Funny Daze: How Fans Feel About Humor on Days Of Our Lives

When it comes to soaps, the creator of All My Children and One Life to Live, Agnes Nixon directed that you should “make them laugh, make them cry, make them wait.” And that applies to Days Of Our Lives, too.

Unfortunately, while soaps are pretty good with the tears, when it comes to comedy, they can be hit and miss. Most recently in Salem, we’ve had the allegedly wacky hijinks of Bonnie (Judi Evans) and Hattie (Deidre Hall), and the dry snark of Leo (Greg Rikaart), who found the Kiriakis wine “very bourdeaux-y.”

How do fans feel about their heroes and heroines bringing the ha-ha? Almost 6,000 chortled to us about it:

Be A Clown
We love it, 62% cheer. There is just so much of Hope (Kristian Alfonso) gnashing her teeth over Ben (Tyler Christopher), Gabi (Camilla Banus) and Abigial (Kate Masni) going on a wig hunt, and Eric (Greg Vaughn) weeping about Nicole (Arianne Zucker) you can take. A little levity is much appreciated!

Maybe Leo will force Sonny (Freddie Smith) and Will (Chandler Massey) to stop being so dour all the time. Bonnie even got a smile out of Lucas (Bryan Datillo). Though Sarah (Linsay Godfrey) should maybe watch her alcohol intake. Spilling food on the customers at the Brady Pub? Not funny.

In Focus
A minority 38% of the audience thought Salem’s slapstick days were over when Eugene (John DeLancie) and Calliope (Arleen Sorkin) finally took her themed earrings and went elsewhere.

You tolerated Anna (Leann Hunley) talking to Tony’s (Thao Penghlis) ashes, but Hattie and Bonnie were the last straw.

Soaps are supposed to be about drama. You have no interest in shedding tears of laughter. Plus, it takes away from the seriousness of the situation. If Leo is going to snark his way through his story, why should you take it seriously?

Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes.