Writing for Comedy is Easier than Reciting your ABC's (and makes a hell of a lot of money too)

I fooled you all suckers! Or did I?

Here's something that baffles me to death.

Comedy.

What is funny? What defines funny? What works and what doesn't? What makes people laugh?

I just saw Borat in theatres, and I have to say, I came out feeling a bit more than a tinge of dissapointment. I'm not saying that it was terrible, I'm just saying it wasn't great. I trust rotten tomatoes (probably more than I should) and a 94% rating and $25.6 million dollars at the box office indicates that I was in for a really awesome and funny movie here.

The problem? It didn't apply to my sense of humour. Yes there were a few funny moments, and I did laugh out loud approximately two times throughout the film. On the flip side, there were many moments where I couldn't stop my eyes from rolling around in their sockets. Yes, my eyes even did two or three loops at a time.

Here's the thing, poop, fart, and naked people, etc. do not make me laugh. I see myself naked every single day, and I don't laugh. I'm not overweight, so maybe that makes it less funny? If I was a fat ass, perhaps I'd laugh at myself every day in the mirror. Or maybe if I was harrier? Man you'd think that half of the American population should be stand up comedians if that's the case.....Nonetheless...I don't find nakedness funny.

While I guess you could say Borat is a funny film because it's deeper then the poop jokes and so forth, because it reflects the larger picture of how closed minded and racist Americans are. Yeah that is part of the film, but it just seems like it's a bit of an excuse to make the movie something more than it was. I think almost every movie nowadays reflect how dumb the Americans are...but that's just my humble opinion.

Anyways, Borat is doing amazingly (but then again, so did Jackass and Jackass 2 so what does that tell you), so obviously people are finding it hilarious. Why is it that they find it funny and I don't? Or, is farting and pooping and other bodily functions actually really funny? In spite of the fact that it's been done gillions of times (and that's no exaggeration), maybe it's just genuinely gold material? Is there something that I'm just not getting here?

I have to admit, however, that there was one important factor that really made the movie less funny for me. I sat directly beside this girl (she looked about 25) , who laughed hysterically throughout the whole film. Not just the, "ha ha" laughing, but the "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...." Yeah, you get it. Not only was this girl laughing at the poop and naked jokes, but she was releasing her high pitch laugh whenever Borat opened his mouth. It didn't matter if he was trying to be funny, or just saying like, "Here I am in California." For some reason, even that was gut wrenching hilarious.

So right next to me was a girl with my polar opposite sense of humour. She laughed at too much, and I laughed at too little. What's the difference here?

Writing for a comedy seems to be easier than reciting your ABC's....and only going as far as F. As far as I can see, the equation for a successfull comedy is as follows:

Poop+Farts+Burp+Naked fat hairy people+Sex jokes+Racist jokes+Gender jokes+Animals+Retarded, Senseless Violence= billions of dollars.

Write that down.