Whenever I hear certain songs I experience an immediate time-relocation. Suddenly I'm back there - and all the emotional hooks are in place.

Is comedy ever that powerful?

No not nearly.

What if it's a comedy song?

Well Spitting Image's Chicken song immediately transports me back to the changing rooms at school, for some reason.

And anything by Monty Python reminds me of being a drunken student.

But that could just be me.

The most evocative sense is supposed to be smell.
Not that thats at all relevant
The young ones still takes me back to grotty student digs in the '80s and Fist of Fun, The Mary Whitehouse experiance, Absolutely all make me nostalgic for the '90s.
But no, not as much as music does - you have a lot of 'our tunes' to reminise over, but 'our sketch' - no.

"Now drink your weak lemon drink"

win some lose some its all the same to me

I reckon in many ways comedy is more interesting.

You can't predetermine what you find funny - laughing is a response you do not have complete control over. Therefore I think sometimes it's good to question what you find funny and why.

But i always have had too much time on my hands...

Not even close. Music>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>comedy, and in my experience the comedians whom I've met would almost certainly agree.

i dont think comedy is as powerful but the music normally does take you back to time an dplace but is usually a funny moment..(wel it is with me)

Consider this:

2 blokes acting out/quoting comedy scenes is a bonding thing...

...whereas 2 blokes singing songs to each other would appear a bit gay.

It's good to know we live in such enlightened times.

Neither be as powerful as voodoo!

Consider the prophetic words of External Floppy...

"2 blokes acting out/quoting comedy scenes is a bonding thing...

...whereas 2 blokes singing songs to each other would appear a bit gay."

It's good to know we live in such enlightened times.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Thumbs Like Onions:
Consider the prophetic words of External Floppy...

"2 blokes acting out/quoting comedy scenes is a bonding thing...

...whereas 2 blokes singing songs to each other would appear a bit gay."

Tell that to Hall & Oates!

They are both completely different, you cannot compare the two. Both are powerful in their own ways.

As a aid for memory songs will always be much more evocative.However for pushing boundaries comedy always slip under the net and avoids any flak, ooh I don't know it's six of one and half a dozen of the other isn't? jumpers for goalposts?

Music is more powerful in my opinion.

If you're talking memories, it has to be music as there's a special part of your brain stimulated by it, but comedy is far more powerful in society. Protest songs pretty much come and go (although some make money), but a good comedian can make people think which is extremely powerful. When Gulf War 2 started, all I had in my head was Bill Hicks going "look at the pretty fireworks - makes me forget about domestic policy" (major paraphrase but you get my drift)

And people can say stuff in satire that they wouldn't get away with otherwise.

Charlie Chaplin - poetry in motion.

Well a person can die from laughter, your only likely to die by music if a piano falls on your head.

To the OP.

Yes, if you happen to be deaf you can still usually feel music. However comedy can be silent, or written, it does not have to be spoken.

the only time comedy is that powerful is when
Eddie Murphy or Richard Pryor is on stage

the only time comedy is that powerful is whenEddie Murphy or Richard Pryor is on stage

Not true, I once laughed so much at Richard Madderley, I woke 5 days later in hospital, hooked up to a ventilator.

Consider Norman Thomas, one of the founders of SANE. According to Robert Anton Wilson this bloke cured himself of TB at a young age simply by observing that optimists get better and pessimists don't

Fast forward 40 yars and Norman Thomas contracts a deadly disease that has a 100% fatality rate. But he doesn't die. Instead he does nothing but watch his favourite comedy videos for a few weeks and, miraculously, he gets better.

I'd say comedy was very powerful.