The Lamest Jokes In Animation

I think the lamest jokes have gotta be jokes related to diseases. Sure they can be funny and most of the time they go way out of line with them, but if you or anyone you knew had any of these diseases is the joke really that funny? Family Guy is notorious for this, and it's not funny.
 
Stuff like gay overtones, from Bugs Bunny to Sponge Bob.

Token pets, token characters like fat, dumb, ethnic, Asian, even snobby people

Typical token male leaders (think, Hanna Barbera)

Stereotyped "females good, males bad" elements.

Damsels.
 
Can definately agree with:

  • Toilet Humour - Once Ren and Stimpy did it, now every cartoon has to include at least seven farts, snorts, pooping and throwing up. Kinda surprised why parents haven't complained about these instead of ranting about Tom and Jerry's voilence. :shrug:
  • Running Gags - A running gag is only funny if used sparingly, up to at least 3/4 times in one short. Cartoons like Fairly Odd Parents have three of these every 2 minutes, which make them terribly annoying (case in point with Uranus, "We get it already!!")
  • Cliched Storylines - basically when a cartoon does something that has happened dozens of times and does hardly anything to make it new or refreshing (A tiny few like "Johnny Test" have done good with this, though).
 
I can attest to that. not only just in cartoons, but in movies. The freaking Chipmunks movie trailer focused on all the poo jokes in the film, when they were just low key throwaway gags in the film. I wouldn't have a problem if they at least did them in a clever way. Like the Freakazoid episode where he was in the sewers and said "I hope that's a candy bar that floated by!' Even Japan did it better in the 80's, with talking poo in Dr. Slump, and Kinnikuman's famous flying by farting gag. But now it's just a lazy cheap laugh.

But going back to pop culture references, I really hate the use of the Scarface line "Say hello to my li'l friend." in everything. Even more than any one of James Bond's catchphrases. Saying his last name, then his first name and last name, or that whole "Shaken not Stirred" bit.
 
I've never been a fan of toilet humor.....Don't get me wrong,I love South Park,and Family Guy for the most part,I just don't find it amusing....

I also don't like "gross-out" humor (stuff involving boogers,spitting,throwing up,etc...)

I also hate characters stating the obvious after something has happened,like the audience can't see (seems to happen more in anime than US cartoons)...

Puns don't bother me at all....In fact,the worse,most groan-inducing,the better (then again,I grew up watching The Muppet Show and Rocky and Bullwinkle)...
 
how is that even sexist?

also, in this whole thread youve mentioned practicaly ever plotline/character types/gag there is. If animators realy stoped using all of these things than all cartoons would be boring and the same, assuming they could come up with plots.
 
I'm generally not a fan of crude toilet humor. Violence I can stand to a point, as long as it's not over done or horribly sadistic and one-sided (really, it depends on the circumstances), but nothing kills a show faster for me than an over abundance of "pee-pee, ca-ca" humor. I can take the occasional gross out joke when it's artistically valid, but when they're done over and over gain, it quickly loses it's sting.

That's why I hated the character of Big Fat Baby on the WB's Histeria; he was nothing but a walking gross out joke. BFB only had 1 job-to be as disgusting as possible. You can't build a memorable well rounded character around grossness and cheap body functions alone. It just can't be done.
 
I think some people might perceive the sexism part as something like "women are object that we have to fight for" and we can't have that in society, despite some women using men for their desires, and not enforcing "Women are more capable than any man" statement, cause everything in this world has to be equal rights.
 
I could do without the following:

Overuse of pop-culture references/parodies. The occasional timeless reference or allusion to something which has actually become timeless (i.e., "Frankly my dear, I don't give a d**n" or "Mama Mia, that a spicy meat-a-ball!") is fine, provided that the writers don't go overboard with it, but I'll second or third the notion that movies like Meet the Spartans take it too far. There are 2 things wrong with making your show or characters excessively hip: 1) you risk looking like a poseur, like you're just throwing in the references to sound cool; and 2) you end up dating yourself ferociously. I don't need to see a Britney joke followed by a Michael Bay's Transformers joke followed by a Sanjya (sp?) joke. Put some distance between the pop-culture stuff and try to avoid alluding to things that people won't get or give a crap about 2 years from now.

The "smart female, dumb male" shtick. It's not flattering to either sex, because guys don't need to bashed all of the time, and perfect characters who never screw up don't get the laughs. Any male/female pairing or a 'battle of the sexes' scenario which degenerates into "girls rule, boys drool" over and over again I just switch off. Ideally, in comedy both genders should be equally flawed.

Annoying, unfunny comic relief pets. I don't have a problem with animal sidekicks if they're useful characters who actually contribute to the show, like Brian from Family Guy or Roger from American Dad, but I quickly tire of add-on non-human mascots whose comic relief only serves as grating annoyance (i.e., Wonder Dog and Gleek from Super Friends, Orko from He-Man, Slimer from The Real Ghostbusters, Dollar from Richie Rich). I especially grit my teeth when the final joke in every episode skews down to "dumb animal sidekick does something stupid and unfunny, everyone laughs, fade out." Thankfully, this trend kind of died out with 1980's.
 
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