The Dick Van Dyke Show

always-fair-weather:

‘I would like to discuss with you the development of comedy in this country today, and I’m very happy to report to you that it’s reached a level of sophistication of which we can all be very, very proud. You know, we no longer laugh at the things our grandparents laughed at. By that I mean low humor and slapstick comedy – that humor which gets its laughter from cruelty and physical pain. Now, there’s nothing funny today about people in pain. Back in ancient times, I suppose that primitive man used to laugh at somebody in some kind of physical pain. But today modern people won’t fall for that kind of humor. The modern comedian gets his laughs by using his intellect. And, you see, he doesn’t stoop to low, physical kind of comedy. Only an infantile mind, ladies and gentlemen, would laugh at a man who was in some kind of pain, possibly blood poisoning. Probably a little child would laugh at that, but you and I wouldn’t. Today’s modern day comedian comes out in front of his audience with a relaxed manner and approaches them intellectually with a stool or a chair. As Professor Sigmund Freud once said, “Laughing at people in pain is a manifestation of a deep-seated hostility.” Professor Freud would not have laughed at a man who hurt his foot. Thank goodness we have reached a point in our civilization today where we no longer laugh at people destroying themselves. I’m very happy to say that you’d have to look all over the world to find someone who would laugh at, say, a man falling down.’