there is a reason "Ow My Balls" is the #1 show on TV.

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Yep. He's a freaking genius. This still cracks me up all these years later. The story is that Harvey Korman literally pissed his pants from laughter while performing in this with Conway.

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The sketch lasts nine minutes. I'm not sure modern tv show directors or audiences would tolerate that length. We need our comedy to be much punchier nowadays otherwise people change the channel.

Somewhat and not every sketch has the same payoff even for the Carol Burnett Show. Just like SNL, some are classics and some are quickly forgotten. There just weren't so many choices back then so viewrs stuck around. But now physical comedy on TV has to be somewhat quicker, more dramatic, and more obvious because there's not as much time within a sketch to work out the more subtle comedic bits.

I do agree, and watching that skit there are some things that could be cut out to shorten...but damn if that whole thing isn't hilarious.

It's not just comedy though. Used to watch the old Mission Impossible episodes with my dad, and it's crazy how they would show every step of them sneaking into places. Like instead of just showing them at a door with a lock pick, and then a couple of camera changes showing them picking the lock, it would be one camera showing them actually going through the entire process of picking the lock.

Like it was said above, some of it is just due to people's shortened attention span, but a lot of it is directors getting better about knowing what the audience actually needs to see and still keep it exciting and make sense.

The Eric Andre Show openings...wow

Champ Bailey said:

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It's not just comedy though. Used to watch the old Mission Impossible episodes with my dad, and it's crazy how they would show every step of them sneaking into places. Like instead of just showing them at a door with a lock pick, and then a couple of camera changes showing them picking the lock, it would be one camera showing them actually going through the entire process of picking the lock.

Like it was said above, some of it is just due to people's shortened attention span, but a lot of it is directors getting better about knowing what the audience actually needs to see and still keep it exciting and make sense.

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Man, this is true. Just watched Bullitt for the first time. Steve McQueen and another cop spend about five minutes going through a homicide victims's luggage, looking at items one by one (most of them irrelevant) and commenting on them. Awesome film, but it's funny how movies were different back then.

double aught said:

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Champ Bailey said:

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It's not just comedy though. Used to watch the old Mission Impossible episodes with my dad, and it's crazy how they would show every step of them sneaking into places. Like instead of just showing them at a door with a lock pick, and then a couple of camera changes showing them picking the lock, it would be one camera showing them actually going through the entire process of picking the lock.

Like it was said above, some of it is just due to people's shortened attention span, but a lot of it is directors getting better about knowing what the audience actually needs to see and still keep it exciting and make sense.

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Man, this is true. Just watched Bullitt for the first time. Steve McQueen and another cop spend about five minutes going through a homicide victims's luggage, looking at items one by one (most of them irrelevant) and commenting on them. Awesome film, but it's funny how movies were different back then.

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On top of that, you had a couple of shows in the 70's that were being simultaneously written for Tv and radio broadcasting. So the script had to make sense from just listening to the radio too.

I just wanted to say that I can watch Jonah Hill get hit by a car 100 times in Superbad, and I'm laughing every single time.

So, this thread has tons of good examples of times when physical comedy is hilarious. I don't think I ever liked stuff like the 3 stooges bc they were always "fighting" with each other, but I laugh at Laurel and Hardy.

Appreciate all the fun examples

The first 20 mins of Wall-E is great physical comedy!

Jerry Lewis

Speaking of the physical comedy of The Three Stooges, I've got to say one of my favorite gags occurs when the boys are running a service station.

Moe instructs Larry to put gas in the fuel tank, and Curly to put water in the radiator. Unfortunately, those guys get it backwards, and when Moe checks the radiator (with a match) to make sure the job has been completed, well, you know ...

nm I'm the idiocracy

Yeah I don't think I've ever seen ball related injuries and not laughed.

I mean, who doesn't?