How do you feel about humor on soaps? Good? Bad? Depends on writing? etc..

It's needed, IMHO, and I think, maybe more than the oft discussed social issues, this was the greatest thing Agnes Nixon added to soaps. Of course her style was pretty Dickensian--and that can put some off--with the humour primarily given to the broader secondary characters, etc. One reason I've never fully gotten into Y&R is the overall lack there of (ok I know Bell has his camp moments, but...)

I prefer banter and character-oriented humor to bad camp or slapstick. Dorian and Megan and Tina on OLTL. Sally on B&B. Cass and Felicia on AW. Holly on GL during the Nancy Curlee years. Bob and Kim joking with each other on ATWT. Felicia and Cass on AW. Ada on AW. Phoebe and Erica on AMC. Liza pre-Jake Martin on AMC. Tad pre-1999, AMC. Opal AMC, mainly the Dorothy Lyman version...I've always taken Jill Larson's Opal as more tragic, even though she has a lot of comedy. If that makes any sense.

I remember that bizarre conclusion to AMC's sperm-stealing saga where Tad and Rae got "Adam" (really Stuart) back by hitting him in the face with a pie on TV. Really??

What I hate is the LAUGH NOW soap comedy, which seems to have become more and more common over the past ten years, complete with wacky music. This is most exemplified by idiots like Gloria and Jeffrey on Y&R, where they had the same scenes for what seemed like years, finally devolving into ha-ha horrors like marked ransom money turning them blue or whatever. Y&R's best comedy characters were people who could be funny yet also dangerous, like early Phyllis, or Leanna Love. Jill and Katherine, back when the show gave a sh!t, were also very complex and funny characters. Nina was also a character who, as time went on, was allowed to have more humor -- her putdowns to Victoria and to Tricia Dennison were priceless.

Kate Collins's Janet on AMC also worked well as a funny character who could be extremely dangerous.

The only LAUGH NOW soap character I've enjoyed is Roxy on OLTL, because of Ilene Kristen.

Edited March 14, 201015 yr by CarlD2

Agree completely. It's definitely needed, and for me, the best combination of humour and tragedy was The Quartermaines on GH, and probably the main reason I can't stand Jason is because the first thing that man lost in the accident was the section of his brain that controls the corners of his mouth. The man can't even SMILE, let alone crack a joke. The beauty of the Quartermaines was that effortless snide humour backed up with your usual soapy writing, and that family's decimation is the main reason I can't even turn on GH anymore.

I prefer banter and character-oriented humor to bad camp or slapstick.

I generally prefer that style of humor as well. Although I don't mind slapstick occasionally. And I actually found the campiness of Passions funny at times but I could never really invest in the stories on that show.

Edited March 14, 201015 yr by RomeAt50

I love the humor on ATWT, and most of it comes courtesy of Henry Coleman and Reid Oliver.

The Quartermaines where the best comic element to GH for years...and it is so sad to see how that has been completely destroyed over the years.

i mean, even this year...instead of having some big accident happen on thanksgiving to make them have to get pizza, they just ordered it because they figured something bad would happen...i know it isnt a big deal...but, it was just little comedic things like that, that made me love them...

so i think soaps definitely need humor.

Humors like Tracy on GH, and Vivian on DAYs, are just great...i think soaps could use a little more.

The Quartermaines where the best comic element to GH for years...and it is so sad to see how that has been completely destroyed over the years.

i mean, even this year...instead of having some big accident happen on thanksgiving to make them have to get pizza, they just ordered it because they figured something bad would happen...i know it isnt a big deal...but, it was just little comedic things like that, that made me love them...

so i think soaps definitely need humor.

Humors like Tracy on GH, and Vivian on DAYs, are just great...i think soaps could use a little more.

Speaking of Viv, has she not been incredibly NON-funny since she's been back? Like, beyond a few jabs with Victor, she's been somewhat humourless this time around. I also think Gus is about as good a foil for that woman as a 2x4. I wish Ivan would run out of money from his lotto win and come back

i think her return has been very very funny, but i think she just has less people to play off of on the canvas now. I agree, come back Ivan!

when i think of "humor" on a soap, i think of Michael E. Knight...*sigh* i think he's just super. On GH when i ocasionally watch i think Tracy has that dry wit..i get a kick outta her sometimes.ATWT's Henry..i dont watch it nemore though,but when i did i thought he was great!

Edited March 14, 201015 yr by Mike_Cady fan

Speaking of Viv, has she not been incredibly NON-funny since she's been back? Like, beyond a few jabs with Victor, she's been somewhat humourless this time around. I also think Gus is about as good a foil for that woman as a 2x4. I wish Ivan would run out of money from his lotto win and come back

She's had some good sparring with Kate, Victor, and Carly. I wish she had more, but then, I'm never sure as to how long Vivian was a comedy character. She started out more serious and by her last few years she was also more serious (I don't want to count that "tooth implant" story). JER seemed to be the one who wrote her humor, and some of his humor for her towards the end of his first stint, like Vivian as a french fry, as Elvis, as Little Bo Peep, you can't really put her in that now.

There's that old saying that some people say funny things, while other people say things funny. The latter is what I appreciate the most on soaps. Like Mike_Cady fan said, Jane Elliot is a great example of that, as is Marj Dusay. They can take a witty line off the page and make it ten times funnier the way they inject them with those inimitable lilts, that dry wit that just cracks me up. For Marj, especially in her Capitol episodes I've seen, AMC got more over the top and about "saying funny things" (not that she wasn't great as Vanessa, just different). But speaking of AMC, Agnes Nixon's early '80s actors in the more comedic roles were pros at this. Again, not that the writing wasn't already witty and charming, but it was just subtle enough to allow the actors to really fly with it (Dorothy Lyman, Louis Edmonds, Ruth Warrick, Susan Lucci...).

ETA: Matthew Cowles!

Edited March 14, 201015 yr by SFK

IN the 80s and 90s, GH use to be great at working humor into the show. You had the Quartermaines (especially Tracy), Lucy, Sean and Tiffany (Elsie Mae Crumholtz still makes me laugh), Felicia (Remember when her and Lucy dressed up like nuns?), Luke, Ned and Lois, and even the more straight laced characters got to have a little fun and add some humor now and then. Now all they've got is Maxie and Spinelli and I find them mildly ammusing at best, while everyone else is either doom and gloom or forced into stupid supposedly funny hijinks (i.e. most of Luke and Tracy's recent stories). I do laugh at Diane sometimes.

DAYS also use to have great humor- Vivan and Ivan especially and Calliope was always great too.

and who can forget Sally Spectra?

Edited March 14, 201015 yr by AdelaideCate007

Alex Olanov on OLTL is another one who used to crack me up. A lot of little "you had to be there" things Tonja Walker would do. I think I was also entertained by the fact that this woman was truly certifiable and still functioning in society, as the MAYOR no less.

LMAO Alex was great. I'd totally forgotten she was the Mayor. My favourite thing with when she married Asa and wore the gold turkey thing on her head and then got kidnapped by those two men dressed as nuns.

Cass, Felicia, and Cecile from AW were always hilarious.

Edited March 14, 201015 yr by AdelaideCate007