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Laughter (Read 573 times)
bogarde73
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Laughter
May 24th, 2017 at 8:23am
 
I definitely agree it's the best medicine. It may not lift you out of the blues always but more often than not it can stop you getting there.

I'm a compulsive hoarder of laughter in the form of comedy series on DVD. Some of them I've watched multiple times, all at least twice.
Also I collect mp3 files of radio comedy and some of these are 60 year old programs, but they're still as funny as the day they were made.

I have to admit most of my comedy collection is British because for me it's simply the best and most enduring. There have only been a few American comedy.programs I'd rate - Seinfeld was one, Frasier another. I did have the full set of Seinfeld but I've given them away because they didn't endure for me.

Sadly much of Australia's recorded comedy production hasn't been preserved, unlike the British and American. And there were some classics of long ago, like Dad & Dave, a bit of which I have. And we had our wisecracking legends like Jack Davey who could match it live with the likes of Bob Hope, but only fragments have survived.

But it's the British comedy which does it for me, but I acknowledge it's a matter of taste. It's probably because of the range, from surreal like Monty Python or the Goons to quietly subtle.
And it's also the sheer volume of output that's a marvel. Can I recommend you read for example the Wikipedia entry for scriptwriter Roy Clarke and follow all the links, when you've got a spare month, to all the programs he's created and be amazed by the sheer volume (although I think they might have missed one called the Magnificent Evans, which though it only ran for one series I think is one of his best)

But to end on a negative note. I think British comedy has lost or is losing its way. I still listen to what the BBC puts out in new shows but I find mostly the spark has gone and as a dedicated comedy consumer I'm a fairly good judge. But this has happened before and it came back as good as ever.

I couldn't live without a laugh and I find humour almost everywhere. As I said to.cods the other day, when I stop laughing I'll be dead.
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« Last Edit: May 24th, 2017 at 10:05am by bogarde73 »  

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cods
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Re: Laughter
Reply #1 - May 25th, 2017 at 2:46pm
 
it comes in waves really dont you think....do you remember when it was all Westerns on TV...now its reality...but comedy  does have a useby date....and each generation seems to have its own taste on whats funny  ..

now from what I see  if they swear and or are as crude as can be  its funny....not for me I am afraid....and another thing about British humour a lot of it comes down to those taking the parts..... who else could have been in Dads Army....it beggars Belief...  and Dawn French in the Vicar of Dibley...dont even think of rehashing them....its just magic to me how they select who they do and it all just works..
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Wolseley
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Re: Laughter
Reply #2 - May 25th, 2017 at 8:23pm
 
I find it interesting that, when you think of comedy greats of the past, almost all of them were British.
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cods
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Re: Laughter
Reply #3 - May 26th, 2017 at 5:23pm
 
Wolseley wrote on May 25th, 2017 at 8:23pm:
I find it interesting that, when you think of comedy greats of the past, almost all of them were British.



well I used to love Laurel and Hardy and I believe Laurel was born in Britain...CHaplin also..not sure we would find them funny today. of course..Cary Grant was also a pom.....who remembers Tony Hancock..
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Agnes
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Re: Laughter
Reply #4 - May 26th, 2017 at 10:01pm
 
I love British humour as well a lot of the old stuff- Tommy Cooper was pretty funny- there are others they will come to me
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bogarde73
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Re: Laughter
Reply #5 - May 27th, 2017 at 8:05am
 
You should come here more often Agnes.

Who remembers Tony Hancock? I've got about.100mp3 files of his stuff. I listened to one the other night - The Last of the McHancocks.
Herbie hates him.
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Wolseley
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Re: Laughter
Reply #6 - May 27th, 2017 at 1:25pm
 
bogarde73 wrote on May 27th, 2017 at 8:05am:
You should come here more often Agnes.

Who remembers Tony Hancock? I've got about.100mp3 files of his stuff. I listened to one the other night - The Last of the McHancocks.
Herbie hates him.


I remember him - and I remember when the news of his suicide broke  Sad

I have a boxed set of DVDs of all his surviving (a few of them are lost) TV shows.
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bogarde73
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Re: Laughter
Reply #7 - May 27th, 2017 at 2:24pm
 
Agnes wrote on May 26th, 2017 at 10:01pm:
I love British humour as well a lot of the old stuff- Tommy Cooper was pretty funny- there are others they will come to me


Did you know he died in the middle of his act on a live TV show? He collapsed with a heart attack and the audience thought it was part of the act as they dragged him backstage. You can find a YouTube of it or read it in Wikipedia.
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Know the enemies of a civil society by their public behaviour, by their fraudulent claim to be liberal-progressive, by their propensity to lie and, above all, by their attachment to authoritarianism.
 
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Wolseley
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Re: Laughter
Reply #8 - May 27th, 2017 at 2:57pm
 
bogarde73 wrote on May 27th, 2017 at 2:24pm:
Agnes wrote on May 26th, 2017 at 10:01pm:
I love British humour as well a lot of the old stuff- Tommy Cooper was pretty funny- there are others they will come to me


Did you know he died in the middle of his act on a live TV show? He collapsed with a heart attack and the audience thought it was part of the act as they dragged him backstage. You can find a YouTube of it or read it in Wikipedia.


Same thing happened to Sid James.
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