Doug Walker (TGWTG, Nostalgia Critic, Bum Reviews, and other projects)

Nobody here has a problem with that concept. People are taking issue with Doug's assessment that this is the only way to do comedy.

Nah I was speaking solely to the jokes at others expense being valid whether the person on the other end enjoys it or not.

Tbh I definitely don't agree with Doug's assessment. I had a philosophy of humor class and we had way too many reasons in our discussion because some humor is subverting expectations others is playing towards expectations and others is laughing at others misery or you could mix them all up at times. There's a lot of what makes comedy what it is.

Well then that's not a joke, that's an insult. An insult is purposefully mean spirited (like if someone went "Mexicans, am I right?). A joke is meant to be funny, not insulting, otherwise nobody laughs except a few assholes who like hurting people.

Also, as I have been pointing out, Doug just seems to be using the "comedy=misery" saying to simplify it, because I have seen him talk about how "comedy=misery/confusion/expense of others" in other videos. Given how Doug has a love of black comedy (that aristocrats joke) and the entire point of the Critic character is being a huge miserable prick, he at the very least should be aware of comedy not always meaning misery.

Insults and jokes aren't mutually exclusive either.

So word is that M. Night Shymalan's newest movie "The Visit" is actually pretty good.

Anyone think the Walker brothers will have a say about it in some way?

edited 10th Sep '15 7:14:08 PM by TargetmasterJoe

Personally, I don't see how 63% on Rotten Tomatoes counts as 'good'. Mediocre maybe, and certainly miles better than a mere 9%, but unless it's So Bad, It's Good, that still ain't exactly high praise. (Then again, Mistress America has 82%, and after seeing it, I thought that 'mediocre' was all it deserved. So it isn't as if RT is always 100% accurate.)

edited 10th Sep '15 7:48:09 PM by kkhohoho

You can't always go solely by the percentage. A movie could be 100% but still have tons of criticism against it, just that the reviews generally may have both good and bad things to say about the movie with the good remarks overpowering the bad. Metacritic is a bit more accurate in gauging response in this regard, but the two sites don't always aggregate all the same reviews.

Rob posted an image meme in response to the movie. I think it's a safe bet that they did see it.

Was the image meme positive or negative?

Either way, Rotten Tomatoes doesn't really mean that much when it comes to some movies. The reviews towards Aardman's Pirates movie were somewhere in the 80% range on Rotten Tomatoes, but I personally found it boring and forgettable, as apparently so did much of the audience (the audience score was much lower, somewhere in the 60% range).

Positive.

They must have liked it than.

If it improves over The Happening, then I guess anything would seem to be an improvement.

I am bad at linking

but in the latest SU Blog, Doug even responds to the whole comedyfrompain issue

edited 12th Sep '15 12:07:39 PM by Medigo03

There you go. I still think the "puns are an example of misery equals comedy" is a giant stretch.

Depends on the usage. Sometimes I use puns because I know they're bad, which is at my expense. Just look at when people make a pun and say "I'll let myself out".

I think the problem is that misery really isn't an accurate word for it.

What about good puns? Good wordplay?

The way he says it

inanimate objects and immaterial concepts can be subjected to pain as well

good wordplay is still hurting the words I guess?

Clever word-play is only worthy of a brief chuckle, if it isn't already apart of another joke.

In your opinion though. Others might find good wordplay the best jokes.

edited 12th Sep '15 4:49:59 PM by emeriin

Good wordplay would, indeed, be at the expense of the sentence using the words. Or it could be at the expense of the person's native language if it is genuinely meant to be absurdist writing, such as Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll.

You know, if puns are debatable, then I'd like to hear another example if we're going to disprove this. Otherwise, I think Doug might be right - although "misery" is probably a bad word for it.

'Mockery' might be a better term; something has to be the butt of the joke. Misery is just an applied version of that.

Honestly, I think Doug has the right idea, but as has been said, 'misery' is just too strong a word. For example, if someone is assaulted with a clever Deadpan Snarker insult, but it isn't soul-crushingly offensive, that's not misery; that's just irritation. As has also been said, 'mockery' might be a better term for it, though I'm not sure even that applies to everything, especially since some comedy does depend on genuine misery; just not all of it.

Well, there is this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WHu-EF1CEc

Don't see any 'misery' there, and still find it pretty damn hilarious.

Also "inanimate things can still be abused for pain"? What is even the fuck with that?

...

I'm sorry, but I just didn't find that funny. At all. The closest I got to an actual laugh was a very faint split-second chortle, but that was it. I'm not trying to put you down or advocate Doug here. I'm just telling it like it is.

I agree but, nonetheless, it is supposed to be a joke and some people find it funny. Doug's argument is not about the quality of humor, but of what constitute comedy.