So earlier this week on dagblog.com, we had an animated discussion about the funniness, or lack thereof, of Larry David and Curb Your Enthusiasm. To my surprise – and I’m talking like I-just-found-out-I-was-adopted or my-girlfriend-once-had-a-penis type of surprising – a number of my fellow dagbloggers found the show annoying and dumb; one of them called the show ‘an atrocity’ and Larry David the ‘least funny on-screen performer ever given a screen on which to perform.’
So I figured it’d be fun to use my question column to find out once and for all where we all stand when it comes to the funny. As always, check out the post on dagblog.com for reader answers.
1) Ellen’s a lesbian, so I’m not sure she entirely counts.
Can women be as funny as men at stand-up? Which woman alive today do you find the funniest (If at all possible, please embed a clip of this woman being funny as I will have trouble believing it without video proof)
2) Jim Almighty (and Almighty Bad)
Jim Carrey is a paradox. i think he has been at times in his movie career one of the funniest comedic actors of all time and at other times, among the most annoying and unfunny ones. Rank these Jim Carrey comedy movies: Me, Myself and Irene; The Mask; The Cable Guy; Liar Liar; Ace Ventura: Pet Detective; Dumb and Dumber; Fun With Dick and Jane; Yes Man; Bruce Almighty (Leave out any you havent seen).
3) Obama introduces the new Guantanamo
By some cruel twist of fate, you are forced to spend 3 days straight with some sort of Bob Saget entertainment. You have three options: You can either spend the time watching a marathon of Full House episodes, listening to him host America’s Funniest Home Videos (without getting to see the videos), or having him waterboard torture you. What do you choose?
4) Two and a Half Chuckles per episode
For the last week of 2008, Two and a Half Men was once again in the top 10 broadcast TV shows, according to Nielsen (It was the only comedy in the top 10, and has been a top-20 show every year in the six seasons it’s been on the air, averaging right around 15 million viewers). This will be a three-part question:
4a) How often do you watch the show? a) Always b) A lot c) Occasionally d) Two and a half times e) Never
4b) The show is the top-rated comedy on TV, but what current sitcom do you think belongs at the top of the list?
4c) Does it bother you that Charlie Sheen makes $825,000 an episode??
5) Talk Show Hosts
Which one of these doesn’t belong? David Letterman, Conan O’Brien, Craig Ferguson, Jay Leno, Jon Stewart, Howard Stern, Stephen Colbert.
6) When’s the next Santa Clause coming?
Every holiday season, it’s pretty much a given that Hollywood studios are going to force upon us at least one crappy Christmas comedy. What’s the most recent Christmas comedy you saw? What’s the best one you’ve seen? What’s the worst?
7) Longest-running sitcoms
I think we can all agree – yes even Orlando and Articleman – that Two and a Half Men doesn’t come close to being one of the top sitcoms of all time. Rank these long-running hit shows (all which were on for 10 or more years):
- The Simpsons
- Cheers
- King of The Hill
- M*A*S*H
- Happy Days
- Married … With Children
- Friends
- The Jeffersons
- Frasier
- South Park
- Murphy Brown
8) SNL stands for Show Nevermore Laugh-worthy
Name the four funniest SNL cast members (Try to give one from each decade, starting with the 70s). And what about the best News Update anchor?
9) Pull my finger.
Are farts funny?
10) $200 million-plus comedies
The following comedies all made more than $200 million in U.S. box office, according to IMDB (I left out animated or blatant kids films). Which is your favorite? Which is your least favorite?
- Austin Powers: Spy Who Shagged Me
- Wedding Crashers
- Back to the Future
- Mrs. Doubtfire
- Bruce Almighty
- Men in Black
- Meet the Fockers
- Forrest Gump
- Beverly Hills Cop
- Ghostbusters
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