Someone explain M*A*S*H to me

[Screw_Michigan]

Pops loves watching M*A*S*H re-runs in the AM. I have never understood this show. It's apparently a "comedy" about doctors working on people blown to bits during the Korean War? How is this a comedy? I don't think I have ever laughed watching this show.

Seinfeld. Now there's a comedy. Perhaps I didn't grow up in the era of nascent TV comedies and didn't appreciate how M*A*S*H broke new ground.

Does Alan Alda post here? Perhaps Meat Head can fill us in.

Apparently Chris Rock had a great joke about M*A*S*H and OJ--"I haven't see white people this angry since M*A*S*H got cancelled."

[Sudden Sam]

Hogan’s Heroes. Life in a German POW camp. Funny?

Humor can be found most anywhere.

Although there has yet to be a comedy set in Dachau or Auschwitz.

[Softball Bat]

I never thought M*A*S*H was very funny or entertaining.

[Dr_Phibes]

You have to watch the movie.

[Carson]

The producers of M*A*S*H never used the laughtrack during the O.R. scenes and some entire episodes.

Most of the humor comes from Frank Burns getting dumped on because he was a humorless stupid fuckhead. Sound familiar, screwey???

[BSmack]

The first 6 seasons were pretty good. After that the show got preachy and less interesting.

[Mikey]

You have to watch the movie.

Eggsactly. The TV show never compared well.

[BSmack]

Seinfeld. Now there's a comedy.

A show about nothing with characters who are obnoxious twats. It ruined sitcoms for all time.

[Diego in Seattle]

The first 6 seasons were pretty good. After that the show got preachy and less interesting.

Larry Gelbart wrote for the first four seasons, and I think that's when the show lost it's comedic edge.

[smackaholic]

It was a great show. Binge watch it from the beginning.

If you don’t get it a half dozen episodes in, you’re basically Frank Burns.


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[HighPlainsGrifter]

M*A*S*H tickles the same comedy receptors as Joseph Heller's Catch 22. Some years ago I was the only man in a book club with a dozen women. When it was my turn to pick a book, I chose Catch 22. Several of the women totally didn't get it, much like the awkwardly feminine members of this board, apparently.

One of the ladies in the club had an insightful experience. She said, "I feel like I finally understand my dad's sense of humor. Growing up I struggled to see the humor in things at which he would laugh."

MASH illustrates the absurdity of war, the inefficacy of top-down management and the challenges of maintaining humanity and sanity in the midst of a world turned upside down. If you can't see a little bit of yourself in each character, you are one shallow motherfucker.

[Softball Bat]

Was Jamie Farr the character you most identified with?

[Smackie Chan]

It's doubtful any TV shows today, outside of Family Guy, South Park, or The Simpsons, would dare have a black character named Spearchucker in it, as both the M*A*S*H movie & TV show did. Few seemed to get too worked up about it at the time. It would likely end careers today.

Catch 22

One of my favorite books.

Was Jamie Farr the character you most identified with?

I won't deign to answer for HPG, but an argument can be made that M*A*S*H's Klinger was the character most like Yossarian in Catch-22. Both were trying to escape what they considered the absurdity and malice of war by essentially getting kicked out of the service. Klinger attempted to do so by cross-dressing. The “catch” of Catch-22 refers to an Army Air Forces regulation that says a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions but that if he formally requests to be relieved of such missions, the very act of making the request proves that he is sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved. In Klinger's case, he knew that homosexuality (cross-dressing was close enough for 70s TV) would get him kicked out, but the fact that everyone in positions of authority knew it was just a ruse to get him booted was sufficient evidence that he was "straight" enough to be retained.

Larry Gelbart

Had a chance to speak with him briefly once. I was a phone slap for some weekend radio talk shows back in the day, and Gelbart was a guest of one of the hosts, so I had to call him to set up the interview. Shortly thereafter went to see the play A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum; the book on which the play was based was co-written by Gelbart.

[Dr_Phibes]

In the director's cut of the film Robert Altman said he hated the TV show and disliked everyone in the cast. But then, he also said the original book was terrible.

[kcdave]

MASH illustrates the absurdity of war, the inefficacy of top-down management and the challenges of maintaining humanity and sanity in the midst of a world turned upside down. If you can't see a little bit of yourself in each character, you are one shallow motherfucker.

RACK!

M*A*S*H was not a comedy. It was a dramedy. It required thought and
intelligence to see beyond the occasional slapstick humor.
If you do not have an appreciation and a good understanding behind the
meaning of the show after watching a few episodes, you damn sure
have no business on a smack board.

[Wolfman]

My Uncle Hugh was a Colonel in the Medical Corps. He knew some real MASH MD's in Korea. He said the movie was more like reality. My maternal Grandfather was a combat surgeon in WW One. He saw it all. His later years he was the head psychiatrist at a NY State mental institution. He took me to work with him when we visited. That was CREEPY.

[Diego in Seattle]

mvskkkal identifies with Col. Flagg.

[Sudden Sam]

MASH illustrates the absurdity of war, the inefficacy of top-down management and the challenges of maintaining humanity and sanity in the midst of a world turned upside down. If you can't see a little bit of yourself in each character, you are one shallow motherfucker.

RACK!

M*A*S*H was not a comedy. It was a dramedy. It required thought and
intelligence to see beyond the occasional slapstick humor.
If you do not have an appreciation and a good understanding behind the
meaning of the show after watching a few episodes, you damn sure
have no business on a smack board.

This and this.

[Biggie]

Most of the humor comes from Frank Burns getting dumped on because he was a humorless stupid fuckhead. Sound familiar, screwey???

That’s funny shit. Rack.

[Dr_Phibes]

Hogan’s Heroes. Life in a German POW camp. Funny?

Humor can be found most anywhere.

Although there has yet to be a comedy set in Dachau or Auschwitz.

The definitive answer to that is The Producers, by Mel Brooks. I know you've seen it

[Sudden Sam]

Hogan’s Heroes. Life in a German POW camp. Funny?

Humor can be found most anywhere.

Although there has yet to be a comedy set in Dachau or Auschwitz.

The definitive answer to that is The Producers, by Mel Brooks. I know you've seen it

I was thinking more in terms of sitcoms, but, yes, Mel went there.

[BSmack]

Mitchell and Webb went there.

https://youtu.be/ToKcmnrE5oY?si=y4P5DDZLCt7bHO8d