Several weeks ago, I noticed a funny trailer of season 4 of Only Murders in the Building (OMITB). Unfortunately, season 4 is hardly funny while season 1 was quite funny and entertaining. Hence, I fail to understand its very high average IMDb rating of 8.1. A rating of 6.9 would be (more than) enough.
Season 4 has very many cameo appearances by well-known actors. Perhaps, too many cameos. Clearly, their guest roles are at the expense of the main characters, being Steve Martin (b.1945), Martin Short (b.1950), and Selena Gomez (b.1992).
Steve Martin and Martin Short are (very) skilled comedians. Selena Gomez is anything but funny. Latter works well with both comedians. Considering the rather boring and disappointing season 4 of OMITB, here’s my blog title’s question: Why is humour so difficult??
Sometimes, I’m using humour in my writing following a funny idea or notion. However, writing humour is (very) difficult for me (eg, subject, timing). Nevertheless, I make frequent jokes, especially by using double meanings.
Some articles claim that political correctness is killing comedy, like Medium-2019, Quora, Washington Examiner-2023 and NPR-2024. A 2016 essay on Zócalo disagrees: political correctness isn’t killing comedy, it’s making it better. In my view, comedy went from public to private audiences.
One could argue that (paid subscription) streaming services – unlike public TV – are for private audiences. However, streaming services are often – directly or indirectly – listed on (public) stock exchanges, which actually makes them more public than private.
The following quote may explain (best) why comedy is so difficult nowadays:
“We need liberals, what I don’t think we need is illiberals. What I don’t think some liberals see is they’re being cannibalized by the illiberals. There are extremes on both sides that I think are unfair… the extreme left and extreme right completely illegitimize the other side. They exaggerate the other side’s stance into an irrational state that makes no sense. That’s not fair.”
A 2020 quote by actor Matthew McConaughey (b.1969) on Deadline
Not Funny (2024) OST Madgaon Express
IMDb, video, Wiki
Note: all markings (bold, italic, underlining) by LO unless in quotes or stated otherwise.
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