Dear Rose Rustik: Where has all the humor gone? George Burns is dead. Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Jackie Gleason, Phyllis Diller, Flip Wilson, all gone. I miss them all because I love to laugh. It seems that comedians these days cater to the youth crowd, and young people seem to love f-words, vagina talk, the n-word, sex, sex, sex and poop. I watched a comedian on Youtube recently, and he did five minutes about stepping into a pile of poop. Not funny after2 seconds.
I am concluding that humor is no longer something that brings us together. We don’t laugh at the same things anymore. There are left-wing jokes, right-wing jokes, a miniscule number of “clean” jokes, and zillions of vulgar jokes and bad words. Does anyone else feel robbed by this? – No LOLs
Dear No LOLS: A lot of older people lack humor because they are living with heart pills, cancer treatments, rheumatoid arthritis and frailty. I think more stage humor would certainly be beneficial, and I had not thought about the paucity of humorists suitable for older people until you wrote.
I went to Youtube myself and started listening to a random set of comedians. My first conclusion is that people have very different funny bones. People in the audiences laugh at jokes and penis clutches that I don’t find funny at all. I think vulgar jokes turn off most people in generations born before 1980. In older generations, we were taught to avoid swearing, obey the rules of etiquette according to Emily Post, cover up our boobs and cracks, (even the words “boobs” and “crack” were verboten), and not laugh at other people. We didn’t do a great job of making the world a better place, but we were taught to try.
The comedian Richard Pryor turned the tide on verbal etiquette. A lot of people couldn’t stand his humor, but there was something about him and his humor that made most people laugh. After Pryor, comedians seemed to be trying harder to be outliers. Most of them just seem stupid – to me.
I do agree with Jerry Seinfeld (on the series “Comedians in Cars Drinking Coffee”) that comedians reveal the truth about things. They make us laugh at our prejudices. But most of all they make us feel good. If you watch an old George Burns re-run on Youtube, you will see an old master at work. In all his stories, he makes the ordinary extraordinarily funny – even wrinkly old people. But he doesn’t do it by making fun of old people. Instead he answers questions obliquely like this: “Why do I date younger women? I date younger women because their skin fits.” Ha Ha. Very funny. And true.
It helps to watch with an audience. I notice a difference in my own reactions when I watch alone and when I watch with family or friends. The presence of other people makes everything more humorous. An interesting experiment would be to put grandma and grandpa in a viewing session with teenage grandchildren. Would everyone be laughing? Probably not. Most kids like poop and penis jokes. Grandparents not so much.
I think you have put your finger on something important, No LOL. Older people have too few laughs, i.e. too few comedians who can make old people laugh – at themselves, their problems and the modern world. Variety shows used to feature one or two good comedians each week. Comedians like Flip Wilson had their own TV variety shows. No more. Late-night TV is now the only place to go for laughs – and late night is LATE. But late-night hosts do start their shows with a comedy intro, and the guests usually involve comedians, some of whom do a stand-up bit before they sit down for improv.
Perhaps all is not well with late-night comedy, however. Networks are cutting back because viewers are cutting back on TV-watching time. Older people don’t want to stay awake so late, and younger people have shorter attention spans. An hour’s show at 11 p.m. or midnight is appealing to fewer and fewer folks.
Meanwhile comedy stages have their fans – mostly in younger age groups. Just like movie attendance, most older people prefer to stay at home and watch TV or Youtube. Comedians cut their chops on young audiences. If young audiences want poop jokes, that’s what they dish up.
I have my own preferences here. I think one of the top comedians out there is Gina Yashere, a black woman from England. I find her hilarious (but humor is very personal; you might not). I like the current Nate Bargatze. The younger version of Nate was not as funny. I also like Mark Normand, a very brave comic. He makes jokes about the woke issues – and gets away with it. People laugh even though they might otherwise be offended. Normand is proof of Seinfeld’s theory that comedians tell it like it is and make us laugh at ourselves.
I feel like going out there and becoming a sit-down comic. Stand-up would be too hard on my varicose veins.
