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David Harcourt
Administrator
| Joined: | 31 Dec 1969 |
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| Posts: | 1127 |
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Posted: 17 Oct 2006 12:36 am |
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I am rapidly approaching the point where either everything is funny - Kim Il Jong, Tony Hancock, Helen Clark, Footrot Flats and global warming - or nothing.
How do I decide which?
Last night there was a wonderful dramatisation of the life of Samuel Pepys on Channel 23, with Steve Coogan as Pepys. It concluded with a moving speech by Pepys about the fate which he hoped would befall his diaries. I have to paraphrase here, because I was watching the programme, not reviewing it, but the speech went something like this. (Jane, the maid, Pepys's confidant throughout the latter part of the story, has like several other characters been urging him to burn the diary because it contains evidence of his corruption as Secretary of the Navy.)
Pepys: "Oh, I could never destroy my diary, Jane. They say a man keeps a diary for three reasons: to remind himself of that which was, to entertain himself in the present, and to inform and entertain others in the future. It is my hope that, one day, far in the future, people will read this diary of mine, and when they do I hope they will think much better of me than those about me do today."
Jane: "Oh, there's no danger of that, Sir."
Now, that's funny.
I think.
But is Helen Clark funny when she talks to us through the radio about how it is the right thing to do to pass legislation legitimising her and other parties' behaviour in the last days of the 2005 election? When she says that this is the responsible thing to do? When, in short, this is the only thing to do?
If this isn't funny, why am I laughing?
And if it isn't sad, why am I crying?
I think I should be told.
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David Harcourt
Administrator
| Joined: | 31 Dec 1969 |
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| Posts: | 1127 |
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Posted: 12 Nov 2006 07:23 am |
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I have just learned what you probably knew already, which is the joke which a committee of experts has decided is The Best Joke Ever Told. Here it is:
A couple of hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing; his eyes have rolled back in his head. The other hunter whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator, in a soothing voice says: "Just take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." A shot is heard and then the hunter’s voice comes back on the line. "OK, now what?", he says
The author of The Best Joke Ever Told was - wait for it - Spike Milligan.
According to Richard Wiseman, a Professor of Psychology of the University of Hertforshire, this jokes contains all three elements which make a good gag:
* anxiety
* a feeling of superiority
* an element of surprise
The Milligan joke, according to Wiseman, "plays on the death theme, and makes us feel superior to the complete idiot who does not understand. It also has the surprise element as we don't see the death coming."
Now you know.
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