Comical Historical Events

[Stellar Colonies]

That time Gorbachev, former Soviet leader and one-time archenemy of the West, did a Pizza Hut commercial.

Will never not find that darkly funny.

[Christian Confederation]

That time Bill Clinton survived Impeachment by one Vote not for having an affair but for lying to congress about said affair.

[Space Squid]

That time Bill Clinton survived Impeachment by one Vote not for having an affair but for lying to congress about said affair.

Meh, the SNL Skit was funnier.

[Haganham]

That time Bill Clinton survived Impeachment by one Vote not for having an affair but for lying to congress about said affair.

actually for lying to the court(and encouraging a witness to do the same) He committed perjury in a deposition regarding his sexual harassment of his female staff.

[The Selkie]

With respect to his skill and versatility as an actor (nevermind Bridge-Player), I personally find the filmography of Omar Sharif not only respectable, but also humourous and a proof, that casting somebody because of his ethnicity is not always the best course of action.
Born to "a Melkite Catholic family of Lebanese descent, making him and his family members of the Antiochian Greek Christian minority" (to quote Wikipedia) in Alexandria, Sharif played many roles of people of Arab and Egyptian descent, Sherif Ali in Lawrence of Arabia comes to mind. He also played Genghis Khan, Ernesto Guevara, Dr. Yuri Andreyevich Zhivago, Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, Captain Nemo, Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov among many other roles, which I honestly did not expect (I personally only wanted to retell about his role in Mayerling before compiling this list). He, what I didn't know before compiling this list, also appeared alongside Antonio Banderas in The 13th Warrior.
So... it puts it a bit into perspective, when people complain about Gal Gadot being casted as Cleopatra (yes, more or less current event, still funny in a dark sort of way). Sharif died in 2015 as one of the most respected actors of the 20th century with a very cool career.
Speaking of, the movies hold quite a bit of comical and fun events as well - from Mel Gibson rewriting history to accomodate his Irish extras in Braveheart to people running out of early cinemas in a panic because they thought, that the train on the screen would hit them.

[Christian Confederation]

That time Bill Clinton survived Impeachment by one Vote not for having an affair but for lying to congress about said affair.

actually for lying to the court(and encouraging a witness to do the same) He committed perjury in a deposition regarding his sexual harassment of his female staff.

Exactly more mad about the lying than the affair.
Almost as funny as when Britain got upset that they were the bad guys in the Patriot.

[Elejamie]

actually for lying to the court(and encouraging a witness to do the same) He committed perjury in a deposition regarding his sexual harassment of his female staff.

Exactly more mad about the lying than the affair.
Almost as funny as when Britain got upset that they were the bad guys in the Patriot.

Except the thing is that The Patriot had the British as baby-eatingly evil. I don't really know much about the American Revolution other than the Boston Tea Party, George Washington crossing the Delaware, the Declaration of Independence and the fact that we lost, but I do know that the Redcoats probably didn't go as far as burning down a church with people inside.

[The Two Jerseys]

Exactly more mad about the lying than the affair.
Almost as funny as when Britain got upset that they were the bad guys in the Patriot.

Except the thing is that The Patriot had the British as baby-eatingly evil. I don't really know much about the American Revolution other than the Boston Tea Party, George Washington crossing the Delaware, the Declaration of Independence and the fact that we lost, but I do know that the Redcoats probably didn't go as far as burning down a church with people inside.

IIRC the church burning was based on an event from WW2.

They also didn't massacre prisoners as a standard practice, that was an isolated incident where the British troops thought that the Americans shot their commander after surrendering (actually his horse just stumbled and fell) and "retaliated" without orders.

[Elejamie]

Except the thing is that The Patriot had the British as baby-eatingly evil. I don't really know much about the American Revolution other than the Boston Tea Party, George Washington crossing the Delaware, the Declaration of Independence and the fact that we lost, but I do know that the Redcoats probably didn't go as far as burning down a church with people inside.

IIRC the church burning was based on an event from WW2.

It was.

[Ethel mermania]

Exactly more mad about the lying than the affair.
Almost as funny as when Britain got upset that they were the bad guys in the Patriot.

Except the thing is that The Patriot had the British as baby-eatingly evil. I don't really know much about the American Revolution other than the Boston Tea Party, George Washington crossing the Delaware, the Declaration of Independence and the fact that we lost, but I do know that the Redcoats probably didn't go as far as burning down a church with people inside.

The good people of North Carolina might disagee. Though the people inside might be a stretch. Quite a few atrocities committed in the American revolutionary war. Tbf many were committed by the good guys as well.

[Christian Confederation]

Except the thing is that The Patriot had the British as baby-eatingly evil. I don't really know much about the American Revolution other than the Boston Tea Party, George Washington crossing the Delaware, the Declaration of Independence and the fact that we lost, but I do know that the Redcoats probably didn't go as far as burning down a church with people inside.

The good people of North Carolina might disagee. Though the people inside might be a stretch. Quite a few atrocities committed in the American revolutionary war. Tbf many were committed by the good guys as well.

Only a war crime if you lose

[Concejos Unidos]

Exactly more mad about the lying than the affair.
Almost as funny as when Britain got upset that they were the bad guys in the Patriot.

Except the thing is that The Patriot had the British as baby-eatingly evil. I don't really know much about the American Revolution other than the Boston Tea Party, George Washington crossing the Delaware, the Declaration of Independence and the fact that we lost, but I do know that the Redcoats probably didn't go as far as burning down a church with people inside.

True, the Patriots relied on a good deal of misinformation, exaggeration and anti-Catholicism or anti-Indian sentiment to spread their cause. E.g., the deeply misleading engraving of the Boston Massacre (debatably a justified shooting in the context of the times, or could also be seen as an unfortunate misunderstanding/accident), the naked anti-Catholicism of the fearmongering about the Quebec Act, etc.

[Elejamie]

Except the thing is that The Patriot had the British as baby-eatingly evil. I don't really know much about the American Revolution other than the Boston Tea Party, George Washington crossing the Delaware, the Declaration of Independence and the fact that we lost, but I do know that the Redcoats probably didn't go as far as burning down a church with people inside.

The good people of North Carolina might disagee. Though the people inside might be a stretch. Quite a few atrocities committed in the American revolutionary war. Tbf many were committed by the good guys as well.

What happened in NC exactly? Again, I don't really know a whole lot about the American Revolution apart from the things I've mentioned (and also how the Americans invaded Whitehaven at some point because I don't live too far away from it) so there are a whole load of blanks in my understanding about the whole thing.

Also, irrelevant but I've been meaning to say this for a while, cute cat.

[Ethel mermania]

The good people of North Carolina might disagee. Though the people inside might be a stretch. Quite a few atrocities committed in the American revolutionary war. Tbf many were committed by the good guys as well.

What happened in NC exactly? Again, I don't really know a whole lot about the American Revolution apart from the things I've mentioned (and also how the Americans invaded Whitehaven at some point because I don't live too far away from it) so there are a whole load of blanks in my understanding about the whole thing.

Also, irrelevant but I've been meaning to say this for a while, cute cat.

Thank you, he was a cute cat.

A lot of the battles were fought in the American south. After the battle of Monmouth the war went south to Georgia, South and North Carolina.

The particular incident was earlier in the war

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Phi ... 0destroyed.

[The Two Jerseys]

The good people of North Carolina might disagee. Though the people inside might be a stretch. Quite a few atrocities committed in the American revolutionary war. Tbf many were committed by the good guys as well.

What happened in NC exactly? Again, I don't really know a whole lot about the American Revolution apart from the things I've mentioned (and also how the Americans invaded Whitehaven at some point because I don't live too far away from it) so there are a whole load of blanks in my understanding about the whole thing.

Also, irrelevant but I've been meaning to say this for a while, cute cat.

British Army would come marching through and burn Patriots' stuff because it's contraband, meanwhile local paramilitary forces on both sides would roam the countryside and straight-up murder local inhabitants who belonged to the other side.

Think of it as being like the Troubles.

[Christian Confederation]

What happened in NC exactly? Again, I don't really know a whole lot about the American Revolution apart from the things I've mentioned (and also how the Americans invaded Whitehaven at some point because I don't live too far away from it) so there are a whole load of blanks in my understanding about the whole thing.

Also, irrelevant but I've been meaning to say this for a while, cute cat.

British Army would come marching through and burn Patriots' stuff because it's contraband, meanwhile local paramilitary forces on both sides would roam the countryside and straight-up murder local inhabitants who belonged to the other side.

Think of it as being like the Troubles.

But the Troubles was Ira car bombs and shootingst Assassinations

[The Two Jerseys]

British Army would come marching through and burn Patriots' stuff because it's contraband, meanwhile local paramilitary forces on both sides would roam the countryside and straight-up murder local inhabitants who belonged to the other side.

Think of it as being like the Troubles.

But the Troubles was Ira car bombs and shootingst Assassinations

I mean in the general sense that the atrocities are being committed by local paramilitary extremists, and while the army is clearly on the side of one of those groups their actions aren't nearly as bad.

[Heloin]

Nothing being talked about right now is particularly funny.

[Skelly Man Dan]

Carrie Nation, an American suffragette and Temperance advocate (the two often went hand in hand in the late 1800s/early 1900s USA) made a name for herself by going into saloons and destroying their equipment with a hatchet, an act which she referred to as a "hatchetation."

Naturally, the owners of the establishments she visited weren't fond of her, but many saloons found some humor in it, mounting a hatchet on their walls and inscribing onto the handle "All Nations Welcome But Carrie." She'd also make a speaking career out of her publicity, often visiting schools like Yale, where a class was also able to trick her into posing with a tankard of beer and even lived to tell the tale.



President Jefferson had little love for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, John Marshall, but respected the man's talents enough to warn a colleague to "never give [Marshall] an affirmative answer, or you will be forced to grant his conclusions. Why, if he were to ask me whether it were daylight or not, I'd reply, 'Sir, I don't know, I can't tell.' "

[Concejos Unidos]

But the Troubles was Ira car bombs and shootingst Assassinations

It's important to remember that the Troubles was also Unionist paramilitaries, who could be just as brutal and violent as the IRA ever were. For example, the Kelley's Bar bombing, when the UVF killed 3 by bombing a pub in a nationalist area without warning. The bomb, the following UVF sniper fire on survivors and rescuers, and two days of UVF, IRA and British Army gunfights in the area, injured 66 and 7 more were killed in the violence after the bomb. As memory serves, this was one of the bloodiest incidents of the Troubles.

[Christian Confederation]

But the Troubles was Ira car bombs and shootingst Assassinations

It's important to remember that the Troubles was also Unionist paramilitaries, who could be just as brutal and violent as the IRA ever were. For example, the Kelley's Bar bombing, when the UVF killed 3 by bombing a pub in a nationalist area without warning. The bomb, the following UVF sniper fire on survivors and rescuers, and two days of UVF, IRA and British Army gunfights in the area, injured 66 and 7 more were killed in the violence after the bomb. As memory serves, this was one of the bloodiest incidents of the Troubles.

Overall Occupied Ireland was not a fun place to be in those days.

The guy who got to West Berlin from the east in a hot air balloon

[The Selkie]

[...]
The guy who got to West Berlin from the east in a hot air balloon

Guys, plural - eight people in total.
If we want to go the other way around, Mathias Rust penetrated the impenetrable Soviet Air Defenses and landed his Cessna on Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, next to Red Square in the heart of Moscow. Well, to be fair, they did spot him and they did send interceptors after him, but they did not receive permission to shoot him down, luckily, because otherwise we wouldn't have this nice image (hosted by Welt.de).

[The Archregimancy]

Nothing being talked about right now is particularly funny.

No, it isn't, is it?

I've been considering for some time renaming this thread 'random one-sentence historical observations' since most active participants seem to have rather missed the point of the thread.

[Elejamie]

Nothing being talked about right now is particularly funny.

Agreed. Let's get back on track.

Anyway, while I'm not sure if it's been talked about before (and it probably comes across as more mildly amusing than outright funny), there's the legend that is Andrew Jackson's parrot Poll, who had to be kicked out of his funeral because it wouldn't stop swearing.

[Ethel mermania]

Nothing being talked about right now is particularly funny.

No, it isn't, is it?

I've been considering for some time renaming this thread 'random one-sentence historical observations' since most active participants seem to have rather missed the point of the thread.

Hey, I gave you God, the Bible, and hemmeroids, I dont know how anyone could top that.