British Comedy Guide

Silly Jokes About Cats. Page 5

Having seen the first few replies, and then seeing this thread had reached five pages so quickly, I pretty-much knew this had happened.

The jokes were not funny (and it's a stretch to even call them jokes). I am not going to disagree there.

That said, none of sootyj's retorts are funny either (someone who's feedback I generally agree with - minus the insults - but who's own work/lines seem to suffer from many of the issues he criticises elsewhere). However, he has 36344 posts, so can get away with it. Whereas, you have 14, and cannot. The same inconsistency is seemingly also present with regards to what swearing you can get away with also.

The way of the board seems to be that a throw-away, unfunny pun from someone in the "1000+ posts club" is appreciated by the other members of the "1000+ posts club", but a newbie uttering such a line is thrown to the wolves. Now you have "lost" the audience in the forum, it's even more hopeless. If you, and one of the forum's elder statesmen, wrote the EXACT same line on here, there's no way the reaction would be the same. It's the lay of the land here, I'm afraid.

If you want to keep fighting your corner here, my advice is to stick up a video of some stand up, where your audience is wowed. Sure, people here might still not find it funny, but at least you will have proved to have been a success within your own geographical location.

Funny is funny I reckon. And puns are terrible things. Cats all I'm saying!

OFO

I am so sick and tired of having a large number of posts and hanging around here longer than most.

I don't think it makes me better or more deserving of praise or recognition. I occaisonally get miffed when quite the opposite it lines me up for more of a kicking.

And if my work seems mostly shit. Fine it is and there's a reason for that.

I use critique as what is supposed to be. A laboratory to work on and experiment and improve my work. So mostly my stuff there isn't very good. Fine my ego can take a drubbing and it frequently does.

I kinda work on the basis that I need to write atleast 10 bad pieces for each good one. And at times the ratio has been far higher, I have serious faults as writer and I try and work on them all the time.

It means I make a steady but modest income as a writer and I'm making some modest inroads on better projects.

For what it's worth most of the stuff in critique is shit. Because people who've mastered their art no longer require so much feedback. Or usually have support from fellow professionals.

Quote: Marc P @ July 12 2012, 1:53 PM BST

Funny is funny I reckon. And puns are terrible things. Cats all I'm saying!

You're jokes are so moggy, I mean soggy.

I will never apologise for liking a good or even average pun down!

That's a pretty straight, honest reply. Can't argue with critique being a "chuck some stuff out there, and see what sticks" place.

Although, if my cat had sat on my keyboard on 36349 occasions, I'm sure it would, by the law of averages, have eventually written something funny too.

Why don't you try it?

It can only improve your odds.

And its not so much chuck stuff out as try stuff I don't think works, to see why it doesn't.

Quote: SimonWing @ July 12 2012, 2:14 PM BST

Although, if my cat had sat on my keyboard on 36349 occasions, I'm sure it would, by the law of averages, have eventually written something funny too.

I don't think there is any such law :) And be better than average anyway Simon, if it does exist.

nb if you just post straight into showcase or critique as your first post good luck to you. But you're taking a chance.

Lots of people have done it and inspired in me nothing but envy and admiration.

Are you talking about Susie Cocktail?

Why don't you try it?

It can only improve your odds.

If my cat was repeatedly sitting on my keyboard (especially with all the stuff I gotta change on the script), I imagine I'd have drowned it long before it reached 36349.

So Marc what's your new Tesco value thriller called?

Quote: Marc P @ July 12 2012, 2:22 PM BST

better than average crime thriller.

featuring your new hero "the PCO in the know"

Quote: Marc P @ July 12 2012, 2:24 PM BST

Are you talking about Susie Cocktail?

....and a disturbing mixture of murderous rage and the raging horn.

Quote: SimonWing @ July 12 2012, 2:24 PM BST

If my cat was repeatedly sitting on my keyboard (especially with all the stuff I gotta change on the script), I imagine I'd have drowned it long before it reached 36349.

Simon you seem obsessed with counting numbers, have you sought spiritual or specialist help with this? I knew a woman who used to wash her hands all the time but she was a surgeon.

Quote: sootyj @ July 12 2012, 2:25 PM BST

So Marc what's your new Tesco value thriller called?

featuring your new hero "the PCO in the know"

....and a disturbing mixture of murderous rage and the raging horn.

If it's a formula that works, stick with it, that's my motto!

Quote: Justin Dan @ July 12 2012, 2:36 AM BST

I never insulted: "the audience" because they didn't find me funny. Did you read the posts in their entirety? It was a back and forth between one person and my self and it had nothing to do with him not liking the jokes.It's pretty clear I wasn't taking issue with him or anyone on here not liking my jokes, but the personal insults directed at me by one person. I didn't take issue with anyone saying they didn't like my jokes. I didn't argue that the jokes were funny, but you all just don't get them. I never conveyed any thing of that sentiment. Maybe it's my fault for not being prepared for personal insults. In the states, other comedians give you feedback, but they don't make fun of you personally. I just wasn't prepared for that.It's very different to make fun of someones work, then it is to make fun of them. We distinguish between the two. I don't think you guys do. Sooty must have thought that me taking issue with his personal insults meant I was taking issue with what he thought about my jokes. I wasn't. Why would you personally insult some one just because you don't like their jokes? Why not just insult the jokes them selves? Insulting someone personally doesn't pass for constructive criticism in the states. Even after saying all that I think some of you will still fail to see the difference between me taking issue with personal insults and not taking issue with insulting my jokes. It amazes me this concept seems to be almost impossible for a couple of you to grasp. I find it baffling. It's weird. Perhaps for you the two are just too intertwined. I don't know. I find it quite perplexing. I don't mean to sound condescending. It's sincerely confounding. I do recall piers morgan talking about how he was surprised that american audiences are okay with insulting some ones performance, but that americans don't like it if you insult the person. So I guess for you guys it's the same thing, but for me it's totally different. I never would have posted those jokes, if I knew this would have been the result. Not because you all didn't like them, but because the personal insults upset me and I got caught up in some thing very silly and got emotional over it. Shame on me, I suppose. The whole time sooty thought I was disagreeing with his opinion of my jokes. That wasn't the case. Thats not the fuc**ing case! I'm done trying to make this point, because it's obviously not getting through. Does anyone else get what I'm saying?

Yes

Sidebar - just because the forum is British doesn't make this an accurate reflection of the British people as a whole

The jokes weren't funny, not because it's cultural but more for the medium. If they were spoken with the right attitude they might be funny however written down, they lacked two major criteria 1.) a set-up 2.) a punchline. Remember that a written joke has to be very tight, very clear and very sharp otherwise it just falls flat.

Best of luck with the stand-up!

Quote: Marc P @ July 12 2012, 2:28 PM BST

Simon you seem obsessed with counting numbers, have you sought spiritual or specialist help with this? I knew a woman who used to wash her hands all the time but she was a surgeon.

http://numdic.com/13644

Is 1966 the number of the Best?

Its a number wingwang

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