Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew
Banned
Ayy lmao
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The Washington Post: Why is millennial humor so weird?
- Thread starter benjipwns
- Start date
Livingskeletons
If I pulled that off, would you die?
One of the best comedic bits/public gags ever.
SoulUnison
Banned
It's time for the Luther Vandross wheel!
LegitMcfalls
Member
Kids just say no to anime
This jpg is better than the compiled multiverses of R&M.
Edit: except DBZ...
I dread the day I will suck at memes.
Wrestlemania
Banned
They think it is time to stop
benjipwns
Banned
yet they call themselves the "Greatest Generation" just because they got shot at by some foreigners
thanks to Call of Duty finally tackling the subject so will we and you don't see me bragging about it
if anything we'll be experiencing it even more since it'll be 60 fps and it was probably only like 12 fps back then
Geno Breaker
Banned
Some probably think he's cool until he shits on white people lol
You don't know how much effort goes into maintaining that though
I feel like absurdist humor really started during the gen X days. Ren and Stimpy, for example. It's just many people now grew up with it.
Vigilant Walrus
Member
I think what makes good memes work is that it's essentially a gag you develop with strangers in real time. When IMGUR is at its best it can propegate memes that keeps enhancing. Someone makes something, and then someone else builds on it.
Part of what makes it funny is the enjoyment you have in being part of its origin. Much like a lot of memes stopped being funny once they leaked to outside the internet.
It's like stupid jokes you have with your friends, but try to explaining it to people who weren't there at the inception and it just comes off as fucking stupid. Because it is.
But the fucking stupid can still be genuinely enjoyable.
The random for the sake of random is only one form of millenial humor. What about rick and morty? Or Adventure Time or Key and Peele? I think millenials are gravitating towards these just as much.
Or stuff like this:
^ I actually think some of these are really fun, like this one. But it sort of foregoes that you know about galaxy 7 note fiasco, and millenials being heavily tech savy and into these kinds of news, these are probably the type of memes that would seem a lot weirder than they are.
The joke is really not that different. a reaction pic with a context that fits, and galaxy note 7 being a euphaism for her pussy being teh bomb.
Part of what makes it funny is the enjoyment you have in being part of its origin. Much like a lot of memes stopped being funny once they leaked to outside the internet.
It's like stupid jokes you have with your friends, but try to explaining it to people who weren't there at the inception and it just comes off as fucking stupid. Because it is.
But the fucking stupid can still be genuinely enjoyable.
The random for the sake of random is only one form of millenial humor. What about rick and morty? Or Adventure Time or Key and Peele? I think millenials are gravitating towards these just as much.
Or stuff like this:
^ I actually think some of these are really fun, like this one. But it sort of foregoes that you know about galaxy 7 note fiasco, and millenials being heavily tech savy and into these kinds of news, these are probably the type of memes that would seem a lot weirder than they are.
The joke is really not that different. a reaction pic with a context that fits, and galaxy note 7 being a euphaism for her pussy being teh bomb.
Adam_Roman
Member
"We didn't start the fire, millennials did!"
Yeah, there is good, high effort absurdist humor and then there are meme snowclones which are just basically the same joke over and over again in a slightly different absurd context. Twitter highlights this, and it isn't funny I'm and capacity.
But yeah, I agree it's nothing new, it's just that everyone is trying to do it and most people suck at it.
TAJ
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Little Green Yoda
Member
This is spot on.
Vincent Alexander
Member
What is worse than "millenial" humor is when people who clearly don't understand it make cringey, tryhard commercials or movies going for this non-existent crowd.
Icyflamez96
Member
I like this. Can someone expand on it pls
Absurdist humor has been around since forever.
Though yeah, the current wave is probably more a gen X thing than a millennial thing.
I also think that most internet humor is hardly absurdist, but that's a different discussion.
Messofanego
Banned
This is peak Baby Boomer humor
Pow right in the kisser
Yeah I'm fine with dark humor taking over. Like mentioned in the article, this recalls back to the absurdism and Dadaism days when it was miserable to live so art reflected that.
Pow right in the kisser
Yeah I'm fine with dark humor taking over. Like mentioned in the article, this recalls back to the absurdism and Dadaism days when it was miserable to live so art reflected that.
Can't underestimate the influence of Spongebob on the humor, either.
Most of the memes I see on imgur or instagram or twitter that derive from a TV show or movie are from Spongebob.
Spongebob started in 1999, so if you were a kid watching you're in your early or mid 20s. Prime memeing age.
Most of the memes I see on imgur or instagram or twitter that derive from a TV show or movie are from Spongebob.
Spongebob started in 1999, so if you were a kid watching you're in your early or mid 20s. Prime memeing age.
Thinking a little more about this I think the answer is pretty simple. Humor can be basically broken down into three parts, anecdotal humor that derives enjoyment from our shared knowledge of daily experience, referential humor that gets its fun from viewing things in a new light, and the element of surprise which keeps jokes from getting stale. Modern humor, both of millenials and anyone remotely tech savvy, draws much more heavily from the referential element of humor, because we have more referents with which to make these types of jokes and our methods of connecting them, through visuals and sound, are way easier to use and easier to share. The element of surprise is also more prominent in modern humor simply because we encounter more humor every day, reading/hearing more jokes/memes via the internet than we ever could 20-30 years ago, necessitating that the net content of our jokes must be more random or surprising in order for them to continue being interesting.
Thus I'd argue that the change between modern "millenial" humor and more traditional comedy has come about primarily as a result of technology making it necessary for jokes to evolve to be more surprising and referential, so that they might survive in a quickly changing world where most jokes get little more than a second or two to pass judgement. Although the influence of postmodern thought is compelling too, and is definitely important, especially with the Adult Swim crowd. This video is a really good breakdown of what makes the Eric Andre show so modern and so good, despite constantly playing with and challenging the viewers' expectations, like with Bird Up! The Worst Show on Television, which everyone hated, but Eric made an extra long segment of it for the finale just to piss everyone off and make them realize the limit of absurdist humor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ5nwXyJn70
Thus I'd argue that the change between modern "millenial" humor and more traditional comedy has come about primarily as a result of technology making it necessary for jokes to evolve to be more surprising and referential, so that they might survive in a quickly changing world where most jokes get little more than a second or two to pass judgement. Although the influence of postmodern thought is compelling too, and is definitely important, especially with the Adult Swim crowd. This video is a really good breakdown of what makes the Eric Andre show so modern and so good, despite constantly playing with and challenging the viewers' expectations, like with Bird Up! The Worst Show on Television, which everyone hated, but Eric made an extra long segment of it for the finale just to piss everyone off and make them realize the limit of absurdist humor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJ5nwXyJn70
-ImaginaryInsider
Member
Yes, Monty Python's "Salad Days" short was neither mainstream or dark...
Internet, better software that is easy to use/learn, better distribution through social media, and worldwide audience.
Neither of your examples are baby boomers' humor. You can shit on that generation all you want, but man, they had some amazing comedians.
Aztechnology
Member
Someone's never watched Gintama
They're both great.Messofanego
Banned
Honeymooners was 50s and Three Stooges were from 1934 to the 60s. Baby boomer is from 40s to 60s. So, I'm right.
a hAlf seCoND cLiP oF RiCk AnD moRty iS betTTer thAn evErY anImE coMbiNeD anD MuLtIpliEd bY inFinItY
WhiteRabbitEXE
Member
Does Homestar Runner qualify as Gen X humor, being that it's entirely from two Gen Xers, or Millennial humor, since the largest portion of the fanbase was/is Millenials?
Isn't all humor ultimately based on absurdity, though?
Bingo.
People believe science is a Chinese hoax, we got dudes flying planes into office buildings, we got people blowing themselves up in the name of imaginary people in the sky, we got people killing doctors for providing women with routine medical procedures, and we got neo-Nazis running the country we were told constantly was the bastion of equality and fairness.
Everything is awful. All you can do is laugh.
Evil Monkey DTT
Banned
Our humor came out of monty python, in fact I think the evolution of how our comedy got to where it did makes alot of sense if you just pay a little attention. It's cynical, it's ironic, it reflects how bad the times are we live in plus it is also is a evolved form of comedians that we grew up on. But nah, comedy begins and ends with the boomer generation. Sitcoms will never be stale.
EhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhHoneymooners was 50s and Three Stooges were from 1934 to the 60s. Baby boomer is from 40s to 60s. So, I'm right.
That was by and large the humor that the baby boomers' parent watched. The 3 Stoogers reached their peak popularity before boomers were born and the Honeymooners did the same when at most they were small children.
Yeah, they trotted them out in the 60s, but that wasn't what the hip kids in the 60s we're laughing at, this was nostalgia for old people. Calling it boomer humor is like saying that Matlock is gen-x because it aired in the 90s.
Peak boomer humor is Richard Pryor (even though he's technically not a baby boomer himself).
tearsintherain
Member
The Flintstones and Jetsons took place in the same world at the same time.
The Jetsons were the technological elite of the world, living in the clouds with flying cars and robot slaves. Any who dared reject their rigid codes of morality were kicked out to the ground, where it was a savage world with prehistorical levels of tech and giant mutant monsters, some of whom they enslaved to carry out their mundane tasks.
Due to the excess radiation, over multiple generations the planet humans have mutated and grown stronger, evidenced by the Hulk like strength bam bam wielded. One day the savages of lower Earth will rise up and kill all those who have forgotten about the Barbarians at the bottom.