Wednesday 29 June 2011

What Made Us Laugh Before The Internet?


I mean, what?

The internet, the internet, the internet. Never has a deep, dark and wholly immoral pit been so multi coloured and alluring. It’s like a direct contrast to those sex shops you’d see around town in the early 90s with completely whitewashed windows and a sign that simply read ‘Private Shop’. Still, for all its perversion, lack of censorship and inaccurate Wikipedia entries that are ruining homework up and down the land, there is one thing it is still amazingly good at and that’s making us laugh. Or LOL. It all depends on how old you are.


May as well have a sign outside that says 'SHOP FOR PERVERTS'.


If you ever read any columns about the internet and how it has impacted on our society you’ll often read about how this mass sharing of easily accessible information is educating us all in the ways of our world or how this all-encompassing network is bringing this globe of ours closer together as it bulldozes social boundaries and smashes all ideologies that stand in its way. For me, though, I think the vast majority of us log on to look at things that ya know, just make us chuckle. Whether it’s that bunny with that pancake on its head or a high school gymnast attempting a somersault and landing square on her face, the internet shows you funny things you would never have seen otherwise.


Explaining internet memes is one of the hardest things to do.


A quick check of my internet history (doesn’t include private browsing thankfully) and I can safely say that 80% of the sites I access are for things that make me laugh. YouTube, a site that just had loads of pictures of sloths on it, a Google search for ‘funny jokes to tell in awkward social situations’. This is even before delving in to Facebook and how many times I’ve cracked up at the general idiocy of my ‘friends’. Put simply, the World Wide Web is a goldmine when it comes to funnies and I have absolutely no problem admitting that without it the vast majority of my jokes wouldn’t work, I’d have no friends and within 18 months the differences between me and Mr. Bean wouldn’t be that numerable.


The million dollar question.


So what did people do before the internet for LOLS? Force their cats into embarrassing situations whilst shouting funny captions? Switch peoples car cassettes for Rick Astley singles? Watch ‘The Fast Show’ repeats? I honestly can’t remember and I’m 25 years old. All I know is that this crazy thing that has the whole world glued to their computer screens can crease you up quicker than a killer whale sitting on your work shirt and for that we should all be grateful. So, here’s to you internet. You’re like the funny friend I’ve never had and, in all honesty, would never want.

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