The funniest game show answers of all time

27/02/2022

Is there anything more reassuring than watching people making fools of themselves on television?


by Benjamin Daniels in Videomatic

Well, what to say about this, apart from that it's amusing and at times very rude?

Is there anything more reassuring than watching people (just like us) making complete fools of themselves on television? What's interesting about this selection of gameshow clips from over the decades is that most of them are from unintellectual, responsive format shows that invite their contestants to vocalise what immediately appears in their minds.

Cue dumb, unfiltered, and, at times, absurd comments made innocently by people with the best of intentions.

The fact that so many of these examples are sexual speaks to what we are as people underneath the carefully presented surface normality most of us do our best to maintain. Is it really that most of the time what we are thinking about sex, even only as a background hum without much heat or trouble?

On the evidence here, very possibly it is.

The other striking feature that this at times very funny selection demonstrates is how impulsive and (let's be honest about this) stupid human reasoning can be when it is unrestrained. As a result, it is comforting to be a party to the silliness on offer here (the couple struggling to spell "mosquito" is a particular joy).

It is also reassuring, which is probably why the audience(s) in these clips take such pleasure in what they are hearing. It's a celebration of our commonality, of how dumb beneath the surface we really are.

There are no rocket scientists on display here, just people just like us.

Rather encouragingly.


Recent articles: