Does good comedy serve a philosophical purpose?

Question

Does good comedy serve a philosophical purpose?

Answer 1

Yes.  Comedy opens people's minds to accept something that they wouldn't have if it was just said straight out.  Since there's always at least a tiny little bit of truth in it, it can get people thinking.

Answer 2

philosophically speaking its purpose is purpose full, humour is important to me

Answer 3

Yes, it helps people forget what a drag life can be.

Answer 4

I like Roger Rabbit's definition. "It isn't worth doing, unless it's funny." Although being buried by a ton of bricks would not be my first choice of trying to get a laugh, I find humour does make life interesting. Even things that may not seem funny at the time, like getting three flat tires in one day and then accidently locking yourself out of your car, years later you can laugh about how ridiculous a day you had. If someone were to throw a pie in my face I would likely laugh it off, unless of course, I was wearing a rented tuxedo.

Answer 5

Keeps me in check. It helps me combat physical pain as well as anger against the everyday BS that tries to combat us all in some way.

Answer 6

Laughter is the best medicine and comedians tell more truth than anyone I know.

Answer 7

comedy sometimes exposes truth.

It can be persuasive in an argument to stir some emotions to support your side or shame the other, may not be good philosophy.  

Answer 8

YES!  Just ask:

Norman Lear

Carl (and son, Rob) Reiner

Steve Martin

Bob Newhart

John Cleese, Michael Palin and Eric Idle

Lorne Michaels (before he sold-out)

Dan Aykroyd, John Candy (may-he-rest) and Martin Short

Christopher Guest

Jonathan Katz and H. Jon Benjamin

Seth MacFarlane and Alex Borstein

Jon Stewart and Lewis Black

...for starters.

Answer 9

comedy is like s*x......when you get it..you don't see the need..or purpose,, you don't see how important it is....it's when you don't get any that you seem to go a little crazy.

I think it's an emotion that when it's held down,,like love thats

when it becomes a problem

oopsie..to much punctuation..

I think I am the reason they had that meeting to put it next to your question..or am I just being parainoid??/???............

Answer 10

definitely, but then if we started analysing humour, the fun goes out of the window.

Let's keep the fun and let it be.

The answer here is short and sweet... Yes, definitely.  

Answer 11

Comedy can have as much--or as little-philosophy in it as drama. But if as Aristotle, Aquinas and many other philosophers have stated, the purpose of a man's life is to provide him with happiness (and both of those men were specific that it had to be moral,) then this is a happy man:

"I don’t want to be called ‘the greatest’ or ‘one of the greatest’; let other guys claim to be the best. I just want to be known as a clown because to me that’s the height of my profession. It means you can do everything-sing, dance, and above all, make people laugh."

Red Skelton, America's favorite clown

http://www.clown-ministry.com/index_1.ph...

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