A Mostly Defensible List of What I Find Amusing
Influences and obsessions, too long and entirely incomplete.
George Carlin, Kurt Vonnegut, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Richard Pryor, John Candy, David Sedaris, Don Rickles, Danny McBride, John Mulaney, Marc Maron, Pee-Wee, Mel Brooks, Rob Reiner, The Original Kings of Comedy, Phyllis Diller, Joan Rivers, Dave Attell, Patton Oswalt, Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow, Jean Smart, Tig Notaro, Mitch Hedberg, John C. Reilly, J.B. Smoove, Fred Willard,
screwball comedies of the ‘40s, Cary Grant, Nick and Nora Charles, Charlie Chaplin, The Little Rascals, The Marx Brothers, Jacques Tati, Paper Moon, Dr. Strangelove, Woody Allen, Being There, Rocky Horror, Alan Arkin, Peter Falk, Airplane!, The Naked Gun, John Hughes, Ghostbusters, Coming to America, Heathers, Bill & Ted, Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, Clueless, Dumb and Dumber, The Brady Bunch Movie, That Thing You Do, Empire Records, Jay and Silent Bob, Boogie Nights (all PT, really), Dazed and Confused, Friday, Office Space, Wes Anderson, Whit Stillman, Chris Eigeman,
Mr. Jealousy, Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, Wet Hot American Summer, Borat, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Frances Ha, Brigsby Bear, Superbad, Step Brothers, Pineapple Express, Sullivan’s Travels, Local Hero, Goldie Hawn, Napoleon Dynamite, all of the The Trips,
Frasier, Seinfeld, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Community,
Parks and Recreation, Scrubs, The Office (including the original British series),
Arrested Development, The Larry Sanders Show, Barry from The Goldbergs, New Girl, Square Pegs, The Wonder Years, Boy Meets World, Full House Reviewed, Freaks and Geeks, Broad City, Jackass, Twin Peaks, It’s Always Sunny,
Saturday Night Live, Jim Downey, Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Phil Hartman, Dana Carvey, Mike Myers, Adam Sandler, Chris Farley, Norm Macdonald, Sarah Silverman, Will Ferrell, Tracy Morgan, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Jimmy Fallon, Maya Rudolph, Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Lonely Island, Bill Hader, Cecily Strong, Jenny Slate, Kate McKinnon, Sarah Sherman, The Blues Brothers, Wayne’s World,
Steve Martin, Martin Short, John Goodman, Tom Hanks, Jon Hamm, Christopher Walken,
Monty Python, Cheech & Chong, SCTV, Kids in the Hall, The State, Chappelle’s Show, Key & Peele, Portlandia, Taskmaster, Wild ’N Out, Mystery Science Theatre 3000, I Think You Should Leave, Nathan for You, Fernwood 2 Night, Extreme Elimination Challenge, Mr. Show,
Beavis and Butt-Head, Daria, early Adult Swim, Home Movies,
Bob’s Burgers, Looney Tunes, Rocky and Bullwinkle, South Park, the first nine seasons of The Simpsons, which is probably still the funniest thing of all time,
Leave It to Beaver, I Love Lucy, The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, All in the Family, MASH, Cheers,
Gremlins, Back to the Future, Roger Rabbit, Toy Story, Home Alone, National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (all of them, really), A Christmas Story, Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes, Roald Dahl, Shel Silverstein, Archie, Mad Magazine, The Addams Family, Bluey, The Beatles, Talking Heads, Beastie Boys, David Letterman, Jon Stewart, Shaq, Chuck and Ernie, my friends J.A. Andrew, Adam Van Lente, Mark Frush, Arun Das, Will Hubbard, Kait deLoof and Jacob Mankowski, Wiener’s Circle, CREEM Magazine, SmartLess, Good Hang, How Did This Get Made, The Onion, Howard Stern, The Sopranos, Mad Men, Jackie Chan, Aziz Ansari, Harris Wittels, Bob and Doug, Nick Kroll, Jason Mantzoukas, Neil Simon, The Best Show, Bloom County, Nichols and May, Catch-22, at least the first half of Walk Hard, Gilmore Girls, The Room and The Disaster Artist, Hunter S. Thompson, Candide, A Confederacy of Dunces, Orson Welles, Andy Kaufman, Bridesmaids, Party Down, roasts, Adam Devine, Anna Faris, Heathcliff, 30 Rock, etc.