Comedy’s Catch-22

10 Comments

Feb 26 | Sooey • 12:35

I didn’t watch the Academy Awards, but I’ve been following the stories about Seth MacFarlane’s comedy routine as host.

I’m not a fan, actually, but I’m not a ten-year-old boy so why would I be. Family Guy is more often not funny, to me, whereas The Simpsons is always a laugh.

Are you a Family Guy, or a Simpsons gal. Well, I’m a Simpsons gal, I guess.

Humour is personal, and not really universal, it seems, and it’s been dominated by men since forever because women aren’t supposed to be funny, say men. We’re supposed to be the butt (teehee) of the joke.

That’s after we were even allowed into the clubs, of course.

(I say that about humour not being universal although I was in Venezuela for a while almost 30 years ago, living in a shack on the side of a mountain with my boyfriend and his family, who had not been expecting me, but that story will be in my book. One night, they got the old black & white tv working and who comes on screen but Magnum P.I. We laughed so hard. I spoke no Spanish, they spoke no English, but we were all in on the joke, whatever it was.)

The thing is, there’s an element of bullying to the humour of the Seth MacFarlanes of the comedy circuit. And also political correctness, because if you dare to say you don’t think his schtick is funny, you’re just being a woman (cue cupped hands indicating boobs accompanied by in-the-know eyeroll).

And yeah, what could be worse than being a woman.

So most of us just go along, haha, Mr. Song & Dance of boobdom, you so funny we love you longtime.

But I run into this all the time with male friends who appreciate a certain type of humour that, quite frankly, I just don’t think is funny. And it’s not because I can’t laugh at myself, either, because Louise CK is one of my favourite comedians and making fun of his audience is what he does best.

Louis CK makes fun of feminists and it’s funny, yes, even to us, because it’s true.

Other comedians make fun of feminists and it’s not funny to us because it’s not true but we’re supposed to laugh or it’s not them being not funny to us it’s us being not funny to them, the catch-22 of Seth MacFarlane’s act.

By all means, laugh if you think it’s funny. But I’m not going to pretend I think Seth MacFarlane is funny when I don’t.

And, well, I know funny. I do. I’m an easy laugh, too. I just like a little more honesty and a lot less bullying with my comedy than some other people do, I guess.


This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2013 at 12:35 pm and is filed under Sooey Says. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

10 Comments

  1. Ou8
    February 26, 2013 at 8:17 pm

    * * * tumbleweed * * *

  2. Sharktooth
    February 26, 2013 at 9:05 pm

    Family Guy is ……. AWESOME!

    I gave up on TV many years ago, but I do get to see a bit when I’m visiting other people. If I see something I really like, then I’ll get some DVDs. There’s only been 3.

    The Larry Sanders Show
    Jeeves and Wooster (Fry and Laurie)
    and Family Guy

    The Simpsons doesn’t do anything for me, and the couple of Louis CK thingies I saw on YouTube were just plain dull.

    On the other hand, debating comedy is about as boring as it gets, so THBBBTTT!!!!

  3. Sharktooth
    February 26, 2013 at 9:07 pm

    …. and I mean that in a nice way.

  5. Ou8
    February 26, 2013 at 9:23 pm

    I suspect Sooey changed a lightbulb today.

  6. Sooey
    February 26, 2013 at 9:40 pm

    Sorry, eh, but I think cancer is funnier than Seth MacFarlane.

  7. thwap
    February 27, 2013 at 11:12 am

    I think when Peter fought the giant chicken was funny. When Stewie and the dog fought over the $5 was funny. When the dog had sex with the father-in-law’s prize greyhound (during a race) was funny.

    But I find a lot of “Family Guy” really offensive. And, with just one cheap, irrelevant “gag” after another, … I sympathize with Eric Cartman who resents being compared with family guy.

    http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0786244/quotes

  9. Sooey
    February 27, 2013 at 1:16 pm

    Interesting. I don’t know any of the theory behind this stuff, cartoons aren’t even really my thing. I’ve watched “Archer”, on Netflix – it’s funny. Very funny bits in Family Guy, for sure, although for me they tend to involve Brian and Stewie. Other people find South Park funnier than I do, too, I’m sure, but I’ve laughed plenty of times at it, too. I remember a scene in The Simpsons when Homer is having bad luck, a bad day, and it’s all just hilarious and you think it can’t get any funnier and then he gets caught in the overhead fan as he’s leaving Moe’s. It’s one of the funniest scenes ever. (I’d compare it to the scene in 30 Rock when she’s dating the handsome stupid guy from Mad Men and he closes the window in the kitchen just as she’s shouting from the toilet, “Don’t close the window in the kitchen!”, and the bathroom door swings open and she’s in full view on the toilet. The set-up is that it was an emergency evacuation, too. It’s just very funny. That show cracked me up, although I’ve only seen the first three seasons.)

    I may have almost a thing against Seth MacFarlane, I dunno.