The history of writing funny stuff stretches back into the earliest times. Humor comes in certain time honored forms: slapstick, exaggeration (a/k/a hyperbole), sarcasm, irony, and puns. Most any humorous work relies on one or more of these techniques. Until recent times, that is. Now, vulgarity seems to have overtaken all of these.

Hubby and I have been watching an HBO show called Veep and, while there are a couple of decent running gags, I have not been laughing much. After subjecting ourselves to four episodes, neither of us is sure if we want to continue. I’m not so easily offended, but this show doesn’t strike me as funny, and it is clearly supposed to be a comedy. The actors seem to be working very hard at maintaining a frantic pace, which may indeed be how things are in the White House, but there is no slapstick, little irony, few plays on words, and less sarcasm than one might expect in a political drama.

Oh, I do like the bit with the staffer who has an imaginary dog. That’s funny and a bit ironic. Also amusing is the main character (Selina Meyer) hoping that the president will actually need her (thus far he hasn’t.) The character (Tony?) who doesn’t even bother whispering a brief description of everyone the VP meets and does not actually know is a bit of exaggeration and his remarks sometimes make me smile. And, the pace seems so fast that perhaps the intent is hyperbole, but it is more intense than humorous.

So, what’s left? Lots and lots of cussing, and at least fifty percent of it is a verb/expletive that might be labeled as “for unusual carnal knowledge.” Not funny. It just isn’t. I guess the writers are lazy or haven’t ever seen anything funny.

It’s sad really. A re-run of I Love Lucy can still make me laugh, but Veep doesn’t.