Christina here with this month’s ASK A WENCH and today we’re going to talk about what we find amusing. We are living in such dark times that some humour is essential to lighten things up and therefore the question to the Wenches was:
What makes you laugh – jokes, funny TV shows, books or films?
Anne here. I love to laugh, but laughs are often hard to come by when you most want them. A few books/authors can be expected to reliably deliver a laugh or three — Terry Pratchett, PG Wodehouse, JD Kirk (who mixes laughs with crime that's often quite grim), and Jenny Crusie who writes wonderful rom-com, but mostly when I want or need a laugh, I return to old favorites on the screen. These are all on YouTube, so are always available. And they're all British, and a bit over-the top/off the wall.
Catherine Tate is an English comedian who does wonderful skits. They're on YouTube, and really worth watching. Here's a great one with Catherine Tate and David Tennant — she plays an outrageous schoolgirl and he's her new English teacher. You need to watch it to the end.
She did another one with Daniel Craig, also well worth watching. (You can find it here.)
I've always enjoyed PG Wodehouse's books, and I really enjoy the TV series of Jeeves and Wooster with Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. Here's the first episode.
And here's a compilation clip.
Black Books is another favorite TV series, with Dylan Moran as the mad, curmudgeonly bookshop owner, Bill Bailey his hapless employee, and Tamsin Greig his crazy neighbour. All eccentric, all very funny. (See here).
Finally there is The IT Crowd . Set in the relatively early days of computers, it's about two computer nerds who run the IT section in the basement of a large company, and Jen, their supervisor who knows nothing about computers. Their classic advice to people needing help with their computers — turn it off and on again. (Which I use often and it almost always works.) Here's a two-minute clip showing the guys dealing with help requests.
This is my favourite episode, where the guys trick Jen into presenting "The Internet" at a talk she is giving to the shareholders. But the last laugh is on them …
But my most regular source of laughs is my dog. Every day she makes me laugh, whether it's skidding on my polished wooden floor like a beginner ice-skater, or walking on it with Extreme Caution. Or doing all sorts of other funny things. This morning, for instance, when I went to let her outside, it was raining, and she peered out the door, stepped onto the covered deck, looked out at the rain, turned around, stepped back inside and then shook herself really thoroughly, as if she'd been utterly drenched.
Susan: What makes me laugh? A lot! There's something to enjoy every day – family, friends, kiddos around me, memes, silly videos coming past my radar. Especially in the last few years, humor has helped all of us get through some tough times.
On TV and in movies and books, here are some of my favorites:-
Top of the list for me has to be Derry Girls, an Irish comedy about teens in a Catholic school in Derry during the conflict. It's one of the funniest and smartest comedies I've ever seen – hilarious, clever, raunchy, heartwarming, and truthful. Here's a trailer.
I heartily agree with Anne's picks of The IT Crowd and Black Books – both are high on my list of favorites too, along with Fawlty Towers, one of the best TV comedies of all time. In our household, no matter how often we watch these series, we laugh every time. Some favorite movies that are truly funny and delightful are Home Alone and Bridesmaids (some scenes are so funny you'd need to run them back to see what you missed while laughing). I love really smart stand-up comedy too – some favorites are Trevor Noah, Lewis Black, Fluffy (Gabriel Iglesias), and back in the day George Carlin. For truly funny books, I especially love humorous nonfiction, such as Dave Barry's many essay collections; also, Justin Halpern's Sh*t My Dad Says is just plain hilarious in the delivery of its blunt truths, and Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods is a laugh-out-loud favorite too. Just recently I came across a very funny essay, "Godzilla's Journal" by Sean Hewett – a brilliant little comedic twist on a familiar character.
What makes me laugh most, I think, is a wry blend of plain truth and real heart in humor. Sometimes we just have to laugh at life to get through it and to feel better about everything. It's the very best remedy for any situation.
Mary Jo here. Humor is wildly subjective. Melodrama is easy: threaten a child or a pet and readers are automatically worried. But with humor, there are books and movies that some people find wildly funny that make me cringe, just as there are things I love that other people just don't get. That's why Christina's question for this month is so good!
For movies, a long-time favorite of ours is Dave. It was made in 1993 but is still available in DVD and for streaming, and is still very, very funny. Dave, played by Kevin Kline, is a nice regular guy who runs an employment agency in Baltimore where he's always trying to find work for people who desperately need it. He also looks a whole lot like President Mitchell, who lives just down the road in Washington, DC. Dave has a nice side gig doing impersonations of the president at things like car franchise openings.
Then the president has a stroke and ends in a coma, and two of his chief aides want to cover it up so they ask Dave to fill in for the real president. He's uncertain but the aides convince him that it's for the good of the country so he promises to give it his best shot. Luckily, the president and the first lady are barely on speaking terms, so Dave isn't in danger of being outed by her.
But oops! All kinds of things happen, and Dave's version of the president is more popular than the real one. Plus, the First Lady, played by Sigourney Weaver, figures things out and the complexities keep growing. There's a stellar cast, including Ben Kingsley as the vice-president. There is much cleverness and sweetness and a very satisfying end. We have a DVD and watch it with some regularity.
Other humorous movies we really enjoy are The Princess Bride ("He's only mostly dead," or "Never start a land war in Asia."). Plus at the Mayhem Consultant's suggestion, Back to the Future, which is also very funny.
For reliably amusing books I usually reach for something by Jennifer Crusie, who has clever banter, over the top situations, and generally dogs but occasionally a cat. If you've not read her, look for Bet Me or Anyone But You, among others.
Pat: I think surprising me with a particularly funny word play, a witty comeback, is the one thing guaranteed to make me laugh. My tastes have become jaded over time and while Terry Pratchett’s satire still makes me grin, it’s not quite so easy to make me laugh out loud anymore. Some of what he’s satirizing is just too grim and real in these uncertain times. I miss Jennifer Crusie books because the repartee is hilarious. Susan Elizabeth Phillips contemporary romances are terrific, and the humor is cocky, but the days of grinning all the way through her books seem to be gone. So it really is me.
I hunt for TV shows that make me laugh but canned laughter turns me off, and dry humor is rare, so I take it where I can find it. I used to howl at TV shows like All in the Family and Mash, but my reading time is spare these days. I don’t spend much time at TV and even less with movies. (Although I have seen the Princess Bride and grinned at the marvelous one-liners). I definitely haven’t tried YouTube the way Anne has, so I’m pretty useless in that department. I’ll be looking up all the recommendations though. My husband and I watch TV together, and I don’t know if YouTube is shareable, but if I can find humor there, we’ll have to learn!
Christina: I’m a great fan of witty come-backs and sarcasm, and love it when characters in books have conversations that make me laugh out loud. It’s usually the small details that make it funny – as we have discussed before on this blog, Georgette Heyer was a mistress of this with pithy comments from dowagers in turbans for example. What I really can’t stand is when a book is recommended to me as “absolutely hilarious” beforehand because then I know the humour will be forced. The amusing parts have to be organic and develop out of the situations that arise without the characters consciously trying to be clever and/or witty. Usually it’s a build-up as well and not something that happens immediately.
I dislike stand-up comedy for the most part and don’t like watching it on TV – again, too forced – but there are exceptions and some of the comedians are genuinely funny. I prefer humorous films and my all-time favourite is Young Frankenstein. The combination of the dialogue, with lots of double entendres, and the looks of Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman get me every time. I must have watched it at least 20 times and I still laugh (although I once watched it in Spanish and found that they had cut out all the funniest bits because they just didn’t translate!). The same goes for some of the Monty Python sketches and films, which have some truly hilarious moments. Again, with them it is the little touches – for example, I didn’t enjoy the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail as much as some of the others, but the spoof “moose” credits had me in stitches. They appeared as subtitles inserted into the real credits in a sort of weird Pigeon-English-Swedish (although not spelled correctly and using the Danish alphabet for some reason) and starts talking about “møøse”. You can read the entire sequence here and it’s ridiculous!
So what makes you laugh? Any recommendations gratefully received!
Hi Wenches. Where would we be without humour to lighten the dark days? We are a family of punners, which makes our friends' eyes roll but keeps us happy. I agree that something described as a 'comedy' does slightly put me off. We recently saw the film 'the Banshees of Inisherin' which is described as comedy-drama but was so dark as to be quite shocking. Georgette Heyer still makes me laugh, as does Dad's Army, the television show. However I would also recommend Brian Bilston, the poet, who writes very cleverly and very funnily about the big and small issues facing many of us currently. I haven't read Jennifer Crusie so will look her up. Thank you Alice
Posted by: Alice Mathewson | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 02:32 AM
Thank you, Alice, we'll have to look him up! And puns are always great!
That film sounds disappointing though - I recently watched "Dog" which was billed as a "roadtrip comedy" but it was about a dog and a soldier with PTSD so not a comedy at all but very serious issues. Why do film companies do this?
Posted by: Christina Courtenay | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 02:37 AM
I discovered a long time ago that although it seems counterintuitive, if I can find something to have a good laugh about when I am sad, I feel so much better. My sister says she gets the same results from a good cry. Go figure. Humor really is subjective, so my advice is to seek out what makes YOU laugh.
Someone above reminded me how funny FAULTY TOWERS was. I used to have tapes of those shows, but lost them somewhere alone the line.
In reading, my go to author for humor is Barbara Metzger. My favorite of hers is MISS TREADWELL'S TALENT. The plot involves a mother and daughter who exist on the outskirts of society by holding seances to unite paying patrons with their dearly departed. The hero attends one of these seances with a friend who is trying to find his daughter who is missing. The hero and heroine are attracted to and repulsed by each other at the same time. She sees him as a heartless rake and he sees her and her entire family as minions of the devil.
Any Mel Brooks movie will make me laugh. Love the few Rodney Dangerfield movies that are out there.
SEINFELD is another go to TV program that still makes me laugh, although I have seen every episode countless times.
Posted by: Mary T | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 05:38 AM
I will take a look at Brian Bilston, @Alice. Billy Collins is a poet who can make me laugh aloud.
Posted by: Kareni | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 09:22 AM
What a wonderful topic, Christina and all.
When I went to college, one of the books I took with me was The Reader's Digest Treasury of American Humor, a huge compendium of jokes. It was wonderful medicine if either my roommate or I was down; I can still remember a couple of jokes some forty years later!
I enjoy clever banter in books, and I am all for a good pun.
Posted by: Kareni | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 09:43 AM
I subscribe to Lyz Lenz's substack, and coincidentally she addressed the same question today. Quoting from her: "There are so many kinds of laughter. The laughter of the distressed. The blurt laugh of awkwardness. The laugh-sob of deep grief. The laughter of pure joy. The cackle of schadenfreude. And the laugh you do when everything is falling apart." Her column was in reference to the recent madness on Twitter, with many accounts impersonating and parodying famous people, to humorous effect. I've been finding it hilarious.
Anyway, I'm a cheap laugh. It's easy for me to find the humor is almost anything, from terrible puns to stand-up to political parody. I love old screwball films like Some Like It Hot, dark comedies like Dr. Strangelove, and romantic comedies like Moonstruck. I love Georgette Heyer's comedic novels, and Barbara Metzger, who Mary T mentioned, has some very funny books. I also love autobiographies and non-fiction books that are mainly serious but really witty and entertaining. For instance Roald Dahl's book about his World War II experiences, Going Solo, was really funny in parts.
Posted by: Karin | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 10:46 AM
Thanks for that recommendation, I'm putting Miss Treadwell's Talent on my TBR list. If you enjoy Metzger I think you would love "A Feather To Fly With" by Joyce Harmon.
Posted by: Karin | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 10:50 AM
You're so right, Mary, humour is very subjective! The number of times someone has told me they found something hilarious and then I'm disappointed because I don't, and vice versa. Great that we all have different tastes though! Thank you for the recommendations - will definitely look up Barbara Metzger.
Posted by: Christina Courtenay | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 10:50 AM
That sounds like a great book to have on hand when you're feeling down, Kareni - thank you! I rarely remember jokes but there are a couple that stuck in my mind.
Posted by: Christina Courtenay | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 10:51 AM
Thank you, Karin, lots to check out there! I agree that old films are often very funny, more so than modern ones which I find try too hard. Plus they always show you the funniest bits in the trailers beforehand so there are no surprises left. Glad you enjoy Georgette Heyer's comedies too, they're fab!
Posted by: Christina Courtenay | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 10:55 AM
Forgot to say I've seen those parody Twitter accounts and some are very funny. My favourite is Larry the Downing Street cat, but there used to be one for Queen Elizabeth where she was always complaining about the corgis
Posted by: Christina Courtenay | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 10:57 AM
I love Larry, and I followed his feud with Palmerston, the Foreign Office cat. They had quite a cat fight, literally!
Posted by: Karin | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 12:15 PM
Ha ha, yes, brilliant!
Posted by: Christina Courtenay | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 12:29 PM
When the going gets rough I always look for glimpses of humour .... its usually there if you search and amazing how it can change a perspective. For example, I had an aged relative in a care home with dementia. Every time I visited he would gleefully explain that everything was free .... little did he know!
Favorite humorous books/video include 'The Good Life; Jeeves and Wooster and Tony Hancock. All classic oldies!
Posted by: Quantum | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 01:42 PM
Books: I would agree on Pratchett and Wodehouse, Jerome K Jerome - he has a bit about umbrellas somewhere that's so accurate- also Bridget Jones for observational humour - the bit in Edge of Reason where she drunk-writes her Christmas cards always makes me laugh.
I also love John Finnemore, who writes for radio, and would whole-heartedly recommend everything he's every written, with the possible exception of Series 9 of his Souvenir Programme, which is great, but complicated (it's written going backwards in time).
For anyone that has access to BBC radio iplayer, they've recently rerun the first series of his sitcom 'Cabin Pressure' (Starts with 'Abu Dhabi' then goes on alphabetically, eventually ending with 'Zurich' in series 3.)
Posted by: Marianne McA | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 02:11 PM
Oh yes, had forgotten about The Good Life and Tony Hancock - really enjoyed those! And oh dear, your aged relative ... Great that he was in such good spirits!
Posted by: Christina Courtenay | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 04:08 PM
Thank you so much for the recommendations, Marianne, much appreciated!
Posted by: Christina Courtenay | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 04:09 PM
Loved this post!! My hubby and I always loved Faulty Towers and Keeping Up Appearances with Hyacinth "Bucket" which she always insisted was pronounced "bouquet" and going way back there was a comedy called On the Buses. I guess I like the British sense of humour best. Absolutely Fabulous can be funny at times as well. Thanks for the walk down memory lane!!
Posted by: Donna S. | Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 06:37 PM
Alice, how could I have left Georgette Heyer off the list! I adore her humour. It's quite rare to find authors who are exactly on your humour wavelength, but she is on mine. Or vice versa. Thanks for the reminder.
Posted by: Anne Gracie | Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 12:54 AM
I agree with Anne and Mary Jo: I love humor in Jennifer Crusie's books and am citing as Mary Jo did, Crusie's Anyone But You, which stars a Basset Hound named Fred. I once bought 14 copies of it and gave it to friends to lift their spirits. I guess you might say that for me, funny often involves dogs. E.g.Beth Kendrick's The Lucky Dog Matchmaking Service and Nancy Warren's The Fourteen Million Dollar Poodle. Also Sarah Morgan's New York, Actually. Even romantic suspense can include humor, including Nora Roberts' The Search and Linda Howard's Troublemaker. Yes, both include dogs as well as dead bodies. And Dave is one movie with humor that I always recommend to friends. Thanks for your Wench question, Anne. We can all definitely use a little humor to lighten some of the darkness.
Posted by: Binnie Syril Braunstein | Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 02:52 AM
Thank you, Donna and oh yes, Hyacinth Bucket - love her! I watched some episodes recently and they were just as funny as the first time I saw them. Thank you for the reminder!
Posted by: Christina Courtenay | Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 04:23 AM
That all sounds wonderful, Binnie, thank you! I love stories with dogs too and they can really add lots of humour to any situation. I hope your friends appreciated the gift!
Posted by: Christina Courtenay | Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 04:26 AM
Thanks Karin - I will try that book. I actually have a book by Joyce Harmon that is part of the same series. I enjoyed it very much.
Posted by: Mary T | Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 04:47 AM
Jennifer Cruise’s Bet Me has been my go-to comfort read for humor since I first read it - so happy to learn that I am only one among many! So many of my favorites have already been mentioned, but I’ll add for TV shows Moone Boy, in which Chris O’Dowd plays the imaginary friend of a young Irish boy, and The Vicar of Dibley about the adventures of the first woman vicar in a small England village. I also re-read the fairy tale re-works by Eloisa James, which are full of puns and literary references and laugh-out-loud banter, as well as romance. And my guilty pleasures of the last couple of years are You-Tube compilations from the Graham Norton Show - I’ve never seen an entire show, but the compilations of guests such as Oscar nominees or Scots or Lords&Ladies are hilarious! But the easiest way to make me laugh is to put me on the phone with my sister - the most naturally funny person ever!
Posted by: Constance | Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 07:18 AM
This is a terrific post. People have mentioned films and books I love too. For me, the early Susan Elizabeth Phillips and Julie Garwood books had wonderful humor. Jennifer Cruise and Barbara Metzger have given me lots of laughs too. Elizabeth Peters had wonderfully subtle humor in her Amelia Peabody series. I always wanted to live Amelia's life. Georgette Heyer is a legend and I like her romances but her mysteries have humor too. She has intelligence and her humor shows that.
I think my thought processes have changed. Much of what is now considered humorous does not make me laugh. I like well written humor - Young Frankenstein was witty as well as silly. "Walk This Way..." It says a lot to me if I say that phrase and someone recognizes it.
I am judgemental about humor.
City Slickers was funny to me. And one of the funniest things is when a calf moves to a New York City apartment for a time. For me, laughter should be based on human nature.
It is all subjective. Each of us come from different perspectives and we see with different eyes.
But, being able to laugh and finding things that are funny is one of the truly most human emotions.
I have had dogs who had a sense of humor - so maybe I am wrong. Boxers are notorious for thinking they are funny...just like some silly people I know.
Keep on laughing!
Posted by: Annette N | Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 10:31 AM
What makes me laugh besides some of those mentioned already? Black Adder. Always. Chevy Chase's Christmas Vacation. Ben Aaronovitch's Rivers of London series. Jodi Taylor's Chronicles of St Mary's usually has me howling at times. Rosalind Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall; and his Boyfriend Material and Husband Material. I love absurdity!
Posted by: Pat Dupuy | Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 11:23 AM
I found many favorites above, especially some of the more obscure ones (how many people have read Jerome K. Jerome?), and I'll raise you Marian Chesney's Poor Relations series and also the two elderly sisters who are poor but good ton and survive by bringing out difficult debs (indelible: the two of them rolling on the floor at Almack's, tearing each other's hair out--but they get by with it because they're good ton).
Also anything by Marion Babson that includes a cat.
But my all-time winner is Barbara Metzger, who could pivot off one meaning of a word to another, better than any punster.
Posted by: Mary M. | Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 12:56 PM
For me the key element in humor is surprise. Whether it's in a book or a film, I can't be expecting it when it happens. And it only works just once; times after that I smile, but the original impact is gone. I like clever words more than physical stuff.
So on the radio, Jack Benny, Phil Harris and Groucho Marx made me laugh. Tim Conway Jr. does sometimes even now. On TV, M*A*S*H and Taxi. The funniest bit I've seen on TV of more recent times was on a Catherine Tate Christmas show when David Tennant danced in to the Ghostbusters theme as the Ghost of Christmas Present.
In movies, I like the clever ones with clever dialog. Many have already been mentioned above, but I would add The Freshman with Marlon Brando and The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai.
Posted by: Janice J. | Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 01:39 PM
Thank you Constance! Everyone seems to agree about Jennifer Crusie but I like your other suggestions too. And how wonderful to have such a lovely sister to cheer you up if necessary!
Posted by: Christina Courtenay | Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 02:12 PM
Many thanks Annette! It is very subjective but wonderful that we can all find humour in different things. Laughter truly is healing!
Posted by: Christina Courtenay | Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 02:14 PM
Oh yes, Pat, Blackadder definitely! And in my family we watch Christmas Vacation every year - it’s a part of the celebrations.
Posted by: Christina Courtenay | Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 02:16 PM
I will definitely have to look that up - those sisters sound hilarious! Thank you Mary.
Posted by: Christina Courtenay | Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 02:17 PM
I love nearly all the films and tv series mentioned here and Mary Jo, I absolutely adore Dave!! I'm a big Kevin Kline fan and I've watched this so many times. Overboard is another good laugh, both the original with Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell and the newer remake with Anna Faris and a guy I can't remember. Very enjoyable.
Derry Girls and Black Books are big favourites in our house and my son and daughter love Brooklyn 99. I've never seen it but feel I know it from listening to them repeating it over and over.
For books, Georgette Heyer for me is my go to witty read. I've often laughed out loud reading them.
Loved this post.
Posted by: Teresa Broderick | Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 02:19 PM
Thank you Janice - yes surprise is a big part of it and if you’re not expecting something it does have much more impact. Thanks for the other recommendations too!
Posted by: Christina Courtenay | Thursday, November 17, 2022 at 02:19 PM
I loved Kevin Kline in In & Out, that was a hilarious movie! The whole cast is outstanding.
Posted by: Karin | Friday, November 18, 2022 at 04:29 PM
Thank you Teresa - I had forgotten about Overboard but remember loving it when I saw it! Didn’t know there was a remake. And totally agree about Heyer!
Posted by: Christina Courtenay | Saturday, November 19, 2022 at 11:02 AM