Generational humor thread

[TheOtherTed]

Yep, another dumb thread by TheOtherTed.

 

I looked up the following clip a few days ago to win an argument on the internet, and then realized that 1) I always considered this sort of humor to be very Gen-X, and 2) I never considered how people outside "my" generation might actually view it.

 

So go ahead - give it a view and let me know what you think.  And by all means, drop your own generational humor gems here, if you're so inclined.

 

Or don't, you know, that's your choice.

 

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

 

I think I may be from the previous generation, eh. 

[TheOtherTed]

3 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

I think I may be from the previous generation, eh.

All I know is that if I were born a couple of years earlier, I would technically be a boomer.  We may just have caught that transition period between the serious sitcoms of Norman Lear and the irreverent-to-nihilistic, slew of cartoons made for adults.

 

Also, this scene is etched on the inside of my skull:

 

 

[OldManMercy]

 

[TheOtherTed]

To this day, it still amazes me that Roseanne Roseannadanna's hairstyle became the fashion (at least in in my college) ten years after that clip.

[Oubliette_Red]

[Hyperstrike]

Man there's a load of comedy films I will just get in trouble for posting about.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Okay, being a Brit (if well-travelled enough to know Canadian humour, eh), here's a bit from The Goodies...

 

 

Spoiler

Think a slightly lighter-hearted Python crew - and they worked on the same shows earlier on - though the shows had a kinda-sorta-plot, and the stuff Gilliam would have done was done in live action with practical effects and models.

 

There was also a friendly rivalry with their old mates over at Python, especially when the Goodies regularly infested the charts with dumb-but-catchy novelty disco stuff by Bill Oddie - and one entry in the record books. While Python did a sketch about writing a lethal joke, the Goodies did it - an unfortunate viewer laughed themselves into a heart attack. I'm not gonna link to that one due to the potential risk to viewers, and that... well, some 70s and 80s sketch choices didn't age well, put it that way.

 

Then, of course, if you're a Brit of a certain age, there was your big moral choice.

 

Were you a Swap Shop kid... or a Tiswas kid?

 

 

Edited August 29, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[TheOtherTed]

On 8/29/2023 at 12:03 AM, Oubliette_Red said:

Pintos - the greatest secret weapon in the arsenal of democracy.

 

Spoiler

For those who may be too young to remember, Pintos were notorious for a simple design flaw that could cause the gas tank to explode if the car was hit from behind.  Oubliette_Red's clip is only a slight exaggeration.  The Ford motor company fought tooth and nail against government recalls and attempts to impose safety regulations, and 27 people died in fire before the Ford company finally issued a recall.

[Hyperstrike]

4 hours ago, TheOtherTed said:

Pintos - the greatest secret weapon in the arsenal of democracy.

 

  Hide contents

For those who may be too young to remember, Pintos were notorious for a simple design flaw that could cause the gas tank to explode if the car was hit from behind.  Oubliette_Red's clip is only a slight exaggeration.  The Ford motor company fought tooth and nail against government recalls and attempts to impose safety regulations, and 27 people died in fire before the Ford company finally issued a recall.

Actually the tank ruptures were seldom "explosions" like this.
The area, due to misunderstanding of NHTSA safety standards wasn't reinforced properly, and essentially became a crush zone.
So fuel leaks in a crash could lead to fires.

[TheOtherTed]

5 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

misunderstanding of NHTSA safety standards

I'm given to understand that Ford released the Pinto in spite of numerous rear-end crash tests both by AMC and the Ford company itself, all of which failed.  I haven't read that there was a misunderstanding, but I could be missing something.  There's a lot to unpack there, to be sure.

 

However, I stand corrected on the explosion thing.  Or, rather, sit corrected.

[Hyperstrike]

4 hours ago, TheOtherTed said:

I'm given to understand that Ford released the Pinto in spite of numerous rear-end crash tests both by AMC and the Ford company itself, all of which failed.  I haven't read that there was a misunderstanding, but I could be missing something.  There's a lot to unpack there, to be sure.

 

However, I stand corrected on the explosion thing.  Or, rather, sit corrected.

It's not that they did so DESPITE the safety ratings.
It was just that they had several standards in play and picked the wrong standard to chase.

Leaving the rear chassis assembly unreinforced.

Here's one of the crash tests of the Pinto demonstrating the problem.
 

 

 

[TheOtherTed]

9 hours ago, Hyperstrike said:

It's not that they did so DESPITE the safety ratings.

 

The following article suggests they did.  Though, to be "fair," it also notes that the Pinto's development and release was rushed.

https://philosophia.uncg.edu/phi361-matteson/module-1-why-does-business-need-ethics/case-the-ford-pinto/

 

In any case, this thread really isn't the place for this sort of discussion, and I apologize to any and all for my part in dragging this out.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

We can segue that back to generational humour, mind...

 

I’m a disappointed idealist. I think of myself as a skeptic, a realist. I think the cynics are the people who left the gas tank on the Ford Pinto, companies that kill people and just cross them out because they can’t afford to retool. That’s a cynical position. But the saying goes, if you scratch a cynic, you find a disappointed idealist, and that’s what’s going on with me. Down deep and underneath, the flame still flickers. I wish for an idealist, utopian world but the realist in me says it’s never gonna happen because of the way they’ve structured power and money and control and the hierarchies they’ve established.

 

-- George Carlin

 

...okay, no laughs for that? Tough crowd.

Try this instead. There's a lot of good stuff in it (and if you enjoyed this post, please donate to St. Anthony's Home For The Visually Unpleasant if you can spare a buck or two). But definitely clock in from 10:30 for George on the (ab)use of language.

 

 

 

Edited September 1, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[TheOtherTed]

We need more philosopher-comedians.  Like, right now.

 

In other news, I was going to post a clip of David Tennant singing "West End Girls" by the Pet Shop Boys, but the music quality of the one clip I could find was so terrible that I'd be embarrassed to post it.  Consider this a PSA for those who really, truly, need it in their lives.

 

Also, it seems to me that we have about 1.5 generations posting in this thread.  No Baby Boomers?  (The real ones - Gen X doesn't count.)  No Millenials?  No Zoomers?  (The real ones - Millenials don't count.)

[JasperStone]

 

[InvaderStych]

On 9/4/2023 at 8:25 AM, TheOtherTed said:

We need more philosopher-comedians.  Like, right now.

 

Agreed ...

 

 

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by InvaderStych