Why do you think sense of humour changes as we get older?

In my case because i'm a little less touchy and I understand the irony a bit better usually...

My humour was often quite 'sarcastic' when I was younger and I could be quite cutting. I am keener not to hurt people's feelings for the sake of me crackin' a joke these days. Irony, oh I love irony.

Try finding one thing that stays the same.

We're all gonna die.

Things are most amusing the first time around. I still see and hear hilarious things daily, just not as often. When I was 18 everything was funny.

quote:

Originally posted by Consciousmess:
There's an interesting question I wondered. Why do you think this is so, say from e.g. 20 years old up until 90, why does our sense of humour change?

Jon

Yes....Funny that.

Graeme

quote:

Originally posted by Graeme Hutton:

quote:

Originally posted by Consciousmess:
There's an interesting question I wondered. Why do you think this is so, say from e.g. 20 years old up until 90, why does our sense of humour change?

Jon

Yes....Funny that.

Graeme

Not really
Ian (aged 104 3/4)

the older you get, the less competitive you have to be, and once the children are grown, the more free time you have.

free time and less competition, it changes everything.

Now there is an interesting question. Why do we not have to be as competitive as we grow older? (If that is indeed true.)

Maybe it is not just us who change. Perhaps the change is in humour itself. In the 1940s, my favourite radio programme was "ITMA". It might just raise a faint smile today. Current favourite "The News Quiz" would have been unthinkable before 1960. Another old favourite, "Round the Horne" has for me, reatained most if not all of its original humour.
The increased influence of surrealism and satire have changed not only humour, but us.
Regards,
Ken

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Lawson:
Now there is an interesting question. Why do we not have to be as competitive as we grow older? (If that is indeed true.)

Maybe we grow into ourselves and care less for competition, children also help prioritise what matters.

quote:

Originally posted by Diccus62:
We're all gonna die.

Yeah. And that's not funny.

quote:

Originally posted by KenM:
Maybe it is not just us who change. Perhaps the change is in humour itself. In the 1940s, my favourite radio programme was "ITMA". It might just raise a faint smile today. Current favourite "The News Quiz" would have been unthinkable before 1960. Another old favourite, "Round the Horne" has for me, reatained most if not all of its original humour.

The increased influence of surrealism and satire have changed not only humour, but us.
Regards,

Ken

Dear Ken,

I avoid humourous [in intention] porogramming on the braadcast media, and have not had a Television since 2003 on account of it being so rarely watched before that.

The only exception was Humphrey Littleton's "I am sorry I haven't a clue," which, though it may continue without HL, I have no intention of bothering with now its main humourist has died.

I doubt if broadcast humour has had any real impact on me therefore, but it is possible that I do not have a sense of humour at all, so that it cannot be altered!

On the other hand I do find that laughs come easily enough when with real people, so parhaps there is some hope.

All the brest from George

quote:

Originally posted by GFFJ:
....

All the brest from George

If you meant that it was genius - if you didn't, it made me laugh anyhow :-)

ATB Ian

Normally "ATB ...," I can promise that it was meant!

G

quote:

Originally posted by dsteady:

quote:

Originally posted by Diccus62:
We're all gonna die.

Yeah. And that's not funny.

One could die laughing

quote:

Originally posted by dsteady:

quote:

Originally posted by Diccus62:
We're all gonna die.

Yeah. And that's not funny.

Cheer up - it can only happen if we've been born.

My own hypothesis goes somehat like this:

As we grow older we develop more responsibilities such as holding jobs down and perhaps being role-models for children.

As a result of this, the humour we once had is more suppressed because of the image we must portray of ourselves. Now, this is also in conjunction with wisdom so jokes are funny first few times, but knowledge overcomes novelty which is what makes some jokes funny.

I, myself, am hypothesising this at 32 years old. I cannot foresee my sense of humour in the future, but taking 18 years off my age I found Wayne's World funny. It now would annoy me due to the total immaturity in its humour. This feeds my hypothesis of wisdom changing sense of humour.

Of course society brings with it other ingredients and humans are social animals. Humour is a shared thing that reinforces social cohesion; often it is at others' expense too - perhaps that satiates the death instinct Freud claimed we all desire...

Jon

quote:

I found Wayne's World funny

I still do - especially the Scooby-Doo ending.

However the funniest and in my view best film ever made is Oh Mr Porter



The next train's gone! is one of the funniest lines in any film. This classic film plus Hay's Ask A Policeman are timeless.

I think my humour has changed little over the years - I never have found comedians who achieve 18 certificates on their videos remotely funny (why do people like Billy Connelly? for instance) - I guess everybody's different.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Lawson:
Now there is an interesting question. Why do we not have to be as competitive as we grow older? (If that is indeed true.)

no kids at home = fewer bills no parenting

Sense of humour changes when we get older is may be because the novelty of the humour wares off as time goes by. Even Little Britain is not so funny in parts because it is predictable as to what is going to happen next in a particular sketch.