Some mirth

[Belle]

Still outsourcing your ideas and thinking? Nothing original to say, just the usual cartoons and one-liners? Same with the film; no commentary, just cut and paste. Same with music. Sad.

Jon Stewart is just another political apparatchik posing as a comedian and about as funny as a bucket of sick. He reverts to the classic old leftist saws and tropes and is entirely predictable. A bit of intellectual honesty from these political enablers; they should fess up and get onto the hustings, where they belong.

I agree with Alan Dershowitz; 'the audience gaffaws at these unfunny talk show hosts and you can tell much of the laughter is forced and fake'!!

Let's see: whom can I believe? Professor Dershowitz or Jon Stewart. Gosh, I'll have to get back to you!!

[jserraglio]

Jon Stewart is just another political apparatchik posing as a comedian and about as funny as a bucket of sick.

Jeez, and up to now I had thought that, besides being completely devoid of any sense of humor, anyone low enough to offer mouth honor to an autocratic strongman’s claim that America is in steep decline had to be subsisting entirely on an exclusive diet of sick!

Reckon I need to take in another episode of the brilliant Daily Show for my digestion to recover!!!

no commentary, just cut and paste

Once a schoolmarm, always a schoolmarm. So the saying goes. But I quite understand why she objects to cut and paste; she either cannot or will not read the material.

Regarding my lack of commentary, I am not presumptuous enough to regard the folks here as so dull that they need to have cribs imposed upon them in the form of explications so tedious, badly spelled and syntactically fractured that they exude a sort of matronly charm.

Sad.

Sad indeed, but sadder still is the fact that, all too often, it happens to be a certain Belle’s longwinded, verbose, interminable, repetitive screeds that I end up quoting. Why does she bother to write at all??!!

[Rach3]

Royally Speaking
By Paul Rudnick
July 24, 2023, New Yorker

Prince Harry spoke with multiple producers and production houses . . . to discuss possible shows. Along the way, Harry listened to various ideas from others but mostly stuck by his own—including one about childhood trauma. The concept: Harry would interview a procession of controversial guests, such as Vladimir Putin, Mark Zuckerberg and Donald Trump, about their early formative years and how those experiences resulted in the adults they are today. . . . Harry hoped to have Pope Francis on as a guest.

—Bloomberg.

Many of these chats were recorded. Here’s a sampling:


harry: So, was your childhood difficult? I mean, compared with mine?

putin: Well, did you know my grandfather was a cook for both Lenin and Stalin? Can you imagine? Both of them, they’d pretend to eat grains and dirt, the food of the people, but Grandpa is fixing them kugel and vichyssoise and cupcakes. Lenin loved cupcakes. He would ask, “Should I promise the people cupcakes?”

harry: But were you hounded by paparazzi?

putin: No, just wolves and other children. But, when kids would pick on me, do you know what I’d do? Two words: poisoned cupcakes.

harry: Was your father very distant?

putin: Yes, sometimes we were in Leningrad, he was in Moscow. Many kilometres.

harry: Did you ever feel lost?

putin: Of course. In the Leningrad train depot, because sometimes it was called St. Petersburg, so I’d wonder, How did I get to Florida?


----------

harry: Mr. Trump, when you were a child, did you think your life was glamorous?

trump: I grew up in Queens, so yes.

harry: Did you always want to be a businessman?

trump: No, actually, I wanted to be a baseball player, but my dad gave me a million dollars and said, “Now you’re a businessman.” Then I went bankrupt six times and my dad said, “I should’ve been more specific. I should’ve said, ‘Now you’re a good businessman.’ ”

harry: Did you have trouble dating, because you were famous?

trump: Never. So many girls—all they wanted to do was date me. So I’d pay them, and then they’d want another date. I thought, Man, I’m so popular.

harry: Why didn’t you join the Army, like me?

trump: Bone spurs, I think on my hands, somewhere. I wanted to enlist, but my doctor told me, “You have bone spurs, also syphilis.” I’m kidding! I didn’t have bone spurs.


------------

harry: When you were little, did your footmen ever laugh at you?

zuckerberg: Everyone laughed, because I cut my own hair, in a bowl cut. So I told myself, “Someday they’ll be sorry. Someday I’ll cut their hair.”

harry: Did people expect you to be perfect?

zuckerberg: Define “people.”

harry: Your parents or teachers or your whole country.

zuckerberg: Speak English. I’m still not getting the “people” thing.

harry: Did you dream of stealing the idea for Facebook and making billions?

zuckerberg: Yes. And now I’m in a cage match with Elon Musk. Which was also a childhood dream. Along with having sex several times, with another person. Oh, now I’m getting your “people” thing.

--------------


harry: Your Holiness, when you were in grade school, did your teachers say, “You’d better behave, because someday you might be the Pope”?

francis: Yes, and then my mama would say, “If everyone else in the world dies.”

harry: Do you miss your mom? She would’ve been so proud.

francis: Sometimes I picture her in Heaven, telling Jesus, “It’s still not a grandchild.”

harry: Did you have problems with your brother?

francis: I had four siblings, so I’d tell them, “Someday, when I’m the Pope, you’re gonna want to be blessed. And you know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna say, ‘Guards, give my brother a wedgie.’ ”

harry: Are you trying to make the world a better place?

francis: Every day. Mostly so I can meet Kate Middleton. What’s she like?

harry: A little chilly.

francis: Yum. That’s my type. I once met Ivanka Trump, and do you know what she asked me? She said, “Mr. Pope, can I build a golf course in the Vatican? And am I prettier than Kate Middleton? And was marrying Jared the best I could do?” So I told her, “If you wanted my answers, maybe you shouldn’t have converted to Judaism.”

harry: What advice would you give to a young prince?

francis: Just what I told Ivanka, if I was in her shoes. I said, “Listen to me, bubbeleh: pray.”

♦


Paul Rudnick is a regular contributor to The New Yorker. His latest novel is “Farrell Covington and the Limits of Style.”

[barney]

Great stuff, Steve, thanks.

[Rach3]

Justice Jackson shuts down SCOTUS blow-hard Alito today:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/ketanji-brow ... 03313.html

[Rach3]

Topics for your Bible study group from New Yorker today:

The relationship between a parent and a child can be a tricky one. Have your parents ever bound you to an altar—as Abraham did to Isaac—ignoring your pleas for mercy and fully intent on sacrificing you, only to abandon their plan at the appearance of a ram?

Joseph, the dandy shepherd who, rather impractically, tended his flock while wearing a coat of many colors, was eventually promoted to second-in-command of Egypt. Do you think that you should dress for the job you want, or the job you have?

Gift shopping can be a nightmare, especially when you’re buying for someone you don’t know. If you were one of the Three Wise Men, what would you have selected for Baby Jesus?

John the Baptist famously lived near the River Jordan. Do you find it difficult to separate your work and home lives?

Have you ever worked super hard for a promotion, as Nehemiah the Cupbearer did, only to find that your new role had way more responsibility (such as testing the king’s wine for poison) and didn’t even come with health insurance?

Seriously, myrrh? That’s, like, tree sap. You would give the Son of God mildly medicinal tree sap?

Recently, Herod the Great has come under fire for his toxic behavior. (See: the time he ordered the execution of all male children aged two and under in the greater Bethlehem region.) Do you think that Herod might have handled his insecurities more constructively if he had better access to therapy?


Many characters in this book seem to bear grudges or express the desire to exact outsized revenge. Have you ever condemned an entire sex to travail during childbirth for eating an apple, or turned anyone into a pillar of salt for looking at something?

Nathan the Prophet was sent by Yahweh to reprimand King David for the rape of Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah the Hittite, and yet Nathan ultimately consolidates David’s reign. Do you think that Nathan was more or less effective than a congressionally appointed select committee?

Job loses his wealth, his children, and his physical health all in a day, and yet he does not complain but accepts this as his earthly fate. God eventually rewards Job, restoring him to his former state and then some. Do you think that, sometimes, it’s not the squeaky wheel that gets the grease?

Sodom, Gomorrah, the Desert of Paran—have you ever taken a forgettable summer vacation?

Which character would you most like to see receive a spinoff: Ruth, Lucifer, or Balaam’s ass? ♦

[barney]

I saw these, too, Steve, and thought they were great. Didn't occur to me to post them here though. Good for you.

[jserraglio]

Jon Stewart 15 April — Talking World War III Blues, Trump’s dementia, his drooling at his trial, the “Is he Jesus or Mandela?” debate, etc. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NgeLRtpC2WI

[barney]

Jon Stewart 15 April — Talking World War III Blues, Trump’s dementia, his drooling at his trial, the “Is he Jesus or Mandela?” debate, etc. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NgeLRtpC2WI

I don't really understand why this guy is so popular. His technique seems to be find a bit of news coverage, say the opposite of that and then play the coverage, and the audience finds this hilarious. And what does he think should have happened after the fall of the Ottoman Empire? And he doesn't know there are two kinds of Islam? (Yes, I know he's being sarcastic, but he probably doesn't know that there's a lot more than that, in fact.) Still, each to their own.

[jserraglio]

Jon Stewart 15 April — Talking World War III Blues, Trump’s dementia, his drooling at his trial, the “Is he Jesus or Mandela?” debate, etc. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NgeLRtpC2WI

I don't really understand why this guy is so popular. His technique seems to be find a bit of news coverage, say the opposite of that and then play the coverage, and the audience finds this hilarious. And what does he think should have happened after the fall of the Ottoman Empire? And he doesn't know there are two kinds of Islam? (Yes, I know he's being sarcastic, but he probably doesn't know that there's a lot more than that, in fact.) Still, each to their own.

Stewart knows a lot more than you give him credit for, though that isn't exactly his trade, is it? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE

[barney]

I'm not criticising his intelligence; I'm sure he's very bright. I'm criticising the credulous simplicity of Americans who think it's really clever and funny to find a news clip then introduce it by asserting the opposite. Even I could do that. And in the last clip that was posted here, that's all he did, plus pausing with a smirk which prompted more laughter. Why is sitting still with a superior smile and one eyebrow raised hilarious - not once, but time after time?

America has produced some very funny people - exhibit A: Groucho Marx; exhibit B: Donald Trump (unwittingly); exhibit C: Ambrose Bierce - I just don't think Stewart is one of them. But I'm very happy for people to disagree, as they obviously do.

[jserraglio]

I'm criticising the credulous simplicity of Americans who think it's really clever and funny to find a news clip then introduce it by asserting the opposite. Even I could do that.

And a lotta folks have tried ever since Jon Stewart basically invented parodic "fake news" as a comedy form some 28 years ago now. And yet, paraphrasing the imminent DJT, "people say" Stewart is the most trusted American newsman since Walter Cronkite.

Now, though many Americans may be, as you suggest, open to criticism for being somewhat dotty, at least they ain’t dour.

Why is sitting still with a superior smile and one eyebrow raised hilarious - not once, but time after time?

A throwback to that great fiddle player, Jack Benny? In any event, repetitio est mater comoediae.

[Belle]

I absolutely loved Peter Cook. Here he is with (Aussie) Clive James and afterwards Barry Humphries. British humour. You can't beat it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hvU9CUllTo

[Rach3]

"Yes,Prime Minister" on newspapers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l63aIA3e-Tc

[jserraglio]

Jon Stewart 10 Years Ago: The Daily Show, 2014
We Need to Talk About Israel https://m.youtube.com/watch?time_contin ... e=emb_logo

[barney]

I'm criticising the credulous simplicity of Americans who think it's really clever and funny to find a news clip then introduce it by asserting the opposite. Even I could do that.

And a lotta folks have tried ever since Jon Stewart basically invented parodic "fake news" as a comedy form some 28 years ago now. And yet, paraphrasing the imminent DJT, "people say" Stewart is the most trusted American newsman since Walter Cronkite.

Now, though many Americans may be, as you suggest, open to criticism for being somewhat dotty, at least they ain’t dour.

Why is sitting still with a superior smile and one eyebrow raised hilarious - not once, but time after time?

A throwback to that great fiddle player, Jack Benny? In any event, repetitio est mater comoediae.

Great line about repetition being the mother of comedy. Never heard that. Where is it from?

[Belle]

"Yes,Prime Minister" on newspapers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l63aIA3e-Tc

Absolute comedy gold. The writing on both "Yes, Minister" and "Yes Prime Minister" is amongst the very best ever created for television, comedy or drama - and that's a high bar. The Brits have got IT. You can see how much Jay and Lynn (writers of "Yes Minister") were influenced by G&S.

After all, this is the nation which gave us Shakespeare. (I have a theory that the British mediocrity in musical theatre is a consequence of their literary skill in the theatre and literature more generally.)

This was another masterful example of British wit: dear God, we're sorely in need of this kind of satire today!! What would G&S have made of 'my preferred pronouns'??!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCBxI9yKLgw

[Rach3]

What would G&S have made of 'my preferred pronouns'??!!

Nothing at all.

[Belle]

[jserraglio]

I'm criticising the credulous simplicity of Americans who think it's really clever and funny to find a news clip then introduce it by asserting the opposite. Even I could do that.

And a lotta folks have tried ever since Jon Stewart basically invented parodic "fake news" as a comedy form some 28 years ago now. And yet, paraphrasing the imminent DJT, "people say" Stewart is the most trusted American newsman since Walter Cronkite.

Now, though many Americans may be, as you suggest, open to criticism for being somewhat dotty, at least they ain’t dour.

Why is sitting still with a superior smile and one eyebrow raised hilarious - not once, but time after time?

A throwback to that great fiddle player, Jack Benny? In any event, repetitio est mater comoediae.

Great line about repetition being the mother of comedy. Never heard that. Where is it from?

i made it up (not really) the proper maxim is Repetitio est mater studiorum. Sourced from my fearsome Latin I teacher of 1957, he repeated it tirelessly.

[Belle]

[barney]

John Spooner used to be a quite a good friend at The Age. He is a brilliant cartoonist/illustrator. But with utter crap like this one, I wouldn't know what to say if I met him today.

[Rach3]

UKRAINE (The Borowitz ReportApril22)—After six months of what seemed at times an unwinnable battle, on Saturday the Ukrainian army scored a stunning victory over Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

Jubilant Ukrainian soldiers cheered as news spread that their despised foe from Georgia’s 14th congressional district had been dealt a humiliating defeat.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who greeted his front-line troops with a flurry of high fives, declared, “This is a war between freedom and Marjorie Taylor Greene. Ukraine chooses freedom.”

Answering a reporter’s question, Zelensky signaled that he might be open to direct talks with Greene, but added, “We would need an interpreter since only I speak English.”

On Sunday, Greene was still fuming about Ukraine’s win, telling Fox News, “I don’t see why Zelensky needs more weapons when he already has space lasers.”

[jserraglio]

He who has the fastest golf cart never has a bad lie. —Mickey Mantle

Donald Trump Never Cheats at Golf. His Caddy Does That for Him.
https://www.esquire.com/sports/a2645453 ... -in-cheat/

[jserraglio]

The unrivalled comedian, Jon Stewart weighs in on the media’s overblown coverage of Trump’s criminal trial, from sketch-artist interviews to following his motorcade via helicopter... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zqkf2U5jcE0

[Rach3]

https://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/dail ... =TNY_Humor

[barney]

https://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/dail ... =TNY_Humor

Many a true word spoken in jest, Steve. To Australians, it really shouldn't matter if SCOTUS judges are appointed by Dems or GOP; they should be ruling on the law without fear or favour. This ideal seems long lost in the US system - and not only the Supreme Court. Look at Judge Cannon - deeply corrupt. We have no idea who our High Court justices vote for, which is as it should be.

[barney]

The unrivalled comedian, Jon Stewart weighs in on the media’s overblown coverage of Trump’s criminal trial, from sketch-artist interviews to following his motorcade via helicopter... https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zqkf2U5jcE0

I know you're just being provocative, Joe, calling him unrivalled but you exemplify why the rest of the world think Americans just don't get humour - especially not the subtler forms, such as irony. That's why I don't think you were being ironic in calling him unrivalled, as a non-American might be. I just watched the first 30 seconds. "It's a big day for Donald Trump" - laughter. "Huge" - more laughter. This is hilarious? The same when he sees his juror "brother" and looks back and forth a dozen times at the picture. Perhaps he knows that you wouldn't get it if he just did it once, so he has to labour it beyond tedium.

Well, I suppose it's a good thing for you that you are so easily amused.

[Belle]

Bravo, Barney. Stewart is just another activist hack who thinks ridicule is funny. Yes, well so is having my ears sawn off.

Let's look at some REALLY funny Americans, past and present. Bob Hope. He was non-partisan but actually an Englishman. Woody Allen, who uses irony like Australians use a fly swat!! In many respects similar in humour to Bob Hope. Both hapless and self-deprecating.

"Dynamo ham" he says in "Annie Hall", as a Jew imbibing ham!! And, in "Hannah and Her Sisters":

"Why were there Nazis?"
"Tell him Morti"
"I don't know why there were Nazis; I'm having enough trouble getting the can-opener to work!"

Every nation gets jokes like those. Clever and funny - and imaginative!!!

Plenty of other funny American comedians. I loved this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XC3Hc-rAkk

[jserraglio]

Stewart is just another activist hack who thinks ridicule is funny. Yes, well so is having my ears sawn off.

C’mon, admit it, doing THAT bit, you’d knock ‘em dead!!!

We agree about Bob Hope though, that bloke was an immigrant who grew up in my hometown. Hope was really funny and a decent guy, like all Clevelanders — if that man only coulda been elected President instead of Dick Nixon, we’d be much better off today.

We also agree, the roster of American comedians is long and distinguished, particularly in the stunning, amazing Jewish-American tradition of humor, which the iconoclastic Jon Stewart is part and parcel of.

Jon Stewart
“We've come from the same history – 2000 years of persecution – we've just expressed our sufferings differently. Blacks developed the blues. Jews complained [kvetched]; we just never thought of putting it to music.”

Groucho Marx
“Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.”

Billy Crystal
“At 60, I could do the same things I could do at 30, if I could only remember what those things are.”

Jerry Seinfeld
“My parents didn't want to move to Florida, but they turned sixty and that's the law.”

Jackie Mason
“My grandfather always said, ‘Don't watch your money, watch your health.’ So one day while I was watching my health, someone stole my money. It was my grandfather.”

Rodney Dangerfield
“My wife and I were happy for twenty years. Then we met..”

Mel Brooks
“Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die.”

Lenny Bruce
“If you live in New York, even if you're Catholic, you're Jewish.”

George Burns
“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.”

Gilda Radner
“Well it just goes to show you, it’s always something, you either got a toenail in your hamburger or toilet paper clinging to your shoe.” (as Roseanne Roseannadanna on SNL)

Joan Rivers
“I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes and six months later you have to start all over again.”

Don Rickles
“Room service is great. If you want to pay $500 for a club sandwich.”

Sid Caesar
“The guy who invented the first wheel was an idiot. The guy who invented the other three, he was a genius.”

Milton Berle
“My wife and I have a perfect understanding. I don't try to run her life, and I don't try to run mine.”

Jerry Lewis
“When I was a kid, I said to my father one afternoon, 'Daddy, will you take me to the zoo?' He answered, 'If the zoo wants you, let them come and get you'.”

Jack Benny
“I don't deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don't deserve that either.”

Albert Brooks
“I was in Kashmir last weekend. Went to visit one of my sweaters.”

Roseanne Barr
“I’m not going to vacuum ’til Sears makes one you can ride on.

Garry Shandling
“I'm very loyal in a relationship. Any relationship. When I go out with my mom, I don't look at other moms and go, "I wonder what her macaroni and cheese tastes like."

Robert Klein
“I was in the De Witt Clinton High School marching band. One of the worst bands ever formed. When we played the national anthem, people from every country stood – except Americans.”

Nichols & May
“No doubt you are as alarmed as I by the tragic decline in America's language skills. If 10 people read the following sentence: ‘Two tanker trucks have just overturned in Alaska, spilling a total of 10,000 gallons of beer onto a highway,’ two would find an error in subject-verb agreement, two would find an error in spelling, and six would find a sponge and drive north.”

Andy Kaufman
“Okay, now be quiet, I will pay $1000 to any woman that will beat me in this ring. I will not only do that, I will shave my head completely bald if I am beaten here. And any woman that will beat me has an extra prize she will get to marry me. Right here. She will take my hand in marriage. I will offer my hand in marriage if she beats me right here.”

Shelly Berman
“If you've never met a student from the University of Chicago, I'll describe him to you. If you give him a glass of water, he says, ‘This is a glass of water. But is it a glass of water? And if it is a glass of water, why is it a glass of water?’ And eventually he dies of thirst.”

Mort Sahl
“Most people past college age are not atheists. It's too hard to be in society, for one thing. Because you don't get any days off. And if you're an agnostic you don't know whether you get them off or not.”

Seth Rogen
“I am lazy, but for some reason, I am so paranoid that I end up working hard.”

And Mark Miller forgot to mention Sarah Silverman:

“When I was in high school, I went out with my father’s best friend. And that’s embarrassing... My father, having a fourteen-year-old best friend. What a loser!”

By the way, what’s so unfunny about being an activist hack? Five of them are dispensing clownish justice right now on our Supreme Court.

[barney]

Oh, I think we agree there are some very funny American comedians. I named a few earlier. We just disagree on which they are. Especially when it comes to Stewart, even if I probably like his politics. But it's not even Stewart that I mind so much, it's the contemptible fawning audience who burst into laughter whatever he does, which really slows down the delivery that, if not artificially and irritatingly held up, might at times be clever. I presume there's a floor manager somewhere off camera holding up placards: laugh; guffaw; roll on the floor hysterically. I certainly don't believe these audiences could work it out for themselves; but my theory does mean they have to be able to read.

PS: One of the great American traditions is one-liners, and these can be really good. I hadn't heard the Joan Rivers from your list, for example, and I found that extremely funny. But where are the developing situations and characters that make, for example, Yes Minister so brilliant. There really doesn't have to be a one-liner every 45 seconds, because it brings everything else to a stop.

[jserraglio]

where are the developing situations and characters

Sid Caesar & Imogene Coca, George Burns & Gracie Allen, Jackie Gleason & Audrey Meadows, Lucille Ball & Dezi Arnez, to name some hubby/wife TV sitcoms.

There really doesn't have to be a one-liner every 45 seconds

One liners? Were not both Harold Lloyd and Buster Keaton pretty much the silent type?

The great comedian Dick Gregory composed brilliant long-form comedic fugues out of whole cloth. His albums can run in length to 2 LPs. I own them.

Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl and Shelley Berman were famous for their extended satirical sketches, not their one-liners.

And then there’s Richard Pryor.

Regarding audience laughter. Here in this country, we fret when audiences don’t laugh, not when they do.

In contrast, Australian humor is like dark matter: we know it has to exist somewhere, but good luck finding it.

[barney]

In contrast, Australian humor is like dark matter: we know it has to exist somewhere, but good luck finding it.

Somehow I suspect you've put the usual effort that Americans do into Australia - none whatsoever. Or you wouldn't say anything quite so ill-conceived. After all, you've suggested several times that Australia, with less than a 10th of the population of the US, can have little to contribute in any arena. Of course, the counter view is that vast numbers merely bring vast amounts of mediocrity. Exhibit A: American comedy.

I find Australian humour infinitely preferable to what passes as the American version - especially the talentless Stewart whose only idea of humour is the occasional facial tic (Maher, on the other hand, is clever though he too relies excessively on pauses for comedic effect. Is that because Americans don't know when to laugh without an unmistakeable signal?). But I am quite prepared to concede that my views almost certainly reflect my cultural background and heritage. As do your views. Ranking Lucille Ball alongside Yes Minister shows just how bereft you are.

[Belle]

I am going to defend American humour as I've enjoyed it so much over the years, and I posted Foster doing his thing with Dean Martin. A great parody of a drunk.

Australian humour was great before it was 'defenestrated' because it wasn't PC. Think Paul Hogan (whom the Americans enjoyed, BTW). Barry Humphries was one of the funniest people alive, though I grew tired of the Edna schtick. He could be very subtle and sophisticated but in order to reach a wider audience he resorted to crudity. I think our humour is based on the British model. Essentially. One of my colleagues at the ABC went to Adelaide to make a documentary with Barry in the mid 70s and she reported back to me that none of the crew - nobody at all - could stop laughing; that says a lot because many of the technical crews at the ABC were humourless sons of 'sea cooks'! Barry was witty and ironic every time he opened his mouth.

Our film "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" was just wonderful and typified that po-faced, laconic delivery which we see in the Australian sense of humour.

I also loved the cynical humour of Peter Cook and Clive James. Put intellect with humour (as we see with Woody Allen) and this is a extremely potent mix. Example, the jokes in "Annie Hall" about Marshall McLuhan and the film "The Sorrow and the Pity" absolutely cracked me up. The British TV series "A Very Peculiar Practice" is another example of magnificent writing, with humour in spades: Andrew Davies. "Minder"; well, what you can you say about that? "Keeping Up Appearances" was one of the most consistently funny TV series on all British television, ever. What made it a cut above the rest was not just Patricia Routledge but its mixture of comedy and reality; no matter how snobbish Hyacinth Bucket was she finally loved her feral family and, push coming to shove, put them first. And the series demonstrated that the British upper classes could be every bit - if not more -boorish and unpleasant as their lower class counterparts.

I never found Danny Kay funny (actually, he was just annoying) but the script for "The Court Jester" was witty: actually not unlike Monty Python in its anarchy. "The Birdcage"; easily the funniest film I've seen in 25 years.

"It's a Mad, Mad, World"; another hilarity. Oh, please bring back the comedy of anarchy.
The screwballs of the 30s and 40s were wit par excellence. "Clueless" is another very very funny film, from Amy Heckerling, and it's a modern screwball. Good writing is always the key and, of course, fabulous delivery from actors at the top of their game. One cannot exist without the other.

I could mention all the comedies of Billy Wilder but that was essentially a European sensibility.

[jserraglio]

In contrast, Australian humor is like dark matter: we know it has to exist somewhere, but good luck finding it.

Somehow I suspect you've put the usual effort that Americans do into Australia - none whatsoever. Or you wouldn't say anything quite so ill-conceived.

May it please the Court to enter Exhibit A.

[jserraglio]

I could mention all the comedies of Billy Wilder but that was essentially a European sensibility.

I agree with that and everything else you wrote. Billy Wilder. European sensibility. You bet! Thumbs up to non-PC humorists. Norman Lear too.

If you live in America and love comedy, even if you’re Catholic, you’re Jewish.

[Rach3]

At what House Correspondents Dinner in DC last night per YahooNews:

"President Biden covered a lot of the same points when he took the stage, taking care to address concerns about his age and spin it into a weak point against his opponent. “Yes, age is an issue: I’m a grown man running against a 6-year-old.”

[barney]

I am going to defend American humour as I've enjoyed it so much over the years, and I posted Foster doing his thing with Dean Martin. A great parody of a drunk.

Australian humour was great before it was 'defenestrated' because it wasn't PC. Think Paul Hogan (whom the Americans enjoyed, BTW). Barry Humphries was one of the funniest people alive, though I grew tired of the Edna schtick. He could be very subtle and sophisticated but in order to reach a wider audience he resorted to crudity. I think our humour is based on the British model. Essentially. One of my colleagues at the ABC went to Adelaide to make a documentary with Barry in the mid 70s and she reported back to me that none of the crew - nobody at all - could stop laughing; that says a lot because many of the technical crews at the ABC were humourless sons of 'sea cooks'! Barry was witty and ironic every time he opened his mouth.

Our film "Priscilla, Queen of the Desert" was just wonderful and typified that po-faced, laconic delivery which we see in the Australian sense of humour.

I also loved the cynical humour of Peter Cook and Clive James. Put intellect with humour (as we see with Woody Allen) and this is a extremely potent mix. Example, the jokes in "Annie Hall" about Marshall McLuhan and the film "The Sorrow and the Pity" absolutely cracked me up. The British TV series "A Very Peculiar Practice" is another example of magnificent writing, with humour in spades: Andrew Davies. "Minder"; well, what you can you say about that? "Keeping Up Appearances" was one of the most consistently funny TV series on all British television, ever. What made it a cut above the rest was not just Patricia Routledge but its mixture of comedy and reality; no matter how snobbish Hyacinth Bucket was she finally loved her feral family and, push coming to shove, put them first. And the series demonstrated that the British upper classes could be every bit - if not more -boorish and unpleasant as their lower class counterparts.

I never found Danny Kay funny (actually, he was just annoying) but the script for "The Court Jester" was witty: actually not unlike Monty Python in its anarchy. "The Birdcage"; easily the funniest film I've seen in 25 years.

"It's a Mad, Mad, World"; another hilarity. Oh, please bring back the comedy of anarchy.
The screwballs of the 30s and 40s were wit par excellence. "Clueless" is another very very funny film, from Amy Heckerling, and it's a modern screwball. Good writing is always the key and, of course, fabulous delivery from actors at the top of their game. One cannot exist without the other.

I could mention all the comedies of Billy Wilder but that was essentially a European sensibility.

Fair enough, Belle. I'm over-reacting. Two of my favourite films are the Kline/Ronstadt Pirates of Penzance and the Brooks Producers. I never watched Seinfeld, but it is so admired it must have merit. I've laughed immoderately at any number of US comedians or comedies (though not the ones Joe admires, such as Lucille Ball). It's just that Joe is always so ignorantly patronising about Australia, and, semi-relatedly, constantly mistakes size for achievement.

My argument is really only about Stewart, whom I find awfully lazy (as I've said, a few facial tics and the habit of running clips after previously saying the opposite) and his audience, who I find vacuous and obtuse. And that is my prerogative, along with the right to patronise Americans should I so wish. As it is Joe's to patronise Australia, should he so wish. But in fact I don't really want to.

[jserraglio]

Neither do I, but once outsiders declared open season on the U.S., I, to somewhat even the score, resolved to invoke the law — of talion.

I watched Lucille Ball’s I Love Lucy Show every week for years, along with Bob Hope, Milton Berle, Jack Benny, and Sid Caesar; and on the radio I listened to the Martin and Lewis Show. What’s not to like about this great comedienne? That she was at one time registered as a Communist?

[Belle]

Fair enough, Belle. I'm over-reacting. Two of my favourite films are the Kline/Ronstadt Pirates of Penzance and the Brooks Producers. I never watched Seinfeld, but it is so admired it must have merit. I've laughed immoderately at any number of US comedians or comedies (though not the ones Joe admires, such as Lucille Ball).

It's just that Joe is always so ignorantly patronising about Australia, and, semi-relatedly, constantly mistakes size for achievement.My argument is really only about Stewart, whom I find awfully lazy (as I've said, a few facial tics and the habit of running clips after previously saying the opposite) and his audience, who I find vacuous and obtuse. And that is my prerogative, along with the right to patronise Americans should I so wish. As it is Joe's to patronise Australia, should he so wish. But in fact I don't really want to.

("Joe" criticizes anybody who dares challenge his awful ideologies, and humour is just one anvil on which to grind his never-ending ax of revenge. Ironic for somebody who has no sense of humour himself! I don't care for him or his comments, and don't dignify them. There is so much of the unworldly toddler about his endless one-liners and abuse - and absolutely nothing else.)

I have tried with "Seinfeld" and found it completely unfunny, not least because adults that age shouldn't still be living in apartments and behaving like randy teenagers. "Frazier" is much better written and the characters both know they're neurotic and co-dependent; there's the difference. "Friends" was superbly written and very funny: it wouldn't have worked without superb artists to deliver those lines.

As I said before Stewart is just your bog-standard partisan hack. Nothing remotely funny about him - but he sure thinks he is!! Back in the day it was possible to admire comics from the USA, like the aforementioned Sid Cesar, Dick Shawm, Jack Benny; so many others and, of course, they had great writers. "The Lucy Show" drove me mad in those last years where she just shouted all the time and it was always the same jokes.

The writing and delivery is key in comedy.

[Rach3]

I watched Lucille Ball’s I Love Lucy Show every week for years, along with Bob Hope, Milton Berle, Jack Benny, and Sid Caesar

I used to listen to Caesar's and Benny's show on the radio before we had a TV ( not until about 1956 for us ) usually around our supper table at home with my family on a Sunday evening (I think ?).

In the early TV days, the final evening news was 15 minutes to cover news, sports and weather, one guy did all three, then sign off with the National Anthem about 11 pm.

[barney]

I watched Lucille Ball’s I Love Lucy Show every week for years, along with Bob Hope, Milton Berle, Jack Benny, and Sid Caesar

I used to listen to Caesar's and Benny's show on the radio before we had a TV ( not until about 1956 for us ) usually around our supper table at home with my family on a Sunday evening (I think ?).

In the early TV days, the final evening news was 15 minutes to cover news, sports and weather, one guy did all three, then sign off with the National Anthem about 11 pm.

And now Steve? What comedies take your attention, and how much time do you give to news?

[Belle]

Kamela, Kamela
I know it sounds a bit bizarre
But in Kamela, Kamela
That's how conditions are.

The snow may never slush upon the hillside
By nine p.m. The moonlight must appear
In short, there's simply not
A more congenial spot
For happily-ever-after-ing than here in Kamela.

[Rach3]

And now Steve? What comedies take your attention, and how much time do you give to news?

No comedies except for occasionally the opening 5-10 minute monologues of the late Johnny Carson on old "Tonight Show" re-runs carried on one of our local stations now ( Carson was a huge fan, had some of same delivery characteristics as Jack Benny) ; much news all day ; bedtime now 9:30pm , not 11pm.