Why do you like surreal humour? Page 2

Quote: zooo @ March 12 2010, 12:35 PM GMT

I do like an intellectual thrill, I must admit.

And you're still with Aaron?

Personally because I like to be taken out of the ordinary now and again. It is a genre which needs defining though, its range is massive, from Milligan to Miller & Armstrong and from inspired brilliance to uoriginal rubbish.

Quote: Chappers @ March 12 2010, 2:42 PM GMT

And you're still with Aaron?

Unimpressed

The problem is, there's a very fine line between clever surreal humour and wacky, annoying student comedy.

Quote: Dusty Substance @ March 15 2010, 11:12 AM GMT

The problem is, there's a very fine line between clever surreal humour and wacky, annoying student comedy.

Very true indeed. Personally, I enjoy a sliver of logic to my surreality.

Quote: Dusty Substance @ March 15 2010, 11:12 AM GMT

The problem is, there's a very fine line between clever surreal humour and wacky, annoying student comedy.

Is it a dotted line?

I once went fishing with Salvardor Dali and he was using a dotted line.

I had a cat once.

So did anyone read the article?

I read it a week or so ago in the paper version (I like New Scientist). Found it interesting that more adventurous people like more surreal humour, as I am the opposite - I like quite punchline-heavy stuff and am pretty unadventurous. But I can see in a logical way how they might enjoy exploring a surreal world.

Being female, I also found it interesting that women take longer to decide whether they find something funny or not, but when they do find something funny, they get more of a buzz from it. Funny then that men often seem more likely to be obsessed with comedy than women.

A great example of The Young Ones' surreal humour...absolutley brilliant.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0NVgHntgdU

Yeah, sorry. Saw that last night too late.

My contribution to the question would be that I love surreal humour because of the breathless rollercoaster ride it takes you on, never quite knowing, despite the familiar feeling of well-loved characters, what is going to happen next.

At the end of 30 minutes, you start to laugh again in absolute disbelief at the journey. Then, the journey is enjoyed again at work or in the pub chatting with friends "and did you see the bit when....."

This madness can be milked for hours, fooling me into thinking that I have an amusing personality when I'm really living my life vicariously through television.

Hope that makes up for posting in the wrong place. :D

Absolutely. Thanks Madge! :)

I was rewatching The Armando Iannucci Shows the other day and there's one really surreal throwaway line that I loved. Armando's showing you the alphabetical translation of DNA pasted up around his house and mid-sentence he points at a door and says "we won't go in there because that's where I keep the wolf". That's probably a pretty good test of whether or not you like surrealism.

Or Simon Munnery. I've only found one other person who thinks Simon Munnery's amazing (particularly the seemingly random parts). Everyone else just says it doesn't mean anything.