Meet the Parents
They say we inherit most of our traits from our parents. We surely see it in our physical form, same eyes, same crooked smiles. But what about our sense of humour? Did we get our love of cat videos from our moms? Do we laugh at the failure of others because of our dads? Or is it personal? Perhaps it's a bit of both.
This week, I sent my mom three links to YouTube videos that I find funny, and asked her and my dad to watch them while we spoke on the phone. They were judging my humour, and I was judging theirs. This is the information I collected.
Video 1: Teletubbies: I Fink You Freeky (Warning: Explicit Content)
Comments:
Dad: "I can’t believe we let our children watch this!"
Mom: "This wasn’t an actual part of the show."
Me: I can't believe someone sat down and made this. It works too well."
Their overall opinion?
They thought the video was pretty inappropriate. My dad thought it was “disturbing but funny” and my mom called it "a doozy,” but I did hear a few chuckles on her end.
Video 2: Dog of Wisdom
Comments:
Dad: "Do you think that’s how the dog hears us?"
Me: "Why does this exist? Why is this funny to me?"
Their overall opinion?
Though I heard some chuckles between both them, they agreed that they could have done without watching the video.
Video 3: Princess Plum (Warning: Explicit Content)
Comments:
No words were spoken over the duration of this video, but I could hear some laughter and audible sounds of disgust.
I, on the other hand, cried from laughter.
Their overall opinion?
They felt pretty "meh" about the whole video.
So from the videos I showed them, I gathered that my parents and I didn't really have the same taste in viral videos. After such a weak reaction to a few of my favourite videos, I needed to assure myself that my parents still had a funny bone in them. I asked them about their personal tastes in comedy.
Me: "Do you think that you and your parents had a similar taste in humour?"
Dad: "Yeah, it was pretty much the same."
Mom: "They never laughed. Unless one of us [her and her siblings] fell down. Well, I guess I’d laugh at that too. But yeah, they weren't very funny.”
Me: "What’s the funniest movie you’ve seen?"
Dad: "Pink Panther Strikes Again."
Mom: "Bridesmaids."
Me: "Who do you think is funny?"
Dad: "Jeff Ross."
Mom: "Wayne Brady."
Me: "Last question. Am I funny?
Unanimous: "Yes."
Good answer, parents, good answer.
Photo Credit: Speight Video Credit: Robert Jones | Joe | CollegeHumor
Mikayla Spitse
Mikayla is a Professional Writing student who makes bad jokes and expects people to laugh. She aims to work with Vice one day.