The Sometimes Serious Definition of Funny

Here at Doozy, we pride ourselves on knowing “funny.” Humor is part of our job, after all. But defining what is and isn’t funny can get pretty serious! Some comedy crosses over and reaches just about everybody while certain types of humor can easily offend other people.

Some friends and I had a lively discussion about this very topic a few nights ago over lunch. A friend said over dessert, “I saw Saturday Night Live a few nights ago and could barely get through it. There was a skit about a drunken uncle and I found it offensive and very unfunny. Drunk is never funny.”

Everyone nodded in head in agreement…except for me.

“But there’s a long history of funny people who have acted drunk. What about WC Fields? Dudley Moore? Foster Brooks?”

“They’re not funny, really. I mean, to me, they aren’t.”

“And what about Eddie Murphy when he plays his drunken dad at a cookout? That’s 100% pure comedy.”

“Not to me.”

And to each his or her own. At Doozy, we think funny is in the eye of the beholder. But I couldn’t help but wonder whether as a society we require overly sanitized comedy for the sake of political correctness…and political correctness just isn’t that funny! Comedy should be on the edge. It should make us slightly uncomfortable at times.

Ultimately comedy serves as a form of relief for the pains and ills in life. (It’s a fine line between laughter and tears, after all.) And I do think it shouldn’t have to adhere to the same societal rules we usually live by day to day…when it does, it has a tendency to fall flat.

Here in the Doozy Cards World Humor Headquarters, funny is our daily bread. If you’re looking to make someone in your life smile, take a look at our wide selection of funny ecards.

The hilarious cow ecard from “Rubes” by Leigh Ruben, featured in our “Funny eCards” category. Ah Youth!

Here’s a link to that hilarious (IMHO) Eddie Murphy video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lW0iMUyudeI

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