June 10, 2009

I Wish I Knew Why

I told myself when I came home tonight I was going to work out. Instead after having stuffed my face with food and rested for a bit, I find myself sitting on the couch watching Wipeout. Really, I was going to work out and then somehow I found this show and haven't managed to do anything except watch Wipeout.

I ask you this, why is it so funny to see other people injure themselves?

This show's basic premise is to get the maximum number of people to smack into slippery, rotating foam objects. They've mastered it because just about everyone face plants at minimum three times a minute. I remember watching America's Funniest Home Videos when I was young. This was the original with Bob Saget (before he developed his severe potty mouth), and I simply couldn't get enough of it. I would laugh and laugh and laugh at dad's getting hit in the nuts with bats, at grandpas falling off their chairs and at people playing mean pranks on one another in the shower. My grandma used to watch my sister and me watching this show, and her comment was always the same. "Why is it so funny watching other people get hurt?" I never did know the answer. As I watch Wipeout tonight, I learned I still don't know why it is so funny, but darn it, it still is.

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