system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: Why certain types of comedies were popular in the past but not in present times?

Not that they lose their punch but it seems like we cycle in types of humor. Like we start with slapstick, then went to wit, then went to shock value.

Why do we crave different or new comedies rather then one specific type?
gpt
The basic formula for comedy involves someone in a situation doing or saying something that's unexpected. Not everything unexpected is funny, but everything genuinely funny is unexpected.

A joke dies when it's context becomes too familiar. This can happen because we've heard the joke one too many times, or because we've learned a lot more about the premise. For example, jokes about how people use the internet for everything stopped being funny because that's just like now, and blond jokes fell out of fashion after people realized that stereotyping women was dry and predictable. New stereotypes about groups that we haven't historically stereotyped, however, like instagram users, are still funny (but will soon also get old).

Once it is expected, a joke stops being funny. Humor is an ever-expanding art that needs to be improved and refined over time. This can take place over whole genres - the idea of physical violence being used in common scenarios without anyone really being hurt was very unexpected once upon a time, and you'd be all "WHAT" when Punch hit Judy, but today slapstick is tired and old.