Humor

After participating in a humor workshop at Romantic Times last week, I started thinking about why different kinds of humor appeal to different people.

I may have finally figured out why men like the Three Stooges, but generally women do not. Boys are allowed—sometimes even encouraged—to hit. Girls are taught hitting is wrong. Not all boys hit, of course, but a shiner or broken nose probably caused little concern for their parents. After all, boys will be boys.

And don’t we all enjoy seeing those in authority make fools of themselves like the Keystone Cops? But what about the Marx Brothers and their less physical, more sophisticated comedy plots? Do they appeal more equally to men and women or more to one sex than the other?

Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin?

What about today’s kinds of humor? Bill Maher and his ilk? GCB and the B in Apartment whatever? What about homosexual jokes, bathroom humor, or racial comments like the Italian Stallion or the Jewish mother who wants her daughter to marry the doctor?

I guess all of it boils down to whatever floats your boat. For me, not all that’s advertised as humor is funny.

Dee Brice

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