Following on from the thread about Ripping Yarns...
Maybe it was teenage hormones or my inbuilt sense of justice and an abiding hatred of clowns and their behaviour* but I never 'got' Ripping Yarns. By contrast I could parrot (see what I did there?) great screeds of Monty Python - still can, as it goes - but the shit filter that affects all those memories from 40 years ago makes me think it was funnier than the repeated BBC programmes prove.
*I have never, ever been a fan of slapstick or most types of 'situation' comedy. Michael Crawford may be a fabulous actor, singer, dancer - whatever. His portrayal of Frank Spencer has ensured that I can't appreciate anyting else he has done. Charlie Cairrolli (sp) left me, as a child, with an deep-seated fear of clowns. Seeing pupils nailed to the wall in a Ripping Yarn, didn't like that one at all. I loathe the BBC's accepted depiction of anyone with a trade as either an idiot or a crook.
In short, What's funny about comedy?