Is Shakespeare ever funny?

[Dreadnought]

While reading Taming of the Shrew, I chuckled when they said:

Kat: Asses are made to bear, and so are you.
Petrucio: Women are made to bear, and so are you.

 

[Tekee]

While reading Taming of the Shrew, I chuckled when they said:

Kat: Asses are made to bear, and so are you.
Petrucio: Women are made to bear, and so are you.

yeah this is why I have a teacher point out all the jokes for us It makes Shakespeare funnier. Shakespheare injects humorours lines like this

 

[Glassfan]

"Shakespeare is best read in the original Klingon..."

Sorry, I just wanted to say that several recent movie interpretations are very entertaining. Midsummernight's Dream, with Kevin Kline and Michelle Pfeiffer, was very clever. Richard III with Ian McKellen and Kristen Scott Thomas, set in a 1930's Fascist England was very diverting, starting out with a ballroom version of a Marlowe sonnet. As You Like It, with Bryce Dallas Howard is the only comedy I'm aware of. But Shakespeare's comedy is not like ours - it rather seems to depend on outragous role-reversal or mistaken identities, and a lot of puns that don't make much sense to modern ears.
I'd say no, Shakespeare is not "funny" now, but he's still interesting and enjoyable.

 

[LightSpectra]

I've always liked this exchange in Richard III, 1.2:

GLOUCESTER.
Let him thank me, that holp to send him thither;
For he was fitter for that place than earth.

LADY ANNE.
And thou unfit for any place but hell.

GLOUCESTER.
Yes, one place else, if you will hear me name it.

LADY ANNE.
Some dungeon.

GLOUCESTER.
Your bed-chamber.

Lawrence Olivier's version has him saying this line utterly serious to Anne's face, whereas Ian McKellan's has him muttering it to himself.

 

[warpus]

This reminds me of grade 11/12 English class.

Teacher: "This part is funny"
Class: *blank stare*
Teacher: "It is satire, seee"
*crickets*

 

[Martacus]

Back in his day, I suppose, his "humor" was considered funny; basically sexual/scatological jokes like the ones that glut ancient Greek "comedies" to the point of choking the life out of them. I wonder if, after reading some of his randier lines, anybody ever refered to him as "Willy the low man".

...sorry.

 

[_random_]

Back in his day, I suppose, his "humor" was considered funny; basically sexual/scatological jokes like the ones that glut ancient Greek "comedies" to the point of choking the life out of them. I wonder if, after reading some of his randier lines, anybody ever refered to him as "Willy the low man".

...sorry.

True, he's not as high-brow as people would imagine him to be. I myself wondered why a school run by evangelicals would allow a play with so much blatant phallic imagery.

 

[ParkCungHee]

The second one here is relevant.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

I guess I find Shakespeare funny because there are so many funny ways to use the various repertoire of Shakespearean themes. Heck, even the Flintstones had a Shakespeare-themed episode!

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

In Macbeth when the Porter goes "Man up and down" or something and it refers to his erection being lost?

It was because he was drunk, and rambling about the things drunkenness brings.

This is the only funny line I've ever read in Shakespeare. Some things, like A Midsummer Night's Dream, are situational comedy, but that's not really a joke.

Generally, his jokes go over like this:

 

[Plotinus]

Heck, even the Flintstones had a Shakespeare-themed episode!

There is, perhaps, something very appropriate about that, given that the Flintstones are one of the few things less funny than Shakespeare...

 

[Agent327]

I can't help but get a sneaky suspicion that you just don't find comedy funny...

 

[Plotinus]

I love comedy. But The Flintstones just doesn't do it for me. Sorry!

 

[holy king]

it's for kids. kids are stupid and will laugh about anything.

 

[Lord Baal]

it's for kids. kids are stupid and will laugh about anything.

True. Children are so stupid they actually think the bastardisation of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a good television show. They shouldn't be allowed to watch television until they reach a certain intellectual level.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

*sigh*

Plotinus, what do you find funny?

The Flintstones was essentially an animated sitcom that was based on the old Honeymooners show. I've seen some episodes of that, and to me it wasn't that funny. The Flintstones was much funnier. And the Shakespeare-themed episode in question was a situation where Wilma got Fred, Barney, and Betty involved in a local production of Romeo and Juliet. Fred directed it, Wilma played Juliet, Betty was the Nurse, and Barney was Romeo. The humor came about when Barney realized that Fred secretly really wanted to play Romeo, so he faked a case of mumps on opening night, forcing Fred to step into the role. Fred knew the lines, but unexpected things can happen when stage fright takes over...

 

[Plotinus]

Well, put it like this - seeing The Flintstones when you're thoroughly used to The Simpsons doesn't do it any favours. That is something I find funny, as are Frasier, Red Dwarf, Mitchell and Webb, Spaced, The Office (I think the American version if it's pure funniness we're talking about), Fry and Laurie, Father Ted, and above all at the moment, Adam and Joe.

Now perhaps, four centuries from now, people will scratch their heads and wonder how anyone could have found all of that stuff funny. Perhaps...!

 

[Agent327]

Good to hear. (Although for the life of me I can't imagine why anyone prefers the Simpsons over the Flintstones, but I guess that's personal.)

 

[Valka D'Ur]

JEELEN, I have found a kindred spirit!

@Plotinus: We will have to agree to disagree, obviously, as I don't understand why anybody would find the Simpsons funny. As for the rest of your list, of the ones I've heard of, I don't find them funny either.

My humor runs to Canadian political satire, ie. Rick Mercer, Royal Canadian Air Farce, This Hour Has 22 Minutes, and I loved the Wayne & Shuster shows.

Also, of the British comedies, I enjoy Are You Being Served?, Good Neighbors, Keeping Up Appearances, Blackadder, and (so help me) Benny Hill. And I am the only woman I know of on the entire planet who understands and enjoys the Red Green Show.

I enjoy clever satires and parodies that are funny, yet respectful of the original material on which it is based. That's why Robin Hood: Men in Tights makes me laugh, as do some parodies of Shakespeare and bible stories (ie. Wayne & Shuster's Shakespearean Baseball and Rinse the Blood Off My Toga, and Wholly Moses!).

 

[Plotinus]

That's interesting, as I can't imagine how anyone could not find The Simpsons funny at least some of the time, even if it's not particularly their thing. I think it's easily the greatest comedy programme ever made, although it is perhaps sometimes a bit uneven, at least in the later series. But clearly humour is very much in the eye of the beholder, as this thread in general indicates.

Obviously I like Blackadder - even the first series, which most people don't like if they've ever seen it. I never saw Are you being served? much, but the whole 1970s "risque puns and jokes about homosexuals" thing doesn't really do it for me. I can't say I ever liked Keeping up appearances - it's better than some of Roy Clarke's stuff, perhaps, but that's not saying much. I have reason to thank Benny Hill since he shares a surname with me, and my parents would have called me Benjamin if he hadn't existed, and I don't like that name, so that was a narrow escape. But otherwise, definitely not for me. I haven't heard of the others!