Opinions sought: What makes something funny?

[Hoo Flungdung]

And if it's overstepping taboo lines, what happens as we run out of societal taboos?

[Mythor]

We're not running out of taboo subjects, they're just changing over time.
Perhaps the number is decreasing a little, but I'm not sure we'll ever truly run out.. Or not in our life times, anyway.

[hails]

more taboos get created...use sept 11 as an example. there will be future wars and future wanker presidents and future terrorist attacks. terrorist attacks are obviously not considered brilliant comedic material soon after the event, but after a bit of time, the event breaks down into wanker presidents and stupid wars and hell, there's bound to be something really funny about that

i like taboo stuff, the kind of stuff where most of the audience is going "ooooh" and there's me and a couple of my friends just cacking ourselves. i also like silly stuff - tripod's "ghost ship" and "urine town" just crack me up coz they're so ridiculous *s* and then there's the stuff that makes me think, coz reality is bullshit and deserves to be laughed at

[Hoo Flungdung]

I was actually in NYC when the towers went down and was wondering around Manhattan for the day. Finally got home and an american friend rang up and said, "Heyy What's up?" in a morbid tone and I said, " Not the World Trade Centre..."
She didn't think it was very funny at the time.
:/

[GentleZephyr]

Spoilers for Underworld (but I'll try to make it vague)

Originally Posted by hails

...the kind of stuff where most of the audience is going "ooooh" and there's me and a couple of my friends just cacking ourselves.

Like the scene where one guy gets his head sliced in half with a big sword. He sort of stands there for a second before the whole top of his head just slides right off, exposing a cleanly bisected brain. My partner and I just burst into hysterical laughter and the rest of the audience looked at us like we were some kind of freaks. Well, it was funny.

[arandom]

I think making jokes about 'taboos' is almost too easy for comedians to do. It's also very very common..... the amount of times i've seen comics say a sketchy joke and the crowd goes 'oooh' and the comedian replies "Whaaat?"....Ross Noble does it all the time.

But, it can be very funny. It's just nice when there's a good joke behind it.

[Nick]

Over stepping Taboos can sometimes realse tension which makes comedy so good.

But Taboos dont just make comedy funny, I think personal expirances can make comedy fantastic! But I also love absurd comedy.

[Gutter Monkey]

Originally Posted by Nick

But Taboos dont just make comedy funny, I think personal expirances can make comedy fantastic! But I also love absurd comedy.

Now we just need to find some absurd taboos. Like making eye contact in lifts and stuff.

Personally, I don't know what's taboo and what's not anymore. The stuff I did at Purge Night seemed to offend me more than the audience. But the rules are slightly different there.