ADVERTISEMENT

Jimmy Fallon is at it again. The host of The Tonight Show asked his viewers to share their best grandma quotes for the popular Hashtags segment, and they delivered. Big time.

From a 95-year-old nana meeting her grandchild's college friends to another one giving a man the finger because she didn't like the way he was driving, people flooded Fallon with the most memorable interactions they've had with their grams and it's kind of heartwarming to see that decades of life experience gives a refined flavor to your sense of humor as well as the confidence to flaunt it around.

#1

Jimmy-Fallon-Grandma-Quotes-Tweets

ktqck Report

Add photo comments
POST
Agent 8433599
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

All my friends are the same age, but I'm the oldest mentally. I totally get this

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
#2

Funny-Grandma-Quotes-Jimmy-Fallon-Challenge

MBonewizard Report

Add photo comments
POST
Chich
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I can think of men in several age groups who would be in this boat. Consider themselves "real men" but are essentially being babysat by their partners.

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu

Interestingly, we have evidence that suggests a person's sense of humor actually changes with age. Jennifer Stanley, a psychology professor at the University of Akron, gathered 30 young adults, 22 middle-aged people, and 29 senior citizens to watch a variety of different sitcom clips. The subjects rated how socially appropriate and how funny they found each clip. Stanley also used facial electromyography to determine how much the clips activated their smile muscles.

And just to be clear, "to be coded as a smile, there had to be an upturn of the corners of the lips plus a wrinkling of the crow’s feet at the corners of the eyes, or a pushing up of the cheeks."

ADVERTISEMENT

The research found that older adults were much less likely to be fans of the aggressive style of humor—laughing at the expense of others. The 64-to-84-year-olds found a clip from The Office about 23 percent less funny than the middle-aged people did, and about 19 percent less funny than the 17-to-21-year-olds did.

Young adults were also more likely to smirk at the videos that showed self-deprecating humor, as exemplified in an episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm in which Larry pumps his waiter for information about how much his friend left as a tip.

The older participants, meanwhile, appreciated affiliative humor—the kind of jokes that bring people together through a funny or awkward situation. Stanley said a Golden Girls clip in which the women try to buy condoms and suffer an embarrassing price check is a good example.

ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT

Humor relies on the psychological idea of the benign violation: situations that are mostly wrong but also remain at least a little bit right.

But if something is too banal, it won’t be funny. Cross the line, though, and you’ve just offended the person. Michael Scott from The Office can apparently be a little too much for older viewers.

#10

Jimmy-Fallon-Grandma-Quotes-Tweets

ShellyBeans1308 Report

Add photo comments
POST
Mad Dragon
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There was a part in Sleepless in Seattle where the waitress said, “I’m just sayin’, I wouldn’t kick this guy outta my bed for eating crackers.”

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT

So why don't grandmas find that "aggressive" humor funny you ask, young man? One explanation might be that the jokes in sitcoms have changed over time, and today's older people are just accustomed to a gentler kind of wit they were exposed to earlier.

It's very possible that people develop a greater emotional connection to a show from their own generation—Golden Girls is a much earlier show than either The Office or Curb Your Enthusiasm.

#17

Funny-Grandma-Quotes-Jimmy-Fallon-Challenge

jolie_e_carr Report

Add photo comments
POST
Agent 8433599
Community Member
2 years ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

WHAT? Abraham Lincoln wasn't a vampire hunter?! My life is a lie . . .

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu

Stanley suspects a big reason for the generation gap in humor is that as people age, they experience a variety of physical and emotional setbacks—declining cognitive faculties, friends passing away—and the affiliative style of humor helps everyone deal with these losses.

ADVERTISEMENT

“Other work has shown that the importance of having people close by you when you experience the physical and emotional loss of aging,” she told The Atlantic. “Maybe affiliative humor is more helpful for promoting that type of experience.”

Stanley’s study can be handy when we're at the table with our family, trying to get through dinner without making a scene.

To keep the peace with elders, it suggests, act a little more like Blanche Devereaux and a little less like the boorish branch manager of Dunder Mifflin.

ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#24

Funny-Grandma-Quotes-Jimmy-Fallon-Challenge

acbazan Report

#28

Jimmy-Fallon-Grandma-Quotes-Tweets

brendanburkeNRT Report

Add photo comments
POST
J Adams
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not going to lie I did aswell for a long while as a late teen in the early 2000s, I just thought all my friends were really nice and sweet!!

View More Replies...
View more commentsArrow down menu
ADVERTISEMENT
See Also on Bored Panda
#30

Jimmy-Fallon-Grandma-Quotes-Tweets

itsmetanyalee Report

Note: this post originally had 99 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.