Thai Sense Of Humor

[Neeranam]

The one that gets the biggest laughs from me is "meuwan, pom seu yaa see meun baht" they say "yaa arai" I say "yamaha" - try it. Sorry but I'm not allowed to write Thai in General section.

A translation would be useful

yesterday I bought medicine for 40,000 baht

what medicine?

yamaha

[Shotime]

My wife finds The Sopranos funny, no idea why, something to do with fat farangs shooting each other and swearing a lot.

My GF loves Tony Soprano, but cause of the mafia thing. She also fully understands and appreciates a NE US sense of cynical, sarcastic, self-deprecating humor. She also laughs at the stupid TV shows, but only for a little bit. Humor is a funny thing.

[aries27]

k, lets keep this thread in focus. no one is saying which type of humor is superior, "asian type" or "western type". it is just fun to note the differences.

am asian and i would find the slipping on a banana peel and landing on a pile of poop as funny but i would probably not laugh openly at the victim because that would be so hurtful. but if i can go to a "safe place", i would laugh my head off. i think it also has to do with the asian's value for saving face? asians value saving face a lot that if they lose it, it is really embarrassing and funny? IMO.

the asian in me probably makes me appreciate the antics of mr. bean but i dont like beny hill or three stooges. i feel sorry for one of the guys who always get hit.

in the end, as someone puts it here somewhere, a laugh is a laugh. as long as it funny to you, why care what others think of you?

now can we get on with it...? more differences please.

in PH, gay people are always expected to be funny...

i also think chinese sense of humor is pretty physical.

[bkkblueeyes]

I tripped over once and about 10 Thais thought it was funny.

So did my wife.

I thought it was funny as well in the end.

[LivinLOS]

My wife loved Team America.

Ahh Puppet scatalogical humor.. Was a first for me !!

[DP25]

Pure curiousity...what makes the ordinary Thai laugh? What kind of jokes, gestures, situations, etc. tickles the funny bone of Thais?

Ladyboys, midgets, retards, fat chicks, people with ghost faces, people falling, clever plays on words, bathroom jokes, sex jokes, and lots of other stuff.

But I also noted the funny commercials in Thailand, ok BTS/Skytrain variety which really cut across cultures I think. Visually entertaining and intelligent too. But is this the regular, common Thai humor one can also encounters in the farms or off-city areas?

Yeah, a lot of Thai commercials are simply brilliant. I think that that is one of the few areas creative artists are really let loose to make a quality product, as most of the movies they are allowed to make are low brow slapstick comedies or ghost comedies. I imagine they get bored making that stuff, which is why the commercials are so quality.

[MeaMaximaCulpa]

Pure curiousity...what makes the ordinary Thai laugh? What kind of jokes, gestures, situations, etc. tickles the funny bone of Thais?

Ladyboys, midgets, retards, fat chicks, people with ghost faces, people falling, clever plays on words, bathroom jokes, sex jokes, and lots of other stuff.

But I also noted the funny commercials in Thailand, ok BTS/Skytrain variety which really cut across cultures I think. Visually entertaining and intelligent too. But is this the regular, common Thai humor one can also encounters in the farms or off-city areas?

Yeah, a lot of Thai commercials are simply brilliant. I think that that is one of the few areas creative artists are really let loose to make a quality product, as most of the movies they are allowed to make are low brow slapstick comedies or ghost comedies. I imagine they get bored making that stuff, which is why the commercials are so quality.

Since my Thai language is very limited I cannot comment on the quality of the commercials here, but I will take your words for it. My reason for responding is that I lived in South Africa for 5 years, and found that the level of commercials there was also top class. Very creative and well executed. I never found the true answer why, but my guess would be low budgets due to international sanctions forced the industry to use what they had. I saw a similar trend with live bands at bars and clubs; very high quality, since virtually no foreign bands came to play. Who was the mother of invention...?

Now let us see some clever minds that can explain why Thai ads are so (supposedly) good? Any good reasons?

I just remembered my favourite asian commercial (they spoke English, so I can't tell where it was from, possibly Singapore).

Middle aged asian couple, happy and content on their overseas vacation. She says: "Let's call the kids!"

He enthusiastically puts camcorder to his ear and goes: "Halloooo"....? Nothing. He looks puzzled, repeats, and finally sees that the lenscap is still on. With a happy and confident look on his face he removes the lenscap, and tries again. Halloooo.... Ad tunes out to wife's look of dispair. Priceless!

I can't even remember what product the ad was for, but it was very well done. They say the ads that win prices usually are the poorer performers when it comes to sales...

[DP25]

I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post links on this forum, so I won't for now. But, if you go to youtube, and type in Thai commercial, you will get loads of commercials with English subtitles. Some are hilarious, and others will leave you with tears streaming down your face. The Thai insurance company commercials are especially touching, just search for 'Thai insurance'.

[toptuan]

My Thai friend laughed hysterically at the 60's movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy," particularly when everyone runs around in fast motion with the camera sped up--which aspect which I never understood.

[TheDon]

Western humor is very simular to Thai humor, we both laugh at people doing stupid things, i know westerners who laugh at retarts and fat people too, i mean there are a ton of fat jokes. Every person have a different sense of humor, to say Thai's only like one type and westerners only like another type is BS.

[sbk]

There are a few threads I posted in the video section with just these ads. My favorite one is the devil out of a job

Funny Thai Commercials

I Loved This Commercial

Funny Thai Commercials, Round 2

[aries27]

I just remembered my favourite asian commercial (they spoke English, so I can't tell where it was from, possibly Singapore).

Middle aged asian couple, happy and content on their overseas vacation. She says: "Let's call the kids!"

He enthusiastically puts camcorder to his ear and goes: "Halloooo"....? Nothing. He looks puzzled, repeats, and finally sees that the lenscap is still on. With a happy and confident look on his face he removes the lenscap, and tries again. Halloooo.... Ad tunes out to wife's look of dispair. Priceless!

I can't even remember what product the ad was for, but it was very well done. They say the ads that win prices usually are the poorer performers when it comes to sales...

saw this too...on cable TV in Ph. cant remember for what company but it looked like it was made for an international Asian audience.

[meadish_sweetball]

Here are two examples of different Thai humour with subs, taken from Youtube.

All of these have been translated and subtitled by TV member aanon.

The first is a popular sitcom, Rabert Thert Thoeng:

This one is 'Note' Udom Taepanich, a Thai standup comedian:

'Note' Udom again, from a talkshow:

[Gary A]

I really have no idea what there is on TV that makes my wife laugh. I do know that she is apparently easily amused. I find it amusing watching her watch TV. Thais do seem to be easily amused when they have a little get together too. Maybe some of it will eventually rub off on us crotchety old farts.

[aries27]

thanks for the videos, SBK.

i did hear that Thailand produces the funniest, most creative ads in Asia, and PH admakers recognize that.

PH commercials are still pretty much "direct", like they do not want to leave anything to chance. but lately, it has somewhat become more imaginative and funny, and injected with good Filipino values like family, education, etc. i always look forward to the print and TV ads of the admakers themselves when it is time to promote their yearly ad congress. wish we would have more of those because i think there is more impact when you make people laugh rather than just inform them.

[TheDon]

I think there are too many farangs who dont have any sense of humor, when I go to Thailand many of them look really grumpy all the time

[astral]

A farang making an idiot of him/herself, falling flat on the face.

Mr Bean succeeds for the same reasons that Charlie Chaplin did not want to leave the world of the silent movie........

Both are very popular in Thailand.

[aries27]

thanks meadish...

same-same PH sitcoms.

[khunandy]

My wife finds The Sopranos funny, no idea why, something to do with fat farangs shooting each other and swearing a lot.

My GF loves Tony Soprano, but cause of the mafia thing. She also fully understands and appreciates a NE US sense of cynical, sarcastic, self-deprecating humor. She also laughs at the stupid TV shows, but only for a little bit. Humor is a funny thing.

Yeah, I think my wife has a soft spot for him...she just thinks he is a "naughty boy"

[buffcoat]

Low grade slapstick is popular in the west, all those edless video home accident shows etc demonstrate that very well.

To appreciate Blackadder you need a very good command of English or it is not going to work for you. I don't have any idea if there are Thai comedy shows that rely on a sophisticated knowledge of Thai because I don't have the necessary linguistic ability.

My wife loves Sex and the City and laughed herself silly when she first saw the hooker scene from Full Metal Jacket....unwisely she repeated 'me so horny' whilst only wearing one of my old shirts...

[steveromagnino]

My Thai friend laughed hysterically at the 60's movie "The Gods Must Be Crazy," particularly when everyone runs around in fast motion with the camera sped up--which aspect which I never understood.

oh come on.

that scene where the gangsters shoot the banana palm and the villians run out and slip on the skins.

Comedic gold.

Thai commercials ,Thai design and many other aspects of creativity are here; for ads the budgets are available and the infrastructure is here that enables Thai teams to be best in class and right up there by world standards; a kind of 'hub' if you will.

The language itself lends itself to ambiguity and cleverness in many regards, and while some of you may not be able to appreciate the word plays, that ambiguity translates well to TV ads.

Bear in mind some of the smarter ads are targetting the middle class, who do not grow up and admire the same drivel the mass market does such as channel 7 fare. That said, some great ads for mass market stuff too.

Good clients and good ads. I have not found a significant skew towards MNEs having the best ads incidentally, far from it. As for what sells....many of the award winning ads are indeed minor or very minor ads for the client, just there to win the award. But some great ideas (e.g. MK, BBQ Plaza, consistent ad/strategy winners in my book) have been used to make very successful businesses.

Thai soaps and comedy shows are quite lowest common denominator stuff sometimes, however there are often moments of gold there too; I am amazed at how many of you can understand all the jokes; I am lost for a fair chunk of some routines with regional dialects, references to old songs/people/etc, complex word plays....

[steveromagnino]

To appreciate Blackadder you need a very good command of English or it is not going to work for you. I don't have any idea if there are Thai comedy shows that rely on a sophisticated knowledge of Thai because I don't have the necessary linguistic ability.

I actually have Blackadder in Thai and it is not remotely funny.

I understand it 100% and can recall the english delivery of the same lines.... the exact same line can be hilarious in English with an english accent and yet not funny in Thai. Again, hearing say D-list actor Paulie Shaw with a valley accent saying 'I've got a plan so cunning you could stick a tail on it and call it a weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-sel bud-dey' even with his trademark vowel stretch would not make it funny.

I think that's why physical comedy is the lowest denominator in some ways, as it is universal. That said, good physical comedy is mighty tough to pull off well; Mr Bean is not my thing by he is a genius.

[john b good]

Beny Hill is very funny for Thais

Only because of his physical antics. They wouldn't understand a word of what he says.

And they would probably piss their pants watching the "two Ronnies" but that would be it. They would not have a clue what the story line was / is.

Same with Bean, they see a funny face and that is about it.

The reason that British humour is so highly regarded is because of folk such as Barker, Corbett, Dave Allen, Cleese, Atkinson,

Sellars, Secombe, Milligan, and so many others is that they are legends. 'no I am not a Pom'

There have been the odd American who has been "quite good" Carroll O'Connor was one but they have been few and far between.

[Ulysses G.]

The reason that British humour is so highly regarded is because of folk such as Barker, Corbett, Dave Allen, Cleese, Atkinson,

Sellars, Secombe, Milligan, and so many others is that they are legends. 'no I am not a Pom'

There have been the odd American who has been "quite good" Carroll O'Connor was one but they have been few and far between.

Forgetting Richard Pryer, Eddie Murphy, The Three Stooges, Jackie Gleason, Lenny Bruce, Sam Kinnison, John Balushi, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Hicks, and about a million others? British humor is great, but no better than American.

[yorkieb]

We have an alternative comedy program in the UK called 'Little Britain'. I tried to explain that one to my Thai wife. I gave up. I am not sure why I even find it funny. For those who know the series there is a sketch about Mr Duddddly who gets a mail order Thai bride, I get it but try explaining that one ......

Yorkie

[Theyreallrubbish]

The reason that British humour is so highly regarded is because of folk such as Barker, Corbett, Dave Allen, Cleese, Atkinson,

Sellars, Secombe, Milligan, and so many others is that they are legends. 'no I am not a Pom'

There have been the odd American who has been "quite good" Carroll O'Connor was one but they have been few and far between.

Forgetting Richard Pryer, Eddie Murphy, The Three Stooges, Jackie Gleason, Lenny Bruce, Sam Kinnison, John Balushi, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Hicks, and about a million others? British humor is great, but no better than American.

Not to forget Jon Stewart on the Daily Show who is providing better quality satire than the British Satire boom of the 1960s ever did.

I'm a Brit who thinks we're superior in every way to Americans But I'll admit the quality of the writing on the Daily Show and its amazing consistency.

Don't forget Larry David either for both Sienfeld and the amazing Curb Your Enthusiasm.

I'll even go so far as to admit that Steve Carrol in the US version of The Office isn't nearly as horrifically awful as I feared it might have been

[Theyreallrubbish]

We have an alternative comedy program in the UK called 'Little Britain'. I tried to explain that one to my Thai wife. I gave up. I am not sure why I even find it funny. For those who know the series there is a sketch about Mr Duddddly who gets a mail order Thai bride, I get it but try explaining that one ......

Yorkie

I loved Little Britain at first, but I seem to have fallen out of love with it. I think it was the shock of the extremeness of some of their characters, but they've just been repeating the same jokes over and over. The county fair judge vomitting whenever she comes in contact with anything made by a non-white has been done in basically exactly the same way about 5-6 times, which was funny the first and second time only.

The best character for longevity is Davyd, the only gay in the village, as there is a bit of a story arc there. Most of the rest of the characters are a single jokes repeated in every episode.

[yorkieb]

This is actually an interesting thread............. Given the choice my wife would quite happily sit down and watch (and enjoy) childrens cartoons. Pingu being one of her faviorates. On first observation of this my reaction was to make a judgement on interlectual maturity. After all I would be rather disapointed if my 14 old daughter spent her time engrosed in childrens cartoons. Having said that my wife can speak three languages and and an IQ probably high than me. S maybe its all down to cultural diffenences in sense of humor............ maybe i will take the parental lock of the tv and let her watch the simpsons from now on.

[steveromagnino]

The reason that British humour is so highly regarded is because of folk such as Barker, Corbett, Dave Allen, Cleese, Atkinson,

Sellars, Secombe, Milligan, and so many others is that they are legends. 'no I am not a Pom'

There have been the odd American who has been "quite good" Carroll O'Connor was one but they have been few and far between.

Forgetting Richard Pryer, Eddie Murphy, The Three Stooges, Jackie Gleason, Lenny Bruce, Sam Kinnison, John Balushi, Rodney Dangerfield, Bill Hicks, and about a million others? British humor is great, but no better than American.

Not to forget Jon Stewart on the Daily Show who is providing better quality satire than the British Satire boom of the 1960s ever did.

Colbert report is better than the Daily Show.

I'm just sayin'.

As for the above list...Jackie Gleason???! A fair few of the others I wouldn't really rate along side Chris Rock, Bill Cosby, Murphy, Pryer, Seth creator of Family guy yep. The thing is....the amount of British TV is not so great and there are plenty of gems.

The amount of poo coming out of stateside is amazing...and great stuff is a smaller percentage. but the gold, oh yes the gold....unbelivelably good.

[Ulysses G.]

As for the above list...Jackie Gleason???! A fair few of the others I wouldn't really rate along side Chris Rock, Bill Cosby, Murphy, Pryer,

I threw one in for the living fossils.