What is funny?

I really need to stop trying to post at night while I'm watching TV. I started the other night, and I just get distracted too easily, and before I know it, it's taken me an hour to write one paragraph, and my train of thought is in another county. I always thought I was good at multitasking, but clearly this requires a little more attention.

I was just thinking this morning about what I find funny. Reason it came up is that I laughed out loud at a caller on the radio as I was leaving the house. Every morning, the station I listen to (WBRU Providence) does a "3-way" contest--they play 3 songs and you have to guess what they have in common (something in the lyrics, about the band, etc). I usually miss the songs themselves since it's at 7:15, but I heard a caller today who guessed wrong, and the DJ said he would let him guess one more time, and the guy said "3 songs that I would play while masturbating angrily". That made me laugh. You know why? "Angrily"--just that one word. Saying "3 songs I would play while masturbating" would be only worth a snicker perhaps. But making it "masturbating angrily" made it funny for me. For one thing, you immediately wonder, what the hell is this guy's problem that he's pissed off while he's jacking it? Second of all, it's kind of funny that he's willing to so readily say it on the radio. And finally, for better or worse, it does create a mental image that is hard not to laugh at.

I'm sure not everyone would find that as funny, but my point is more how I love how a single word or phrase can take something from being sort of funny to being hilarious. Like the word "again". I wish I could think of a good example, but any I would come up with wouldn't measure up. But some line about a crazy scenario that is sort of funny becomes very funny when you add the word "again", and you introduce the idea that this sort of thing happens repeatedly. I know I'm not explaining this well, but whatever.

I actually find my sense of humor rather interesting, mainly because I feel I'm pretty diverse. I'm a pretty intelligent guy, but the things I find funny run the gamut from silly and gross to clever and sophisticated. Very rarely do I ever dismiss something as not funny just because it doesn't fit a preconception. Hell, I'm sure I'd even find something to laugh at in Blue Collar TV if I could sit through a whole episode. I like that fact that both South Park and The Office are equally capable to bringing me to tears, that I still quote Beavis and Butthead on a daily basis, that my wife and I reference Seinfeld episodes in every day conversation, and that on a daily basis (no pun intended), the Daily Show ends my day on a funny note. And yet I still enjoy checking out CollegeHumor.com and laughing at pictures of drunk guys who got written on (chopped up) after passing out.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds all these things funny, and maybe it sounds pretentious to analyze one's sense of humor this way, but I think people get so caught up in what's appropriate or cool, or they feel they're above something or that something is too pretentious to be funny to them, they miss out on a chance to laugh. Dog knows we all need to laugh more, and I feel like everyday, I get at least a half-dozen good belly laughs because I'm pretty open to anything I see or hear.

So in that vein, I'm just going to randomly list a bunch of things I remember laughing at lately. Maybe the two people who read this blog will see something they missed and go take a look or listen and get a chuckle out of it. It adds years to your life to laugh more, so if you do laugh, you owe me.

• Family Guy - it's gotten funnier and funnier this year and really pushes the boundaries of what networks usually find acceptable
  
• Eddie Izzard - if you don't think he's funny, you're an idiot, plain and simple; unless you can't get past him dressing like a woman, then you're just close-minded
  
• Seinfeld - I probably watched every episode in syndication 2 or 3 times, and then stopped for years, but recently have been finding them so comforting and funny
  
• Daily Show - You actually CAN stay somewhat informed by watching this, and they are consistently the funniest thing around
  
• The Adam Carolla Project - I know, I keep flogging this show, and I'm sure it's not for everyone. But besides Adam's clever spontaneous riffs, what I find funniest about this show is watching his crew of knuckleheads just being guys and giving each other shit and laughing at themselves.
  
• Sarah Silverman - Again, not for everyone, but I've been reading a lot of interviews with her lately and I think she's hysterical. I can't wait for her movie to come out--even I'm a little shocked by some of the things she says, but mainly in a "wow, I never would have that of that" way.
  
• South Park - They have their not-so-great episodes (the hurricane one that started this season wasn't that great), but they still usually find the perfect mix of wicked politically incorrect satire and lowbrow humor. What I like is that they're not ideologues--they have their beliefs, but it doesn't stop them from making fun of anyone who's too full of themselves.
  
• John McCain - He was genuinely funny on the Daily Show last night, and not in a forced, contrived way like other politicians can be. He struck me as a truly intelligent, funny man, and were it not for the fact that he insists on saying he's pro-life, there's a very good chance I would cross the aisle to vote for him in 2008. I would have in 2000.
  
• Curb Your Enthusiasm - Sometimes Larry's off his game. The whole Producers thing last year was a bit too gimmicky, and a couple of this year's eps have been just silly. But when they're on, they're hilarious, all the more so because they're improvising. The wife and I love doing the raised eyebrow look at each other.
  
• The Office (both versions) - The UK is still the best, nobody does that better than Ricky Gervais. But the American one is really good too, in its own style, and it just mines a different territory of stuff.
  

Probably a lot more for this list, I'll post more later.