A good laugh is sunshine in the house.

December 27, 2016 5:26 PM

21 Photos That Get Funnier the Longer You Stare at Them. Mostly true.

Bonus: 15 Of The Best Tweets About Dogs

posted by Johnny Wallflower (68 comments total)

The author of TFA and I have very different definitions of funny.
posted by signal at 5:49 PM on December 27, 2016 [63 favorites]

JW:
I was underwhelmed by your first link.

The second, however, was MY-T-FINE!
posted by BlueHorse at 5:52 PM on December 27, 2016 [28 favorites]

Wait is that Billy Joel? Looks an awful lot like him but I'm not sure about the nose.

We actually walked past him eating on a restaurant patio last summer, with his (young) wife and (infant) daughter. As soon as we were out of earshot, I turned to mrsozzy and said, "I think that was Billy Joel."

"Oh!" she said. "I was thinking how nice it was to see a grandpa having brunch with his daughter and granddaughter."
posted by uncleozzy at 6:05 PM on December 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

Why is the photo of the men dressed as women funny?
posted by cooker girl at 6:24 PM on December 27, 2016 [17 favorites]

The men dressed as Disney princesses is pretty weak, hence the "mostly."
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 6:27 PM on December 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

Swap emerald green for the purple of the wedding party and that is pretty much what I wanted at my wedding. Maybe a good thing we moved it up from November to June.
posted by Mitheral at 6:53 PM on December 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

The ones in the first link weren't bad (although I've already seen one of them), but Betrayed Dog in the second one was perfect.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:21 PM on December 27, 2016 [4 favorites]

I've been binging on Fauda today. This was just the break I needed.
posted by Bee'sWing at 7:27 PM on December 27, 2016

The first pic unsettled me so badly that I was momentarily unable to remember how to make it go away. Somehow it was made even worse by my expectation of funny pics.
posted by Pistache at 7:31 PM on December 27, 2016 [27 favorites]

I really don't understand what her problem is. She's got a chocolate lab and she's got water, what does she expect?
posted by ridgerunner at 7:38 PM on December 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

I came home today and the dog was lurking in the bathtub. I still can't find the why. But it's here. Somewhere.
posted by fshgrl at 7:39 PM on December 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

The dog tweets are great! Brought a much needed smile to my face.
posted by TedW at 7:45 PM on December 27, 2016

Yeah, you really buried the lede with those dog tweets. Top notch.
posted by soren_lorensen at 7:47 PM on December 27, 2016 [4 favorites]

The dog against the wall wearing the Dracula costume looking lonely is the best. And while the first link mostly disturbed I did like the purple bridesmaids with the pink poodle in the lower corner.
posted by GospelofWesleyWillis at 7:54 PM on December 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

I like all those dogs very much.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 8:00 PM on December 27, 2016 [6 favorites]

Why is the photo of the men dressed as women funny?

Because they're subverting gender stereotypes! (Except the one dressed as Mulan; she looks like a bad driver.)
posted by Christ, what an asshole at 8:04 PM on December 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

Oh no they missed the best dog tweet
posted by DoctorFedora at 8:21 PM on December 27, 2016 [19 favorites]

None of these are funny. I worked with funny. You're not funny. They didn't get any funnier after I looked at them, they just looked like boring memes. Those aren't funny.
posted by Sphinx at 8:45 PM on December 27, 2016 [9 favorites]

well, I laughed, anyway
posted by Countess Elena at 8:48 PM on December 27, 2016 [5 favorites]

None of these are funny.

Well, funny is subjective.
I have this thing, though. If you tell me something is going to be super funny...I will probably not find it funny at all. It's like I'm all "You can't tell me what to feel."
It's a problem.
posted by greermahoney at 9:15 PM on December 27, 2016 [5 favorites]

flour cat is dealing with much greater levels of equanimity than I would have expected

also I've always felt that this must be the way that Paul McCartney feels inside

also, fantastic googly placement on Lennon. That must have taken some effort.
posted by Existential Dread at 9:28 PM on December 27, 2016 [5 favorites]

The first one was sufficiently amusing to more than make up for any later mediocrity.
posted by janey47 at 9:28 PM on December 27, 2016 [3 favorites]

All of the dog pictures, because of course they are.
posted by Slap*Happy at 9:34 PM on December 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

Thank you for all the cat and dog posts that helped me get through the last few months. 🐱🐶
posted by Room 641-A at 9:45 PM on December 27, 2016 [7 favorites]

I worked with funny.

I served with funny. I knew funny. Funny was a friend of mine. Pleated Jeans, you're no funny.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:52 PM on December 27, 2016 [5 favorites]

(actually I did laugh at a couple of them, but yeah, some of them are kinda problematic)
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:54 PM on December 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

Best of the Web Facebook Sidebar
posted by snuffleupagus at 10:02 PM on December 27, 2016 [6 favorites]

Oh boo to you all. If it weren't for this post I wouldn't be plotting to Totoro our guest cat right now.
posted by vanar sena at 10:10 PM on December 27, 2016 [21 favorites]

Sir, in my heart, I know I'm funny.
--Lt. Steven Hauk (Bruno Kirby), Good Morning, Viet Nam(1987)
posted by lazycomputerkids at 10:49 PM on December 27, 2016 [6 favorites]

Missing this dog tweet.
posted by octothorpe at 10:49 PM on December 27, 2016 [10 favorites]

ugh every single face swap photo is such epic vomitous body horror, i wish they would go away forever

actually can someone make an app to swap all face swap photos with pictures of dogs thank u
posted by poffin boffin at 11:00 PM on December 27, 2016 [11 favorites]

None of these are funny.

That SOON seal is funny. I have measured this scientifically with my intergalactic comedometers and found it to be 3.78 yuks.
posted by ROU_Xenophobe at 11:06 PM on December 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

The first pic unsettled me so badly that I was momentarily unable to remember how to make it go away. Somehow it was made even worse by my expectation of funny pics.

Thank god I'm not the only one. I actually decided not to look at the other pics just in case there was another one lurking, even though that first image was fine once I'd figured out what was going on.
posted by chrominance at 11:17 PM on December 27, 2016 [1 favorite]

I don't remember ever regretting clicking on a MeFi link as much as this one. Yikes!
posted by fairmettle at 12:41 AM on December 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

The men dressed as Disney princesses is pretty weak, hence the "mostly."

Yeah, transphobia and gender panic aren't really good substitutes for humour.
posted by Dysk at 12:42 AM on December 28, 2016 [9 favorites]

The first link is pretty much the first few rows of imgur's front page on an average day (yes, I get very bored sometimes). The dog tweets are high-grade dog comedy, though.
posted by A Thousand Baited Hooks at 1:20 AM on December 28, 2016

I clicked the "via" link on the dog page and found exactly the same "article" on that site. But also more dog entertainment.
posted by effbot at 2:51 AM on December 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

Best tweet of the year is this dog related tweet.
posted by idiopath at 3:35 AM on December 28, 2016 [20 favorites]

Yeah, transphobia and gender panic aren't really good substitutes for humour.

C'mon. Really? There is not a single thing about that picture that justifies those descriptions. I didn't find the image particularly funny, but neither did I ever think that what the viewer is being invited to laugh at is discordant gender presentation per se.

With all due respect, I believe we should save those words for when we need them. God knows there's enough in the world that merits them.
posted by adamgreenfield at 4:15 AM on December 28, 2016 [8 favorites]

Oh, come on. Of course the viewer is being invited to laugh at discordant gender presentation. What else in that photo could be the joke? It's been a bog-standard trope of lazy comedy for decades, from the Three Stooges to Robin Williams. Men dressed in "women's clothing" = haw haw, apparently.

It's not necessarily mean-spirited, nor does the average viewer necessarily make a conscious connection with actual trans people...but it still perpetuates and relies upon this mentality that people deviating from prescribed gender norms is somehow odd and wacky. Men dressed like women? Cuh-razy! What will they think of next?

(Plus, it's just bad comedy. Comedy is supposed to contain some element of wit, or at least surprise. Dudes dressing as princesses for laffs has neither.)
posted by escape from the potato planet at 4:27 AM on December 28, 2016 [14 favorites]

I actually decided not to look at the other pics just in case there was another one lurking...

Wiser than me. There were several more. The minion one was mildly funny, but did not become moreso with staring at it. None of the rest were worth the effort.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:50 AM on December 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

FIRST!!

No, wait
posted by goatdog at 5:02 AM on December 28, 2016

Can we pause the "meh, I don't like a thing" for a sec and focus on the fact that Johnny Wallflower has spent nearly every day of this past shitty year giving us lighthearted, adorable or interesting posts to distract from the garbage fire that is 2016? JW is a fucking hero
posted by wheek wheek wheek at 5:12 AM on December 28, 2016 [81 favorites]

Even Ted Williams struck out now and then. Thanks for the post, Johnny Wallflower. The dog tweets were great!
posted by briank at 5:15 AM on December 28, 2016

Did anyone else read this comment on the "15 of the Best Dog Tweets of 2016" link?

"You have a rather loose definition of what counts as being a part of 2016."

I'd really like to know which one of you curmudgeons wrote that.
posted by GhostintheMachine at 5:19 AM on December 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

Yeah, I think we can drop this as an extended sidebar / fight. As a replacement for that image, I offer Disney Princesses Reimagined as Hot Dogs.
posted by taz at 5:52 AM on December 28, 2016 [7 favorites]

I would like to offer these gifs of a dog failing to catch food tossed in the air.
posted by Fleebnork at 6:18 AM on December 28, 2016 [6 favorites]

I also have a rather loose definition of what counts as a best dog tweet of 2016.
posted by moonmilk at 6:27 AM on December 28, 2016 [5 favorites]

Best tweet of the year is this dog related tweet.

WeRateDogs is why I cannot quit Twitter.
posted by rabbitrabbit at 6:29 AM on December 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

They're good tweets brïůnt.
posted by idiopath at 6:36 AM on December 28, 2016 [10 favorites]

Tiny Dracula Pom has nearly counteracted the horrors of this year, thank you Johnny Wallflower!
posted by billiebee at 7:21 AM on December 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

Having a bad time lately, and those dog tweets not only turned my frown upside down but made me laugh heartily for the first time in over a week. Thanks for the stellar post. That pug frightened of the giraffe is epic.
posted by sockermom at 7:29 AM on December 28, 2016 [6 favorites]

There is something about the

AWARE OF DOG
pleas pet dog

photo and tweet that is so beautiful and pure, I am incapable of not being lifted up by its splendor. Every time I have looked at it, every time it gets retweeted in my timeline, my day gets better.

pleas pet dog

pleas
posted by a fiendish thingy at 8:39 AM on December 28, 2016 [24 favorites]

Tiny snail dog is making my morning much better.
posted by Existential Dread at 8:46 AM on December 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

I would like to offer these gifs of a dog failing to catch food tossed in the air.

My dog only has one eye, so we don't throw thing to him. He is literally incapable of snatching them from the air, and even when we give him food, he tends to misjudge distance and just eat a finger.

Speaking of which, this is the best dog tweet of the year.
posted by maxsparber at 8:53 AM on December 28, 2016 [4 favorites]

Because Burt is the best dog.
posted by maxsparber at 8:55 AM on December 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

I like all those dogs very much.

Not to get all FTFY, but surely this should be:

I like all those dogs very much.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:11 AM on December 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

"I would like to offer these gifs of a dog failing to catch food tossed in the air."

"My dog only has one eye, so we don't throw thing to him. He is literally incapable of snatching them from the air, and even when we give him food, he tends to misjudge distance and just eat a finger."

My dog is a champ when it comes to snatching treats and food from the air, and thrown toys as well.

However, she apparently can't feel when the food is just left on her forehead. We have repeated this experiment multiple times, always with the same result.
posted by komara at 9:17 AM on December 28, 2016 [9 favorites]

Because Burt is the best dog.

I'm sure Burt is a good dog, but Finland's first dog Lennu is best dog.

(ham-inspection video from the same event)
posted by effbot at 9:34 AM on December 28, 2016 [11 favorites]

Well, "best" is subjective but no it isn't Burt is best.
posted by maxsparber at 9:46 AM on December 28, 2016 [1 favorite]

photoshopped stuff just doesn't strike me as that funny anymore. Real pictures on the other hand ...
posted by philip-random at 11:43 AM on December 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

No-one has seen Emma Watson and Dave Franco in the same room together.
posted by urbanwhaleshark at 12:10 PM on December 28, 2016

However, she apparently can't feel when the food is just left on her forehead. We have repeated this experiment multiple times, always with the same result.

hi there i love your dog that i have just now only seen a single photo of more than any human person i have known in my entire life
posted by poffin boffin at 12:34 PM on December 28, 2016 [6 favorites]

ROU_Xenophobe: "None of these are funny.

That SOON seal is funny. I have measured this scientifically with my intergalactic comedometers and found it to be 3.78 yuks."

I think you need to recalibrate. The background humorfludic radiation count should account for those readings.
posted by Samizdata at 1:00 PM on December 28, 2016

"hi there i love your dog that i have just now only seen a single photo of more than any human person i have known in my entire life"

That is wonderful news and I will be sure to tell her. Does this help enhance that feeling?
posted by komara at 2:41 PM on December 28, 2016 [2 favorites]

scream
posted by poffin boffin at 4:51 PM on December 28, 2016 [3 favorites]

Not to get all FTFY, but surely this should be:

I like all those dogs very much.

I accept this correction, and to all excluded doggies, I offer to atone in the form of pettings, squishes, snuggles, treats, etc.
posted by mixedmetaphors at 6:27 PM on December 28, 2016

octothorpe's orange peel tweet is fantastic.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:01 PM on December 28, 2016 [1 favorite]