I don't get this joke on TV, anyone else?

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Hi All,

My partner and I just watched an episode of Roseanne where Darlene (daughter) goes to see Roseanne in the night, supposedly because of a nightmare. There's a part where Roseanne tells Darlene that she's too old to sleep in their bed and she comments on how Dan (husband) won't like it. This is scripted as a joke and my partner laughed. But I really don't get why it's funny. My partner says it's something to do with an unexpected "misdirection"(?), but he hasn't been able to explain it to me properly. I don't know if I don't get it, or if I do get it and just don't find it funny.

I wondered if any of you understand it and if you can fathom nuances of why it is or isn't funny in a way that I can't. The relevant part is between 3:30 and 4:30 in the link below:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYJ1ATVw-jQ&t=3m30s[/youtube]

I think you misunderstood what she's saying, because actually she says that even her husband doesn't like sharing the bed with her... which is funny because ha ha they're not having sex anymore...

I am better at understanding British humour than American humour.

I did realize that, I just simplified that by extension she's also saying the daughter can't stay in the bed, but still I find that neither interpretation explains the joke for me. I also don't think it has anything to do with sex since the characters imply they're getting plenty in many other episodes.

I've thought about it now and established the following:
-The statement is obviously a joke because it has canned laughter, is set up as a punchline etc.
-It almost tricked me into laughing because it so convinced me that it was a joke
-But when I thought about it, I realised that what Roseanne says is actually a lie since she and Dan share a bed all the time
-And by being a lie, the statement undermines/negates itself as a joke, probably because it's a pointless nonsensical thing to say.
-Consequently I still don't get it.

I've challenged my partner to explain it further. His verdict is that it's definitely funny, possibly because it 'includes' the audience?, but he can't put his finger on why. I think I feel similarly, but I'm less convinced how funny it is and I really wish I understood. It was my partner's suggestion that I post the link in the hope that WP perceptions of the scene would cast some light on our various interpretations.

OP, do you and your partner share a bed on a nightly basis?

I think the idea is that it's not so much about sex, but rather when two people have to sleep next to each other, night after night, even if they're a loving married couple, there are bound to be annoyances between the two.

Roseanne is making a commentary about her own situation. She and Dan are husband and wife and literally sleep together every night, but there are bound to be minor nuisances. Dan snores, takes up too much space, hogs the blanket, or Roseanne does those things and Dan complains. It's a joke about even after being married and sleeping in the same bed, there are still minor annoyances that pop up when having to share a bed with someone else.

Maybe it was funny because it didn't make any sense? Her husband was sharing the bed with her. If he didn't like it, they be sleeping in separate beds? I think again with this's explanation makes more sense than this.

My husband and I don't share a bed anymore. I annoy him and he annoys me. I thought of two separate beds in our room but he snores so I wouldn't even like sleeping in the same room with him.

I didn't get it. Maybe she was being sarcastic.

Yeah, this makes the most sense to me so far. And now that you've said that, I can't quite remember why I couldn't figure out whatever it was I couldn't figure out before.......

...Yep, sorry, I think you've got it and obviously I'm being even more dopey than usual today.

Oh yeah, and my partner just learned how to snore within the last year and I don't think I've had a decent night's sleep since. You'd think such profound life experience might have clued me up just a little.

Yeah, besides, plenty of couples sleep in separate beds and have sex regularly. It's about the only solution that doesn't involve losing sleep when your partner kicks you in their sleep or snores like a buzzsaw or has to get up at 4 a.m. for their job. I don't see why people think couples have to share a bed. They probably have better sex lives if they don't--if you're not always sleep deprived, you have more energy... etc.

I don't see the appeal of sex in general, but I'm pretty sure sleep-deprived people don't want it quite as much as people who are well-rested.

There are also instances in which some people can become very active and violent in their sleep and put the other into serious danger. Sleeping in separate beds, or even in separate bedrooms, may be the only safe thing to do in those cases.

I think it's important to bear in mind that not everyone shares the same sense of humor. What one person finds funny, another person might find dull. I find plays on words to be humorous, for example, but there are many people who find it annoying. I wouldn't bother trying to overanalyze this one joke. You obviously got the joke, it just didn't do anything for you. It's that simple.

Yeah there is that. But I do have a very dry sense of humour so I'm very accustomed to not laughing at stuff that everyone else finds hilarious. It just frustrates me if I haven't the faintest clue what it is they find hilarious. This happens to me all the time and my partner and I usually share a very similar SoH, so if he bursts out laughing for no reason, it usually means I've missed something really obvious and then I get to enjoy it belatedly after he's joined the dots for me. Obviously not so much on this occasion though. Live and learn I guess.

yes. i dig this response.

I read your explanation before I watched the clip. From your explanation, I thought that Roseanne's line was about Dan not wanting Darlene in the bed due to sex. But after watching the clip, I think there's a much different interpretation. Roseanne specifically said, "Daddy doesn't even like sharing the bed with ME." Her wording implies that Dan finds it annoying to share a bed with anyone, even his wife, and that he only tolerates Roseanne sharing the bed for their sexual relationship. This fits Dan's character traits, too.

Roseanne was/is a great show. It's my type of humor- dry, sarcastic, and lots of innuendo. And since it was a late '80s-early '90s show, lots of the innuendos are much subtler than innuendos on today's sitcoms. This is something that I greatly prefer. Lots of lines on shows like Roseanne purposely have an ambiguous meaning/interpretation, which I think adds to the humor, because there are many POSSIBLE interpretations, including one that is actually innocent. This is why double entendre is funny- due to the ambiguity, you are left wondering which meaning the character actually was intending. I think the last show to use this type of humor successfully (before the very blatant sexual humor of modern sitcoms) was Friends, another show I love. But I only love the first five seasons. After season 5, Friends moved to the more modern type of humor that I find unfunny. But Chandler, seasons 1-5, was absolutely hysterical.