Hello, I'm the Nostalgia Critic.
I remember it so you don't have to!
Y'know, I found myself searching for something deeper and more meaningful in life,
so I decided to turn to the master of enlightenment himself, the Dalai Lama.
I found a video where he talks about how compassion is not a sign of weakness,
and the responsibility one has backing their actions with the undeniable truth.
So moved by these incredible words,
I was a little shocked to find that only 2,000 people actually viewed this video.
Really?
The worldly known teacher of Buddhism only has a little over 2,000 hits?
Hmm.
Well, after that I decided I needed something a little bit more light-hearted.
So I put on this dumb shit.
"HEEYEAAYEAAYEAYEA HEEEYEEAYEA"
"I SAID HEY"
And was a little shocked to find that not only did it have over 2,000 hits,
but it had... well, this amount.
And that's for the 5 HOUR version of this video.
Why do we love stupid?
I don't mean the fads that are popular for a short amount of time,
I mean legitimately timeless, hilarious stupid.
I'm talking about the Ren and Stimpys, the Dumb and Dumbers, the Monty Python's Flying Circuses,
those ridiculous YouTube videos that make no sense but for some reason
still get a big laugh out of you every time.
What is it that can make things we know are idiotic good?
Like, we know THIS is stupid and doesn't make us giggle:
"I feel like a duckbill platypus! *duck noises*
but we also know that THIS is stupid, and for some reason makes us laugh our asses off.
"Wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?"
*the most annoying sound in the world*
"GUYS! GUYS!"
These things don't effort and focus as Abbott and Costello's brilliant writing,
or Buster Keaton's unbelievable stunts.
It's just...
stupid!
So, why are we so lenient to certain stupid routines, and yet so harsh on others?
Why do we laugh so hard at something 2 year old would laugh just as hard at?
Well, let's first understand why the hell we laugh to begin with.
In my opinion, I think it's a defense mechanism.
I, as well as many comedians, have said that all comedy is based on misery.
Well, the reason for that is if we didn't have comedy,
all we would do is sit around and feel bad about the stuff happening around us.
Comedy helps us confront the bad things in front of us and cope with it.
I'm sure a lot of people were, in one or another, were injured in a similar way the Three Stooges were
in many of their shorts.
Hell, Houdini died by a blow to the stomach, but we don't think the Stooges are going too far
when they punch one another in the stomach.
Why? Because it's saying that suffering is a part of life.
And by laughing at it, you acknowledge that, though painful, it's all part of the journey.
It's a way to adjust to the bad things happening around us and move on.
Okay, fair enough, but does something like this:
"HEEEYEEAAYEAYEAYEA!!!"
connect to misery?
Well, maybe not misery of the character you're watching, but certainly a jolt to your expectations.
We've all seen screamers before.
Those videos that make you think it's one thing and then suddenly -
A cheap scare pops up and we've all gone through them and they've been done a million times and we're really sick of it,
but admit it: the first time you ever saw one, you felt a burst of life in you.
This comes from an instinct to keep you on your guard like an animal does to prepare for danger.
But when you find out it's not dangerous, you have yourself a good laugh.
It's one of the reasons people like going to scary movies.
Stupid humor is kind of the same way.
While not every silly joke needs to rely on scaring you into laughter,
It still has to rely on playing with your expectations.
That is, relying on the unexpected.
And that rush on trying to get a handle on what's going to happen but never fully getting that grasp
can be exciting, fun, and of course hilarious!
In a show like Monty Python's Flying Circus, they THRIVE on the unexpected,
even to a point of insulting your sense of humor.
How long can this sketch keep using the word 'spam'?
"SPAM, EGGS, SPAM, SPAM, BACON AND SPAM,"
"SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, EGG AND SPAM,
"SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, BAKED BEANS, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, AND SPAM."
Just when you think something in them has to know they need to stop, they just keep going!
(all the vikings together) "Spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spam, spammity spam!"
"Wonderful spam!"
Again, playing with the expectation of just when you think something is going to cease,
it surprises you and continues,
making even the repeat of one word suddenly funny again.
"Can I have spam instead?"
"You mean SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, SPAM-"
Andy Kaufman made a playing with both your expectations and your patience.
He once did a stand-up where all he did was eat a bowl of ice cream.
People were so confused and so caught off guard that they couldn't help but laugh at it.
"What I'd like to do for you right now, the bit which got me thrown out of the improv..."
"I haven't done it since, and although I have tried it a few times, and it never has worked."
"But, I'd like to do it for you tonight."
But this isn't just blind randomness, there IS technique to it.
A part of this works because of its build up.
People think it's going to be something shocking and risque, when really it's just a huge waste of time.
So don't be confused, there is certainly method to the madness.
The YouTube video "Batman eating a hotdog" has over 4 million views.
How? It's just Batman eating a hotdog!
Well, that's because people can't believe that someone went to all the effort to animate,
very well animated by the way,
one of America's greatest superheros doing nothing but eating a hotdog.
But now, if it was just a line drawing or a still of Batman doing that, it wouldn't be as funny.
The animator knew that it still had to feel like Batman.
If it didn't, the joke wouldn't work.
So he made it intense, dark, and over the top epic,
all for the simple task of eating processed food.
So why does something stupid like that get so much laughter,
and something like the Starving Games becomes universally hated?
Well one of the reasons for that is that something like the Starving Games doesn't take any risks.
You know the kind of jokes they're going to do because you've seen them a million times.
Mel Brooks did it, the Zucker brothers did it, and SNL did it,
we're all used to this kind of formula.
I think that you can safely say that Batman eating a hotdog has not been done before.
As far as we know, that has never existed.
But that does bring up one of the biggest problems with stupid humor:
when it becomes predictable.
As much as I love Monty Python's Flying Circus,
if you watch it long enough, you start to realize a bit of a pattern.
You watch somebody being crazy, you think the normal person is going to react normally,
but it turns out that the normal person is just as crazy as the crazy person.
"No pruning necessary."
"I'd still like the operation. Please do an operation!"
"Only if you'll come on a camping holiday with me."
"He asked me! HE ASKED ME!"
And don't get me wrong, there's other jokes too, and ones that break the mold,
but that seemed to be the one that popped up the most.
That kind of joke relies on being unexpected, but when it's done a few times, you start to catch on.
The fact is, it's difficult to continually be unexpected,
because if you keep doing things that are unexpected, they suddenly become expected!
I think that's why we laugh so hard when we see something that IS so strange, and IS so unusual.
Because truth be told, it IS difficult to be silly and goofy while also being funny.
Not everybody has it, and it's not always the easiest to obtain.
It's an instinct that relies on not only what most people are expecting, but what most people have already seen.
Starving Games is predictable and tired,
where NOBODY could predict that when He-Man held aloft his magic sword he would say:
"25 years.... and my life is still..."
and stay committed to it throughout the entire song.
Something that was SO unpredictable and SO out of left field
that people are coming back to it time after time to make it more popular.
Now the other all knowing truth that a lot of people talk about with comedy, aside from it all being about misery,
is that it's all subjective.
Maybe none of this stupid stuff got a giggle out of you.
Maybe you do look at it and say, "that's really dumb, why is everybody else laughing at this?"
But I'm willing to be that there's something out there that you know is stupid,
and yet you still can't help but howl with laughter at.
Something you can't explain, you can't figure out, but it just makes you laugh.
Comedy isn't an exact science, but there certainly are things that a huge amount of people will find joy in,
and whether it be intelligent or stupid, the one thing we can take from both of them is that they both take effort.
Yes, everyone can get lucky with one stupid routine here or there,
or one silly moment that happened by accident and resulted in 15 minutes of fame,
but for something to continue to be funny and keep people coming back, that takes a great deal of talent.
Some rely on hours of research, others rely on seconds of instinct.
But both have an art that requires a lot of dedication and a ton of trial and error.
But given all the variations of people out there, as well as millions of different senses of humor,
nobody is going to hit the majority all the time.
So even something as silly as this:
is doing that connects to millions of people's senses of humor, whether they realize it or not.
So, the next time you say something is so stupid or so dumb, just keep telling yourself:
if it's making you laugh harder than anything else has that day, it just might be a little smarter than you think it is.
"Now is time for cake!"
I'm the Nostalgia Critic, I remember it because HEEYEEEAYEEEAYEAYEA
HEEEEYEEEAAAYEA! I SAID HEY!!...