Not for goody-goody reasons, but for psychological reasons, I don't like comedy that relies on cruelty. I love John Cleese as a comedy actor, but "A Fish Called Wanda" gave me not even a chuckle, the whole two hours. Likewise, though there is humor in "Clockwork Orange" and "Pulp Fiction," I can't relax enough to laugh in either, not even just for the surprise element of humor. Seinfeld was/is a long time guilty pleasure; it is in terms of drama, a comedy of manners. The jokes are about human foibles, not about these particularly self-involved people, and the actors played it brilliantly. The last episode stunk, but so what? Some of the most brilliant physical comedy I've seen was live performances by the Barnum & Baily Circus. I thought, clowns, blah. But they were so expert, and the timing is so exquisite, you get layers of humor, the very broad physical along with subtle little points about human pride and vanity. The Marx Bros. were like that, as was Carlin, Tomlin, Robin Williams, Jonathan Winters, among a long list. Red Fox was an all-time favorite: "My dad was black, my mom was white; I didn't know who to hate."
