A sense of humour is a very personal thing, even when it’s shared with friends. My sense of humour is what most would regard as absurd. I can’t stand most slapstick or sitcoms (especially sitcoms with an obviously overdubbed laughter track that is supposed to let us know where the supposedly funny bits are). I find them far too predictable.
I also like humour that comes from everyday life – jokes between friends, “in-jokes” and the general absurdities of real-life situations (even when they are not themselves inherently funny and often when they are inherently tragic, a kind of black humour if you like).
Thanks to my rather restricted view of humour I’m glad to say that I don’t watch a lot of television humour, although there are some really funny things. In recent years, I’ve really enjoyed The League of Gentlemen, Little Britain or the new BBC3 programme Tittybangbang. They are all pretty infantile, which is part of what I like.
Older comedies include The Fast Show, Look Around You, Posh Nosh, Monty Python’s Flying Circus, French and Saunders, Fawlty Towers (the only decent sitcom), Pets, Vic Reeves and Victoria Wood.
What about real life?