What's So Funny?

For the past couple of month, I have been watching old "Rowan And Martin's Laugh-In" episodes on my Amazon Prime account.

Quick history:  "Laugh-In" aired as a "special" on NBC in the fall of 1967.  NBC added it as a mid-season replacement to air on Monday nights at 8:00 to go up against "Gunsmoke" in January of 1968.

"Laugh-In" quickly became a hit. It spawned such catchphrases as "Here Comes The Judge" and "Sock  It To Me".

Let me tell you, watching these shows, some 50 years later, can be difficult. Some of the jokes weren't that funny in 1968 much less 2019.

But I have found myself laughing out loud at some bits. The 1968 fall season opened with Arte Johnson's German soldier character standing next to Bob Hope. Johnson says, in a thick German accent, "I waited for you every Christmas".  You can't tell if Bob Hope is just being the greatest straight man on earth or if he had no idea what was going on

Henry Gibson had a character that was a priest who would sip tea at the weekly cocktail party. The cocktail party was where "Laugh-In" would trot out their fair to middling jokes, but it also gave a look into the culture of 1968, much like a Johnny Carson monologue would do.

Gibson's priest said, in a high moralistic tone, "I'm all for the modernization of the Church, but I refuse to call the sacramental wine the Bible Belt".

Maybe those two examples aren't knee slappers, but it wasn't bad and they made me laugh some fifty years later.

However, I'm sure that there is somebody, somewhere, ready to file an article about how "problematic" it is to watch "Laugh-In" all these years later.

Judy Carne (fun fact: she was Mrs. Burt Reynolds for a while) was the "Sock It To Me Girl".  She would say, "It's sock it to me time" and a big boxing glove would punch her in the face or a mallet would hit her over the head or she'd fall through a trap door or water would be thrown on her.  We would have vapors of this type of comedy today.

Ruth Buzzi's big character was "Gladys", who was a homely looking spinster always fighting advances from Tyrone, Arte Johnson's dirty old man.  Tyrone once asked her, "Do you believe in the hereafter?"   Gladys replied, "I most certainly do".  Tyrone said, "Good, now you know what I'm here after."   I'm sure somebody will point out the "body shaming" and the sexual harassment of these bits.

This is the 25th Anniversary of the TV show "Friends".  Apparently, there is a new cottage industry explaining how "problematic" the TV show was, besides the obvious fact that a guy like Ross would never in a billion years hook up with a girl like Rachel.

My favorite one is from Buzzfeed titled "Actually, 'Friends' Is Terrible"  and it is by a young lady that is my son's age.  Here it is for your consideration.  Spoiler alert:  a lot of it has to do with Monica's fat suit.  https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/scaachikoul/friends-anniversary-bad 

I'm all in favor of being contrarian when it comes to situation comedies. I was never a fan of "Happy Days"  and that was long before Fonzie jumped the shark. But, even though "Happy Days" was about the '50s and Ralph and Potsie wore '70s  haircuts, I've never seen an article that says ACKCHYUALLY HAPPY DAYS WAS HORRIBLE.

It seems we have lost our sense of humor.

I don't know exactly when this happened. It seems we have now an expiration code when it comes to comedians. I remember when Tim Allen first came out.  Man, this guy grunts. Crazy! Now we find out that he is sort of a Republican and that makes him icky.

Bill Maher is a later day Lenny Bruce. Except when he calls out the "Squad" for their anti-semitism or when he fat shames.

We can't quote Woody Allen anymore, without at least acknowledging his issues. Lord knows you can't quote Bill Cosby.

Now even Dave Chappelle (DAVE CHAPPELLE) is problematic.

This is the only test I have for comedy: does it make me laugh?  If it doesn't, I don't watch it or listen to it.  In other words, I'm not looking for humor to "shed light" on any subject. I'm just looking for some laughs.

I don't see what is so hard about that.

We can no longer take a joke. As another "Laugh-In" character used to say, "And that's the truth."