As with so many things, humor is entirely in the eye of the beholder. What is funny depends not only on the situation, but the audience, the players and one’s mood, and it’s always difficult to convince others that what you enjoy is the best. When Rob and D&D Brian started telling me about ‘Community’, I wasn’t sure I was interested, but watching the show made it clear that they were right in their assessment. Of course, it’d be hard to choose one episode of that show to perfectly encapsulate the humor, which leads us to today’s emblematic query…
The MS-QOTD (pronounced, as always, “misquoted”) would still hand someone a copy of Kyle Baker’s ‘The Cowboy Wally Show’, even twenty-odd years later, asking: What single movie, book, comic or episode would you give to someone to exemply exactly what is funny to you?
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I think Calvin and Hobbes is funny
“Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie”. Perhaps not the best of the best of the MST3K library, but it is still fun and enjoyable, widely available and has a broader range of riffs than some of the more targeted riffs of the series proper. I’ve actually used it on movie nights with friends who have never seen the series itself to get them to understand why I love the series, and it has had a very good success rate and got many of them to give the series itself a try.
“Thief of Time” by Terry Pratchett, part of the Discworld series. It’s got such a wide humorous array. Puns. Parody koans. A grim reaper who’s a doting grandfather. A legendary groundskeeper. A satire of Americanized chocolate. From brainless gags to thought-provoking metaphors, this is Toric Comedy 101.