When Myers appeared on “The Daily Show,” the comedian seemed genuinely upset that Jon Stewart didn’t let him set up the unfunny clip of his film. There’s something so cloying about Myers these days — it’s as if he thinks if he repeats a joke often enough, he will wear down the audience into laughing. And his kind of movie — the silly, based-on-a-skit type — seems slightly archaic in the post-“Superbad,” “Knocked Up” world, which feature characters who feel real.

Mike Myers: The antifunny?

Ack! I want to defend Mike Myers so much.  He’s a big boy, so he can stand for himself I’m sure.  I just hate when a comedian gets on the “not funny now” list like this.  It would be different if this column hadn’t pointed at Superbad and Knocked up as examples of with it comedy; then I’d have let this pass unmolested.  But to point to Seth Rogan and Jonah Hill and say “THEY ARE THE FUTURE OF COMEDY” is just wrong.

Over ten years of Kevin Smith wrong.

I liked both of these movies, just like I liked a bunch of other foul-mouthed dick and fart joke movies.  I like dick and fart jokes and can’t deny it.  I also like stupid accents and physical comedy.  Mike Myers has embraced what makes him funny and people have decided “so what else is new?”  Jim Carrey faced this when he tried to put his brand of humor into established places and failed (which made the whole cat in the hat thing kind of puzzling to me really)  Mr. Carrey tried to turn what had made “Fire Marshal Bill” “My, Myself & Irene” funny into something that could pass from movie to movie; forgetting the humanity that the Characters were hapless losers that won out in the end.

Mr. Myers might want to stretch himself more in the future though, as it appears he is going to be castigated for doing what television sitcoms do for years on end, giving the audience more of the same with the same cast and so on.  This afflicts a bunch of comedians, and kind of seperates the comedy fans from the deliatants, the die hards will accept more of the same if it is still funny and the masses just want something new and possibly shocking. Which is why “I don’t want to offend you…” by Bobcat Goldwaith was a hit with standup fans and no more than a blip on the radar of the general public.  It was more of the same, but the delivery and material was so great, who cares that you knew all the punchlines?

I like to think of great comedy like I think of great music, you can hear the same phrases and motions over and over and still enjoy it.  Sometimes you can find new textures and flavours in it.  I think that Mr. Myers has tried to put a new spin on an old act and found people don’t want a new spin, they just want new.