I’ve been on the internet for as long as I can remember. I spent hours as a child making sure my Neopet was cared for. Then after that, I became Tumblr obsessed. I genuinely think the internet has shaped my sense of humour in some way. It takes a lot for something to get me to laugh out loud, but when something really gets me, I double over laughing in pain and can’t stop. TikTok has been dangerous for me: it knows me too well now, and every second video is either netball-related or hilarious to me. Is my sense of humour broken? Let’s go through this together and find out!
1. This standup gig
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I still have no idea if this was staged or not. But that’s the trick with a great video, it doesn’t really matter. If he was smart enough to think of this idea, then he deserves all the praise in the world. I am obsessed with it. The audience not responding at all, the timing of the crude setup. Actual tears. No standup performance I ever do will match this.
2. This TikTok about a car accident
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Now I’m getting a little obscure. This is a video of a woman nervous to tell her husband about damage to his car. The way he arrives, the fact they just brush over the most absurd thing I’ve ever seen. This really got me good.
3. The opera cat
Cats, the true heroes of the internet. It seems wrong to have a list of funny internet things and not include them. I’ve never really been a cat person, but this video of a girl practising her opera singing is one of my favourites. The pure shock on her face. The timing. The cat’s eyes looking in different directions. The slow twitch at the end.
4. This tweet
me: thank you for that glass of milk earlier
sperm bank employee: what glass of milk
me: the glass of milk that was sitting on your desk
sperm bank employee: oh my god
me: what
sperm bank employee: you drank my glass of milk
— scarfo (@Doughbvy) August 20, 2018
I have about 1,000 favourite tweets I could put here, but I always come back to this one. It was a toss-up between another tweet which is “me and my friends would’ve killed ET with hammers I can tell you that much” by @HelloCullen, but that tweet unfortunately got so popular he deleted it. This is a close second. Takes you on a real journey.
5. Clare Ruddy on TikTok
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There are about 500 videos by Clare I could share here. She’s always changing her style and satirising different kinds of videos. This era is one of my favourites: the music and text are exactly like those punishing clickbait news stories. I’ve scrolled through her stuff endlessly and it never gets old.
6. My friend Angella’s audition tape
Look, this is cheating because it’s from my own blog, but it’s the only evidence of this video on the internet. My friend Angella Dravid is so funny, and when she was practising for an audition she filmed this video. It made me cry with laughter and is still funny to me after all these years. The audition was “getting a fright after coming out of the shower”. Enjoy.
7. Sean Lock: carrot in a box
Sean Lock is one of my favourite comedians. When he died a couple years back, I rewatched all of his television highlights and nothing beats this. It could be the single best moment ever aired on TV. A simple game, but executed to perfection. It was definitely the clip that cemented him as a genius in my mind. What a legend, and so sorely missed.
8. A chaotic vending machine
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Life is simple sometimes. Sometimes you’re waiting for a tram and you scroll TikTok and end up cry-laughing at a vending machine failing. What I love about this clip is that it somehow gets worse and worse as it goes on. What a metaphor for life.
9. A five-second film about a father and son
I loved watching YouTube as a kid, but one of my favourites was a channel called 5secondfilms. It was this amazing idea, making a story in such a short amount of time. Then Vine came around and EVERYONE started doing it. But these guys did it first. This one always makes me laugh. So dark. So silly. Holds up despite being 11 years old.
10. Aaron Chen: A Life in Questions
When friends of mine haven’t heard of Aaron Chen, I immediately send them this video. It’s so well done. Incredibly rewatchable and ridiculously funny. Aaron presents a masterclass in the art of street interviewing. It seems like sheer luck that he comes across so many strange people, but it’s a testament to the writing, and the kinds of questions he asks. Art.
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Melanie Bracewell appears on Cheap Seats, 8.40pm on Network 10 and 10 Play On Demand. She is also performing her show Forget Me Not at New Zealand comedy festival in Auckland 11–12 May, Wellington 13 May and Christchurch 27 May.
