As a Comedy Actress (???) my question on this sunny (at least in L.A.) #findthefunnyMonday is:

What is funny?

feel good funny

According to the Free Dictionary online:

Funny [ˈfʌnɪ]

adj -nier, -niest

1. causing amusement or laughter; humorous; comical

2. peculiar; odd

3. suspicious or dubious (esp in the phrase funny business)

4. Informal faint or ill to feel funny

But when you think about it, there are so many kinds of “funny” and what’s funny to one person might not be funny to someone else. Obvi. When I’m auditioning for a comedy, if a CD reports back: “She wasn’t funny” is because I’m not funny or the material isn’t funny or the person watching the tape doesn’t get the writer’s idea of funny? A conundrum, that’s for sure.

I can see FUNNY in —

• Ha Ha Funny
• Sweet Funny
• Ironically Funny
• Embarrassingly Funny
• Romantically Funny
• Sarcastically Funny
• Bizarrely Funny
• Quirky Funny
• Dirty Funny

But these kinds of FUNNY are NOT funny to me —

• Potty Humor
• Humor at the Expense of others AKA Cruel Funny

Have you ever walked out of a comedy and gone, “Whaaa?” What some people think is funny these days totally mystifies me. I for one do not get what is so funny about multiple jokes about bodily fluids, but apparently if you’re male between the ages of 12 and oh, I don’t know — like close to forty, potty humor makes your laugh meter go– well, bonkers!

My taste goes more toward quirky, ironic, sarcastic, embarrassing sweet FUNNY. But funny only works for me if the person creating it or playing it isn’t trying too hard. Over-working it doesn’t work for me.

Sometimes Funny is a combo of several different “funnies”  like 500 DAYS OF SUMMER is Sweet Funny, Romantically Funny and Embarrassingly Funny. WIN WIN is Quirky Funny and Sweet Funny. And  this old Elvis Costello video is clearly a combo of a lot of the “funnies” with a big dose of Embarrassingly Nerdy Funny! Ahaha!

(What’s FUNNY to you?)

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WWp67DsTk4&NR=1

2 responses to “What’s so FUNNY?”