Humor

Humor

In the end, a comedy show leaves you with a feeling that tells you whether it worked or not. The general feeling... will be that the inaugural episode of Saturday Night Live UK did work.

"Because if people ask you, 'Do you have a beer?' you say, 'Yeah, yeah. It's next to the truffle in the refrigerator.'"

Robertson explained that language can have certain cues, often termed 'micro-cultures,' where meanings differ in specific locations. For example, a community might refer to a restaurant as 'the corner spot' instead of its actual name.

Content creators on platforms like TikTok and YouTube often resort to euphemisms to avoid censorship, such as using terms like 'sewer slide' instead of directly mentioning suicide. This self-censorship seems pointless when the audience understands the meaning behind these phrases.

Church allegedly joked about poisoning Fowler, saying, 'Oh yeah, that's one of our jokes: I joke about poisoning him.' This remark is central to the prosecution's case.

Two-thirds of the attempts at humour during these talks fell flat, drawing either polite chuckles or no laughter at all. Almost one-quarter of attempted jokes were judged as a "moderate success", eliciting audible laughter from around half the audience. Only 9% prompted most or all of the attendees to laugh enthusiastically.

I chose my words poorly, and I understand why it upset people. I'm sorry to anyone who was offended. That's not how I want to represent myself. I have some close friends in the LGBTQ+ community who I would never want to feel less of themselves because of what I said, and that's exactly why I should hold myself to a higher standard.

No offence to the actor but the way he played that part was a cartoon. He was two-dimensional. And the thing that bothered me most... we were so afraid to create a gay character on a kid's television show.

So, I was very pleased that Oscars host Conan O'Brien didn't follow up last year's "wasting time" musical sequence with an equally useless bit to open the 98th Academy Awards on Sunday night. Instead, the 76-year-old stuck to his strengths as one of the funniest comedians alive.

Come early and make a night of it with happy hour from 5-7 pm before the show. Then settle in for an 70+ minute standup show featuring comics who've appeared at clubs and festivals including Cobb's, Punch Line, San Jose Improv, Rooster T. Feathers, Tommy T's, and more.

Officer Scott was sort of born by accident. He was a character in a sketch I wrote, written for a male actor, but I always would direct to give more Chris Farley energy to the character. Unfortunately, the actor that was supposed to play Officer Scott became sick the day before the show, but as showrunner and writer of the sketch, I figured I'd buy a costume and perform Scott myself.

I haven't lost those apprehensions...I mean, I used to get into fights when I was a kid in the locker room. They'd kid me about that. I'd say, 'Don't call me that!' and I'd fight them. It was a sore spot as a child. And then adults stopped doing it. But it lurks, and for them [the Kellogg commercial creative crew] to find it was, in itself, a kind of discovery.

Before the idea was announced, one of my coworkers, a PR guy, shared the idea-my idea-with the CEO and CMO. While he didn't exactly say he'd done the work himself, how he talked about it made it seem like it was all his.

Peter Tork from the Monkees had a strange little quirk. Sometimes, when other actors were delivering their lines Tork would unthinkingly mouth their dialogue along with them, as seen in this YouTube compilation. Once you spot it, it makes the show (which was already kinda weird) weird in a whole new way.

The hottest toy of 1998 was sort of adorable, and sort of annoying. It couldn't do much - couldn't do anything, really - but it could look at you, it could say some nonsense phrases, and it seemed uncannily aware of the world around it. That's all Furby needed to pretty much take over the world.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? Impatience. I'm not very good at waiting around or dealing with things that aren't moving at a pace that I want them to. What is the trait you most deplore in others? Superiority. I shrink when I'm around people who act superior, whether it's due to authority or intellect.

When you gaze the greatest, we're not just talking about lyrics, we're talking about impact as well. There's only so many rappers that could write something hyperlyrical and then also come write 'California Love,' and 'Toss It Up,' and then go back and write 'Dear Mama' and 'Changes,' and then come back and write '2 of Amerikaz Most Wanted.'

Conan O'Brien is a singular and outstanding American humorist. His work, deeply rooted in close listening and keen observation, creates joyful connections between and among ideas and people. I look forward to sharing the stage with him in Tercentenary Theatre later this year. Harvard is tremendously fortunate to call him one of our own.