The three second rule
I am always thinking about what is funny. I really have studied funny to enhance my own funniness - but that's another post...
I am constantly puzzled why my dear husband laughs his ass off while we watch Family Guy and all I can manage is a smile. Last night I figured it out. They hold beats WAY too long. Saturday Night Live had this same problem in the late 1990s. A guy stubbing his toe is funny. Him holding and moaning "OWWW" is funny; but it is not funny for 15 seconds.
This thought crystallized in my mind when my husband was making a funny noise last night - but he wouldn't stop. At first it was funny but then it became seriously annoying. Same thing with Family Guy. Maybe its because I am so ADD but I can't pay attention to the same concept that long and think it is funny. Change it up - I'll stick with it, but I am not one to tolerate 'milking it for all its worth'. Arrested Development clings tightly to this idea - they don't need a laugh track to let us know its funny. The jokes come rolling down the mountain without a seconds pause.
So, I came up with the three second rule. Its a corollary to the rules of funny. Any one thing, sustained without changing (noise, pun, punch line, movement, or visual) is only funny for three seconds.
Bodily noises easily fit into this category. Anything longer is the equivalent of saying "d'you get it? d'you get it? d'you get it?" So, no longer will I laugh at the prolonged burp. Time yourself, you don't need more than 3 seconds to fart. No longer will I laugh at high pitched voice that drones on after a ball-in-the-crotch shot. Unite with me and ignore all attempts to drag comedy out past the three second mark where all it does is annoy.
I think this rule may only apply to women - men seem to like the prolonged pain of listening to terrible noises go on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on.
I am constantly puzzled why my dear husband laughs his ass off while we watch Family Guy and all I can manage is a smile. Last night I figured it out. They hold beats WAY too long. Saturday Night Live had this same problem in the late 1990s. A guy stubbing his toe is funny. Him holding and moaning "OWWW" is funny; but it is not funny for 15 seconds.
This thought crystallized in my mind when my husband was making a funny noise last night - but he wouldn't stop. At first it was funny but then it became seriously annoying. Same thing with Family Guy. Maybe its because I am so ADD but I can't pay attention to the same concept that long and think it is funny. Change it up - I'll stick with it, but I am not one to tolerate 'milking it for all its worth'. Arrested Development clings tightly to this idea - they don't need a laugh track to let us know its funny. The jokes come rolling down the mountain without a seconds pause.
So, I came up with the three second rule. Its a corollary to the rules of funny. Any one thing, sustained without changing (noise, pun, punch line, movement, or visual) is only funny for three seconds.
Bodily noises easily fit into this category. Anything longer is the equivalent of saying "d'you get it? d'you get it? d'you get it?" So, no longer will I laugh at the prolonged burp. Time yourself, you don't need more than 3 seconds to fart. No longer will I laugh at high pitched voice that drones on after a ball-in-the-crotch shot. Unite with me and ignore all attempts to drag comedy out past the three second mark where all it does is annoy.
I think this rule may only apply to women - men seem to like the prolonged pain of listening to terrible noises go on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on, and on.
posted by lfwade at 2:39 PM
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