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How to Be Funny! is an episode from the second season of Garfield and Friends.
Synopsis[]
Garfield gives a lecture on humor and what it means to be funny.
Plot[]
At a university, Garfield plans to talk about how to be funny, only for pies to be thrown in his face, which he labels as unfunny. He tells them that humor is dangerous in the hands of amateurs. He asks for the lights, only to be shown actual lights, which he also labels as unfunny.
He shows the history of humor, which includes a cavemen, ancient Egyptians and Leonardo Da Vinci. After Garfield explains that humor is more civilized in the modern day, he is, again, hit with a pie, prompting him to question his last statement.
He then talks about the practical joke, and plans to show what kind of impractical jokes there are. He asks for the lights again, and is, again, shown actual lights, which he still does not find funny. Garfield shows the "rhinoceros in the bed" trick, the "baseball team in the shower" trick and the "3rd Marine Division in the dishwasher" trick. After being shown the lights again, he notes that if the same unfunny joke is used often, it becomes a running gag.
Garfield then asks "what is humor?", before Odie jumps out in a clown costume, which Garfield does not find amusing. The lights gag is used again, and Garfield notes that it's starting to become funny. On a projector, Jon is shown in different silly suits such as a scuba suit, a ballerina's costume, a chicken suit and his usual clothes.
Garfield then talks about timing, using an episode ("Looking For Lasagna") as an example. The gag involves Garfield expressing his hatred for a certain thing, before Odie jumps in with something that implies that he enjoys what Garfield dislikes. The first example involves Mondays, with Odie holding up a sign that says "Hooray for Monday". The joke is used twice more with hockey season, associated with a silly costume, and Groundhog Day, also associated with physical humor.
Garfield expresses that all previous jokes are going out of date in the future. He goes to the National Institute of Humor, where he shows that the scientists have analyzed what words are funniest and how people react to gags. Garfield switches on a computer, which will display the jokes of the future, which turns out to be all things Garfield previously talked about. This makes Garfield claim that humor/comedy of the future will be similar to that of today. He then asks for the lights, only for the machine to show him actual lights, ending the episode.
Characters[]
Main characters[]
Major characters[]
Minor characters[]
- Scientists (voiced by Gregg Berger and Thom Huge)
- Cave people
- Egyptians
- Leonardo Da Vinci
- Mona Lisa
- Man in audience (voiced by Jim Davis)
- Rhinoceros
- Baseball team
- 3rd Marine Division
- Man
Trivia[]
- Dialogue from the episode was sampled in "Shake Your Paw."
Cultural references[]
- The episode Garfield shows during the timing session, "Looking for Lasagna", is possibly a reference to the movie Looking for Mr. Goodbar.
Goofs[]
- In the title card, Garfield's mouth is the same color as his fur.
Running gags[]
- Every time Garfield says "Lights", people can be seen about to give Garfield some lights.