What happened to the slow paced, build up, kind of comedy, typified by Laurel and Hardy?

“Why is comedy nowadays so fast and furious, rapid fire, bludgeoning.”

Because it appeals to a larger audience base. Why do you think Dane Cook (ughh) is so popular? I think nowadays comics spend less time creating elaborate, well thought-out jokes because they can get just as many laughs with a couple of lame dick jokes.

Laurel & Hardy? OMG! My very favorites! I have tapes on them. They never cease to make me laugh.

Today’s sitcoms are a joke. (no pun intended) I don’t watch any of them. The last comedy I watched was MASH. ‘Jeff’ is right, Sex & body parts are all these writers can think of. But it’s also the fault of the audiences, because people watch them. If the general public demanded better programming, we’d get it. Maybe.

Reflects todays world. Laurel & Hardy along with Keaton & Harold Lloyd potray a sadly bygone age when comedy was king. Legends brilliantly thought out wellcrafted hilarious mirth makers.

Short attention spans. Same reason people don’t often read a Fluther response if it’s more than a few sentences long.

The same thing is happening with novels.

It’s something called instant gratification. Generally speaking, audiences would rather hear a rapid-fire series of one-liners. Also, it seems there has grown a sort of snobbbery concerning slapstick. I think cartoons have something to do with that. Most of the Loony-Tunes classics, as well as other animations of that era (1930–1940) which contained a lot of slapstick, were not necessarily created for children. They came to be known as children’s fare in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, when they were used on children’s programs. When children of that generation grew up and outgrew the children’s programming, they also tended to completely discard the animation genre as well as the slapstick.

@jeffgoldblumsprivatefacilities ”Lame dick jokes”. Yep you’ve pretty much summed up comedy for this decade.

Everyone on this thread is right on. I think what disturbs me most about what passes as comedy today is it’s snarkiness. Past comics like Berle and Hope and Skelton and Benny were sweet, gentle. I miss them.

@Austinlad 10 GA’s for that observation! :-)

Check out Bill Envall’s old comedy. He did a standup about ‘People ought to wear a sign’. The whole routine circled and came back to that. And I think as well instant gratification is the why. I remember the lovely feeling of anticipation- like waiting a week to get your vacation pictures back.

@faye Yeah, Bill’s good. Our family says that a lot…. “heeeeeeere’s your sign”. LOL

What about Andy Kaufman, didn’t he try the audience’s patience, as a matter of principle, that guy was fearless.