How Funny Is Thai Comedy?

[tink2mutt]

The stuff is like The Three Stooges from 70+ years ago.

Three Stooges with ladyboys

Moe, larry - look! A ladyboy!!!!

Reough! Roeugh!

[mikecwm]

"How does it compare to Oz, British and American humour?"

Maybe somewhere in the area American and German humor?

Not British, they have good humor.

German Humour?

Please explain in more detail.

[sirineou]

To Mr. Rsquared, just learning the language is only half the battle when it comes to understanding the subtleties of the words and its actual meaning. It also requires knowledge of the culture in all its forms. For instance, the wildly successful US comedy Seinfeld would never hit it off in, say, Japan, because the meaning simply can't be translated. Same with Leno and Letterman on late night--I doubt most Euros would even understand some of the quips, even if they understood English perfectly.

None of the TV readership understands Thai well enough to be able to answer your question. Why don't you ask a Thai person?

While everything said above is absolutely right, one does not need to understand Thai or to me immersed in Thai culture to understand the subtleties of "Boing" and "woop woop wooo"

[Tanlic]

Thais themselves must have good sense of humour they put up with us.

Saw 1 Thai comedy movie with an ex. Think it was called Ma Ma where the characters were real dogs and it was quite funny. I was quite surprised when a poodle was crossing near by and this mongrel quipped "I'd give that one". They're more relaxed about sexual innuendoes than I imagined

I imagine like all comedy some we'd think hilarious some absolute crap......over all they do seem childish on a par with Steve Martin type slapstick

Thai movies/soaps on TV are 100 times worse.....Thai TV stars are the worst actors on the planet and about as funny as a fart in a spacesuit....never let a girlfriend start watching one or you will be tearing your hair out each evening for at least 2 hours

[lonewolf99]

Some posters above seem to have a very limited exposure to Thai comedy. Or perhaps Thailand in general)

Or maybe they just think it's <deleted>...?

Some people seem to think everything is <deleted>.

= AND ...in this case they are correct...

Thai Telly is aimed at a population that is controlled and manipulated from the womb. How else can free thinking adults believe in ghosts (Pee), voodoo witchcraft, and laugh out loud at a constant stream of idiots getting a large dollop of flour thrown in their face. If my GF knocks herself or says something funny I sometimes ask her why I didn't hear the bong, whistle or twang that goes with it....

[geriatrickid]

The Thai stand up comedian Note Udom is quite funny and the humour translates to Western humour quite well.

Here's a short skit with English subtitles about being dumped by your gf:

He is good and there are probably many others just as good in Thailand. Unfortunately the <deleted> programmers don't have proper showcases for the talent. There are no quality "adult" talk/entertainment shows that would allow for a set from someone like this. Good entertainers face a wall of mediocrity.

[h90]

"How does it compare to Oz, British and American humour?"

Maybe somewhere in the area American and German humor?

Not British, they have good humor.

German Humour?

Please explain in more detail.

That is something Non Germans can't understand.

I speak German but I am not German.....

Germans speak, and than all the Germans laugh. So even I don't understand what is funny there, it must be funny for them.

So it can be called Humor....German Humor (something similar to alcoholfree beer)

[F1fanatic]

The Thai stand up comedian Note Udom is quite funny and the humour translates to Western humour quite well.

Here's a short skit with English subtitles about being dumped by your gf:

He is good and there are probably many others just as good in Thailand. Unfortunately the <deleted> programmers don't have proper showcases for the talent. There are no quality "adult" talk/entertainment shows that would allow for a set from someone like this. Good entertainers face a wall of mediocrity.

I suspect that TV programmers select comedy that appeals to the majority - as is the case in all countries.

[nong38]

I thought Benny Hill was dead, now I know he came here and pulls the strings, what an easy life!

Not much to choose between Thai Drama and Comedy, goes on forever. The comparisons with Brit humour are obvious but dont forget, we had a lot of crap ones inbetween as well and please dont tell them about all those shows that fill the schedules about doing your house up, buying a house, how to cook etc. Now I will really upset some of you. All those TV soaps, I am so glad I have escaped them, Constipation Street, Dead Enders, Emmerdale, etc etc. The audience figures are only so high because they ( the viewers) are all in a sleep/comu/stupa! What happened to Cross Roads ( came to Thailand I think, well the sets did.), The Grove Family, Doxon of Dick Green, The Army Game ( that could go down well here.) Our set is only on for me with a film, usually from the 60's, 70's or 80's. When the wife wants to get her fill with TV3 or whatever, I know I will happily get to the fridge and get out a beverage and life goes on until, the footy comes on the laptop! ( Where Thai comedy fears to tred.)

[WhingeingMoaners]

Who needs Thai comedy when you can entertain yourself by reading ridiculous daily whingeing from Farangs on Thai Visa.

[samsiam]

The government is quite a laugh.

[wintermute]

Thai comedy shows are very poor. You aren't missing much if you don't understand Thai. Most of the variety shows feature the same androgynous midget and friends yucking it up with talentless soap stars and their prized puyings of the month.

[transam]

Who needs Thai comedy when you can entertain yourself by reading ridiculous daily whingeing from Farangs on Thai Visa.

Yourself for one. Well done.

[nong38]

Thai comedy shows are very poor. You aren't missing much if you don't understand Thai. Most of the variety shows feature the same androgynous midget and friends yucking it up with talentless soap stars and their prized puyings of the month.

Most of these people are known as "superstars" (although only in Thailand) cant think why

[MAJIC]

Would Thais understand Basil Faulty ?

I don't think so, but if "the plank" is available in Thailand I think that they will love it

And from the same team "A home of your own" = Building site disasters

http://www.videosurf.com/video/a-home-of-your-own-ronnie-barker-bernard-cribbins-richard-briers-106633003

Edited April 22, 2012 by MAJIC

[Gerryasia]

Gotta remember, folks, MOST of these people have only had TV for a cupla decades.

[HeavyDrinker]

It's all well and good to bang on at people like Note, but he would go down like a brick to an average Thai audience. Even he sells out when he's in the regular media,

The audience in the clip here is a HiSo audience hence his (abysmal) aping of Western Stand-Ups - the routine is stolen from (if memory serves me right) Richard Pryor and his "the difference between white men and black men breaking up" routine.

To suggest that this is somehow "sophisticated" and that Thai comedy is inventive makes me laugh more than the comics who rattle on here about their Thai-Chinese wives....

[samran]

It's all well and good to bang on at people like Note, but he would go down like a brick to an average Thai audience. Even he sells out when he's in the regular media,

The audience in the clip here is a HiSo audience hence his (abysmal) aping of Western Stand-Ups - the routine is stolen from (if memory serves me right) Richard Pryor and his "the difference between white men and black men breaking up" routine.

To suggest that this is somehow "sophisticated" and that Thai comedy is inventive makes me laugh more than the comics who rattle on here about their Thai-Chinese wives....

I don't think anyone suggested it was sophisticated, simply that it wasn't your slapstick Benny Hill-esq comedy that you generally see.

As for that being a 'hi-so' audience, I would suggest you don't have a clue what 'hi-so' is. The audience was clearly middle class, but they are hardly a smalll minority in Thailand.

[2unique]

It's all well and good to bang on at people like Note, but he would go down like a brick to an average Thai audience. Even he sells out when he's in the regular media,

The audience in the clip here is a HiSo audience hence his (abysmal) aping of Western Stand-Ups - the routine is stolen from (if memory serves me right) Richard Pryor and his "the difference between white men and black men breaking up" routine.

To suggest that this is somehow "sophisticated" and that Thai comedy is inventive makes me laugh more than the comics who rattle on here about their Thai-Chinese wives....

I don't think anyone suggested it was sophisticated, simply that it wasn't your slapstick Benny Hill-esq comedy that you generally see.

As for that being a 'hi-so' audience, I would suggest you don't have a clue what 'hi-so' is. The audience was clearly middle class, but they are hardly a smalll minority in Thailand.

My wife finds Note hilariously funny, to the point of side splitting laughter. I've tried British comedy on her to varying degrees of success. Fawlty Towers - Basil the Rat had her weeping but League of Gentlemen nothing. Little Britain (LoG clone) tears of laughter - Monty Python look of pity.

My wife can't stand Thai soaps but Loves Korean soaps, Grays Anatomy and Rom Coms but prefers crime dramas and horror movies. Go figure.

Russell Peters here on 3rd of May at Queen Sirikit is one she is ambiguous about but I want to go to.

Sent from Android please excuse errors in type or judgement

[preahko]

You need to learn Thai, for starters. Most humor in Southeast Asian languages is based on wordplay, especially double meanings of various arrangements of words, or different meanings that a given word can have in vastly different contexts. It will take you years to understand this, so you should get started now.

[exeter]

We are individuals, what one finds funny another might find not amusing at all, its part of Thai life/culture a part we will probably never understand. In the 60's I remember in the UK we had Rowan and Martins laugh in from the states, did not appeal to me one bit, not much American humour does, funny to some though so maybe its a collective of a culture. There are some things we will never understand and perhaps we should leave it at that or learn to laugh at it in a different way.

Edited April 23, 2012 by exeter

[2unique]

We are individuals, what one finds funny another might find not amusing at all, its part of Thai life/culture a part we will probably never understand. In the 60's I remember in the UK we had Rowan and Martins laugh in from the states, did not appeal to me one bit, not much American humour does, funny to some though so maybe its a collective of a culture. There are some things we will never understand and perhaps we should leave it at that or learn to laugh at it in a different way.

yup and in addition some times I go back on youtube to see once again those hilarious skits I remember from my youth only to be sadly disappointed at the difference between how I remembered them and how far flat they now feel.

[nong38]

We are individuals, what one finds funny another might find not amusing at all, its part of Thai life/culture a part we will probably never understand. In the 60's I remember in the UK we had Rowan and Martins laugh in from the states, did not appeal to me one bit, not much American humour does, funny to some though so maybe its a collective of a culture. There are some things we will never understand and perhaps we should leave it at that or learn to laugh at it in a different way.

yup and in addition some times I go back on youtube to see once again those hilarious skits I remember from my youth only to be sadly disappointed at the difference between how I remembered them and how far flat they now feel.

The scetches and comedys that we can still laugh all these years on show which are the true classics of time.

I can rememeber watching Monty Python many years ago, some of the sketches I found boring whilst others were really very good, its also difficult to keep the standards up as well which is probably why "Fawlty Towers " ( 12 episodes ) and "Ripping Yarns" ( 9 episodes ) were and remain classics, the golden goose was not killed.

Edited April 23, 2012 by nong38

[Berkshire]

It's all well and good to bang on at people like Note, but he would go down like a brick to an average Thai audience. Even he sells out when he's in the regular media,

The audience in the clip here is a HiSo audience hence his (abysmal) aping of Western Stand-Ups - the routine is stolen from (if memory serves me right) Richard Pryor and his "the difference between white men and black men breaking up" routine.

To suggest that this is somehow "sophisticated" and that Thai comedy is inventive makes me laugh more than the comics who rattle on here about their Thai-Chinese wives....

HeavyDrinker (which I don't doubt), you seem rather quick to criticize the Thais and their idea of comedy, yet you don't seem to have the courage to share with us what you view as "intelligent" and "sophisticated" comedy. So I ask again--what sorts of shows do you find entertaining and amusing? Don't be such a coward. I'll only express the same level of scrutiny as you have shown the Thais.

[katana]

In an earlier post in the thread there were claims Udom's humour was too Thai and unsophisticated:

...it's ..<deleted>..Honk, Twank, BOING!! HONK HONK

Spare me....

Now the same humour is claimed to be too Western and sophisticated, like Richard Pryor. It would be interesting to know how well you speak and read Thai to be able to come to your conclusions about Thai humour. Maybe the choice of board moniker explains things somewhat.

Try French comedy, I looooove when she imitate the boys reading subtitles at the movie

www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGtqL1WRBu0

That was awful . Go eat your hat at once (whatever the French idiom means)

[Payboy]

Gotta remember, folks, MOST of these people have only had TV for a cupla decades.

I suspect 100 years ago Thai puppetry wasn't quite that funny either.

[thaibeachlovers]

We are individuals, what one finds funny another might find not amusing at all, its part of Thai life/culture a part we will probably never understand. In the 60's I remember in the UK we had Rowan and Martins laugh in from the states, did not appeal to me one bit, not much American humour does, funny to some though so maybe its a collective of a culture. There are some things we will never understand and perhaps we should leave it at that or learn to laugh at it in a different way.

While I do enjoy some American comedy, their love in with the wimpy stupid guy scenario just makes me want to carry out violence on the perpetrator. eg most Steve Martin films give me apoplexy, rather than a laugh.

Also, while some sitcoms start out well, if they are long running they inevitably become overly PC and introduce romance and babies, which ruins the whole thing. Friends is a good example, and it destroyed Mork and Mindy after only 3 seasons.

[HeavyDrinker]

Berkshire,

If you think that Thai comedy is:

"intelligent" and "sophisticated" comedy.

Then you really are out of touch with Thai Culture.

Comedy isn't supposed to be "Intelligent" Nor "Sophisticated", it's supposed to make you laugh.

I'll leave that theory of comedy to <deleted> who read Private Eye and find it "Funny"..

For the record, for me it's Laurel and Hardy, Only Fools, Dad's Army, Blackadder, Some Mother's, Convenience, Shandling; even Friends at times.

Happy now?

Would you like to come to a Thai "Comedy" show with me and translate it all....??

I still doubt you'd get a laugh out of me Sunshine....but then I reckon you can't understand a word...

*edit// I sneezed and pooped a little...

Edited April 23, 2012 by HeavyDrinker

[Berkshire]

Comedy isn't supposed to be "Intelligent" Nor "Sophisticated", it's supposed to make you laugh.

I'll leave that theory of comedy to <deleted> who read Private Eye and find it "Funny"..

For the record, for me it's Laurel and Hardy, Only Fools, Dad's Army, Blackadder, Some Mother's, Convenience, Shandling; even Friends at times.

Happy now?

Would you like to come to a Thai "Comedy" show with me and translate it all....??

I still doubt you'd get a laugh out of me Sunshine....but then I reckon you can't understand a word...

*edit// I sneezed and pooped a little...

Honestly, I was going to rip you a new one, regardless of what you wrote. But that would be somewhat childish. Seriously, any of the acts you wrote above would not go over well with certain cultures, particularly if there were language differences. I'm sure someone who didn't understand your brand of humor may mock you for being retarded, unsophisticated, immature, and with an IQ of a lava rock. But that wouldn't be fair, would it? And that's where I see your criticism of Thai humor.

But speaking of your take, I can't believe you would suggest that Note stole from Richard Pryor. I was and am a huge fan of Richard Pryor and I can say with some authority that the skit wasn't "lifted" from the great man. It was just a brand of Thai humor. If you understood Thai, you'd appreciate the delivery and recognize that the translation doesn't do justice to the performance. Imagine trying to translate Richard Pryor into Korean? If you had just said "I don't get it." Or "it's over my head." Or simply "I don't understand," that'd be fine. But why the venom?

Edited April 24, 2012 by Berkshire

[lonewolf99]

I remember as a child i thought Jerry Lewis was the funniest thing I had ever seen. Rollng on the floor in pain laughing at him.

As an adult I just see a complete imbecile, screeching like a madman........I want to throw petrol bombs at him...

Maybe in 30 years time Thais will be producing their own Python / Black Adder / Peter Kaye type humour - but I doubt it......