Humour is a force that binds and divides.

It is as hard to define as the force of love and yet as simple. When you burst out into an honest laughter, just as with love, it just happens.
Similarly, what may be infatuating for one, might be repulsive to the other. I expect everyone to have wondered why person next to them is laughing, just as I expect most people to have encountered love they cannot understand.

Generally, differences in taste of humour are not very much of a problem, but when your everyday life gets permeated with shit that can only be described as offensively boring, then there is little room for understanding. A respectful approach is not an option when mindless attempts at amusement escape the media and start pouring out onto the street.

There is no way to tell who got the charging freight train of sedative performances going, but if there is something keeping that train speeding ahead then it’s the american sitcoms and worthless comedians that get too much publicity. For me there is a crucial element in humour that is both the magic and vigor of the performance, but it’s a rare encounter today:

Surprise

The unknown. I need the unexpected because it pulls me out of everyday life and lets me experience something different, something intriguing in its peculiarity. The near total absence of surprise in most of (but in no way limited to) the American humour, is baffling to me. How can this junk survive (not to mention prosper)?

The answer lies in an entity even more baffling, the viewers. The survival of these Valium substitute shows could be explained by the fact that people actually are giving the time to enjoy this turd; there must be many of them.

I get annoyed by having a supposed comedy use jokes that you can smell from an ocean away and then have them repeated so often that you get to experience déjà vu every five minutes.
But these people don’t, and they even laugh. Why?

Do they have a lacking comedy experience? Have they never encountered these laughs? Do they disregard the fact that they know what is about to be said? Could it be that they don’t remember the gags?

Is chronic amnesia is the key to a more joyous life?

They’re everywhere

I’ve met these people, you have too. You might very well be one of them. They’re normal people that seem to live normal lives, and yet…

I’m not condemning you or anyone else for your taste, but I’ve tried for too long now to understand why people appreciate this unending stream of feces pretending to be comedy.

Understanding the people around me is something I have to do every day, but this I just can’t grasp.