thread was going to take, , just look at your opening post statement:

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

How else did you not know from this the direction the thread was going to take?

Milton Jones one liners

As an archaeologist, my career was in ruins.
Vandalism in multi storey car parks - wrong on every level.
I got a job as a dishwasher - at a radio observatory.

Jokes - Are they a thing of the past - due to huge response … the debate has now moved to PART TWO …

Brefugee

look, if you don't understand what "punching down" means, you only have to ask.
Clue, you have misunderstood it here

Okay, I’m asking.

Tommy Cooper …
“I went to the doctor the other day because my teeth were itching!”

“Show me a man who lost all his money and can still laugh and I’ll show you an idiot.” (Tommy Cooper)

The Bob Monkhouse jokes have really made us laugh here ( mixed generations). Love the Blackadder too! A nun !

Thanks for the light and sunshine.

More Bob Monkhouse:

"We were so poor mother had to sleep with a rag and bone man so we could have balloons for Christmas."

"Everybody laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian. Well they're not laughing now."

"I still enjoy sex at 68. Well I live at number 66 it's no distance."

"The farmer next door came out and said 'I'd like you to meet my wife and sister.' And there was just the one woman standing there."

"They say marriage is a great institution. So is Dartmoor and Wormwood Scrubs”

"I want to die peacefully in my sleep, like my father. Not screaming and terrified like his passengers."

"I tend to sleep in the nude. Which isn't a bad thing except for maybe on those long flights."

"I came home and found that my son was taking drugs - my very best ones too!"

"My father only hit me once - but he used a Volvo."

"Real happiness is when you marry a girl for love and find out later she has money."

"last week my wife served me something for dinner that was so foul I gave it to the dog, and he licked his bottom to get the taste out of his mouth."

I texted a joke into our regional
morning radio show this morning. They read it out and had a good laugh despite them being out of time for sports headlines. I felt quite happy on the way to work that I had made someone laugh on a wet dreary work morning

To be honest I grew up in the 70’s and most of the jokes were aimed at Polish people and blondes. Being both it was very hurtful to me. There was also a lot of jokes about people of colour too; I remember my uncle who I loved once made a joke about rape! I never saw him in the same light again. I honestly think it’s better now.

Many years ago my brother and his wife mixed up dates and finished up reluctantly seeing a Bob Monkhouse show. They said he was fabulous, very funny, he came over far better than on TV.

Ken Dodd …
“I haven’t spoken to my mother-in-law for 18 months. I don’t like to interrupt her.”

Bob Monkhouse

”My wife served up an evening meal the other day and it was so foul, I gave it to the dog and he had to lick his arse to take the taste away!” (Bob Monkhouse)

Still laughing