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Movie Lovers Share Their Favorite Comedy Films Of All Time

Movie Lovers Share Their Favorite Comedy Films Of All Time
JESHOOTS/Unsplash

Honestly, comedy is one of those genres that changes so much so fast that it doesn't often age well. Jokes that were hilarious might no longer work as we advance.

What made younger-you cackle might make current-you cringe and all it takes is one technological leap for an entire bit to not work anymore. Bart Simpson calling Moe's Tavern, for example, just isn't funny in a world of caller ID and an ability to block a number with the touch of a button.

But sometimes magic happens.

Sometimes the casting is so perfect, the timing so flawless, the writing so superb that the inconsistencies just don't matter.


Reddit user CityVirtual4704 asked:

"What the funniest comedy movie you’ve ever seen?"

You ready to laugh? Of course you are, we've all seen the doom and gloom on the timeline. Let's take a break.


Deadpan In The Face Of So Much

"The fact that OJ is in it makes it super weird now, but I’m not sure I ever laughed harder or more consistently than I did the first time I saw The Naked Gun."

"Something about Leslie Nielsen’s deadpan delivery and expression in the face of that much stupidity is amazing."

- jpiro

"Even as a child, this movie brought tears of laughter to my eyes."

"I remember the one time it was played in a bus on a six-hour travel and there was this teenage guy across us that was genuinely laughing his ass off. I really love seeing people enjoy this just as much as we did."

- CalmBeforePsych

"Leslie Nielsen was originally a serious dramatic actor, and he was cast for Airplane! in order to make the delivery as serious as possible, which made it much funnier, and got him more comedic roles."

- SeanTheProGamer

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The Movie AND The Show Are Spectacular

"I loved 'What we do in the Shadows' - Specifically the movie, but the show is spectacular, too. That's rare."

- Melancholy_Madness_

"I love the show, but have never got around to seeing the movie. I'll make sure to watch it asap!"

- actionjerk

"The series is awesome too! I love both. But that Colin Robinson energy vampire really cracks me up."

- ThinNotSmall

"Watched this for the 10th time over the weekend & it’s still laugh out loud funny. It’s one of those movies you miss little lines because you’re laughing at a previous one."

"Vampire: 'Take this bundle o’ sticks!” *pretends to throw bundle o’ sticks.* "
"Werewolf: *Takes off running before he realizes there was nothing actually thrown to run after.* "

"I lost it."

"I know I’ve seen it before & even remember that part but for some reason I laughed so hard I cried. I was quite literally howling in a fit of laughter."

- DicksOfPompeii

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It's Not Exactly About The Dogs

"I watched 'Best in Show' for the first time 2 weeks ago."

"I was on a flight back home and could not stop laughing. Good stuff."

- murky_thames

"I have watched 'Best in Show' so many times."

"What a cast! The clever, subtle, humor is just the best. Fred Willard is hysterical!"

- dottegirl59

"I had the pleasure of photographing the Westminster Dog Show one year and let me tell you, I'm convinced 'Best in Show' is not a satire, it's a straight up documentary."

"All of those people are real. Dog show people are wild."

- Santos_L_Halper

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Apocalypse In The UK

"As a hardcore zombie fan, 'Shaun of the Dead' holds a special place in my heart."

- regachoisiah

"I used to say: If you took the comedy out of it, it’d probably be the most accurate portrayal of a zombie apocalypse breaking out in the UK."

"But now I realize - the comedy actually makes it even more accurate, and therefore even more terrifying as a concept.
What a film."

- LynchMaleIdeal

"The first time I saw it, I just wasn’t getting it until halfway through when the zombies started really showing up. Then I loved it."

"Then I re-watched it, and realized just how brilliant the first half actually was, I'd just missed the subtleties. Now it’s quite possibly my favorite movie of all time."

- DerpNinjaWarrior

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Must Be Complicated

"The Gods Must Be Crazy."

- atomicknyte

"Oh wow, this movie was the first one that came to mind but I hadn't expected to find it in the comments!"

"I'm not sure I've ever met anyone in real life who's even heard of it, but I used to laugh so hard it hurt when I'd watch this with my dad as a kid. Haven't seen it in years and should really do something about it."

- UndercoverBirb

"My fondest, most vivid memory I have of my grandmother was the time we watched 'The Gods Must Be Crazy' in the theater."

"I was probably 7 or 8 at the time. Seeing her laughing so much really left an impression. I don't remember much of my interactions with her nowadays."

"Makes me sad that I didn't spend more time with her."

- mikecgatus

"I guess I'm older than most here -- in my fifties, but even back in the eighties, this film was criticized as racist."

"I can't imagine that anyone who knows the history of Apartheid could still enjoy this film in quite the same way."

- facebook_twitterjail

"I have so much issues with this one. Haven’t seen it since the late 80s but even then the blatant racism just screamed to me."

"Just about one of the only movies I would never allow my kid to watch."

- pehr71

"It’s disappointing that there are so many comments singing praise for this movie and yours is one of the only ones I can find that sees it for what it is."

"This movie is made by racist White South Africans and intended to paint Black South Africans in an incredibly negative and condescending light. To put it politely."

- _zoso_

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Thunderous Performances

"Tropic Thunder"

- LondonIsBoss

"Tom Cruises scenes were so unexpected. Put that movie on another level."

- trplOG

"Everyone needs to do themselves a favor and watch this movie with the commentary. Its even funnier, if that’s possible."

- C_Saunders

"Ya I have to agree. It's Tropic Thunder."

"Though I have seen all the movies above your comment, when I re-watch them I don’t really laugh at the jokes anymore. But no matter what when I see Robert Downey Juniors face when he is about to steal the map I f*cking lose it."

"There are hundreds of scenes like that too, the delivery and timing every actor gives is astounding."

- Hereiamhereibe2

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Get Your Groove On

" 'Emperor's New Groove' is up there for me."

"Bonus points for being very family friendly and still gut bustingly funny."

- Masalar

"It’s Kronk that does it for me."

"His spinach puffs, being fluent in squirrel, the angel and devil on his shoulders insulting each other like 'that’s a harp and that’s a dress.' ”

- SassyPikachuu

"This was my first thought."

"As I scrolled through, there were a lot of other movies that I probably would find funnier on a first watch now, but 'The Emperor's New Groove?' I've literally never laughed harder at a movie in my entire life than the day I first watched it as a kid."

- lifelongfreshman

"I hadn’t seen that movie until college."

"My roommates and I decided to do a family movie night one night and watch it. Most of us either had never seen it or hadn’t seen it since childhood."

"We completely lost it. We were laughing the entire time decided to watch it again the next night cause we missed like half of it from laughing to hard."

- The_Mighty_Pato

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More Than Just A Robin In This Cage

"The Birdcage."

"The way Robin Williams and Nathan Lane play off of each other is amazing, and it’s easily my favorite comedy. Gene Hackman and Hank Azaria just make the movie that much better."

- chessie222

"My partner and I watch The Birdcage a few times a year - and we laugh every time. We probably know half the lines by heart now."

" 'Mmm Turkish Coffee... delicious!' "

- rushboyoz

"Nathan Lane playing a flamboyant gay man playing a straight man is absolute gold."

- yrntmysupervisor

"In my humble opinion, Hank Azaria steals the show in that film."

"He is the funniest part of that movie. Considering the cast includes the comedic gods that are Nathan Lane and Robin F*cking Williams? Yeah. Azaria deserved an Oscar for that role."

"We adapt and use the 'Guatamala-ness' quote all the time when someone says "No" to a request."

- TrapperJon

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Everyone's Favorite Lawyer Movie

"My Cousin Vinny."

"The part that always kills me is where the judge tells Vinny to stand up and says 'I thought I told you not to come dressed like that in my court room?' and Vinny says 'You were serious about that?' And the very next shot is him on the bus on the way to jail."

"The comedic timing of that scene is one of the best of any movie."

- down_R_up_L_Y_B

"I used to work with an attorney who was originally from Philadelphia. Before he moved to the South, he watched My Cousin Vinny."

"He said some of the courtroom scenes were a little too spot on to what he saw in some counties."

- eejm

"As a lawyer, it’s my favorite lawyer movie."

"Also, I have never been in love with a fictional character as much as I fell in love with Marisa Tomei’s in that movie."

- kingoflint282

"This movie is, unironically, the best trial movie you will ever see in terms of best defense attorney performance."

"Not in the sense of 'oh this is the most important trial ever,' but 'this is what actual good defense lawyering looks like at trial.' ”

"Like, holy sh*t, defense attorneys DREAM of doing cross examinations like the Grits guy or the Tape Measurer. That is the shit that slam dunks a victory at trial."

"Every juror completely understood that both of those witnesses knew absolutely nothing about the case. It was beautiful."

"99% of the time tv and movies get what trial lawyering looks like wrong. 1% of the time you are watching 'My Cousin Vinnie.' "

- Ikeddit

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These Low Effort Jobs Have Surprisingly High Salaries | George Takei’s Oh Myyy

Have you ever worked one of those jobs that paid you to kinda sit there? If you have, you know the joy that comes with watching the entirety of Breaking Bad ...

Quietly Hilarious

"Napoleon Dynamite. Mind you, the first time I saw it I couldn’t finish watching it - I thought it was horrible."

"A few months later a group of friends rented it and I was forced to watch it again. I gained a whole new level of respect for it & the writing & acting."

"Quietly hilarious. I regret not sticking with it the first time."

- Roadrage000

"A friend tricked me into watching it thinking we were seeing another movie. When the credits came up and I was like 'dude we’re in the wrong movie.' "

"He convinced me to stay and halfway through I was like 'This is so stupid. I want to go.' "

"By the time it got to the talent show dance, I realized this movie was gold!"

- cak91687

"Haha yeah, this movie is like that. I remember the first fifteen minutes or so thinking it was garbage, and then it randomly clicked and I was dying laughing for minutes at a time."

- vheissu

"I hated every minute of this movie as I watched it; but then I couldn't stop laughing about it in the weeks after. It took me a second to get it."

- nsfredditkarma

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Quotables

"So I Married an Axe Murderer, in which Mike Myers is brilliant."

"I especially love him playing the father with a thick Scottish brogue."

" 'We have a piper down. I repeat, a piper is down! '"

" 'His head's like Sputnik.' "

" 'Light a match!' "

"And the classic from Charlie: 'You know, Scotland has its own martial arts ... it's called Fa Que ... it's mostly head butting and kicking people when they're on the ground.' "

" From beginning to end it's chockful of quotables."

- rluymes

piper GIF Giphy

A Friend I Haven't Met Yet

"It has to be The Producers."

" 'How could this happen? I picked the wrong play, the wrong director, the wrong cast. Where did I go right?' "

"I can always tell a friend I’ve never met yet by saying 'Don’t be stupid, be a smartie.' and seeing if I get a smile back."

- kbanian

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Peter The Panther

"The Peter Sellers Pink Panther movies were my favorites. I even named my cats Jacques and Katie (after Kato) since they emulated the ridiculous chase and fight scenes between the two."

"My absolute favorite is probably 'A Shot in The Dark,' with wonderful moments like Clouseau going into a nudist camp and the guitar he's holding twanging as he sees an arousing female."

"The outtakes with Sellers constantly cracking up showed how masterful he was to play the character so ridiculously serious and self-important."

"I'll never forgive Roberto Benigni and Steve Martin for daring to try to repeat Clouseau - although Benigni's manic taxi driver in "Night on Earth" made me roll with laughter, giving a priest a heart attack with a story of sheep sex."

- [Reddit]

peter sellers pink GIF Giphy

Snubbed By The Academy

"When I was in my youth, my friends and I used to drink cough syrup and watch movies."

"I swear to god that watching Team America: World Police was one of the top 5 experiences that changed my life."

"I laughed until I cried, cried because I couldn't stop laughing, then gave a standing ovation before rambling at my buddies about its brilliance while proclaiming the sheer injustice that it was snubbed by the academy."

- 11_12123

team america help GIF Giphy

The Criminally Underrated

"Honestly, I don't know if there is a ‘best’ comedy if someone asked me."

"But I do know the movie I continually laugh out loud while watching, no matter how many times I've seen it, is Forgetting Sarah Marshall."

"It’s criminally underrated in my opinion. Every performance was brilliantly funny."

- doodybutter

flexible russell brand GIF Giphy

British Death

"Death at a Funeral (the British version) never fails to crack me up."

"I am American and tried the American version. I'm a fan of a lot of the cast, actually, but it just didn't work the same as the original."

"Props to Peter Dinklage for reprising his role."

- ShortnSimple1284

"Death at a Funeral, the 2007 British version. It is hilarious."

- ShortnSimple1284

Game Of Thrones Thank You GIF by Emmys Giphy

Slaughtering The Elderly

"Hot Fuzz."

"This movie is brilliant."

"The entire movie is building up to a finale that, if it was in any other movie, wouldn’t be as funny. It shouldn’t be as funny. Seeing a clip of it wouldn’t do it justice."

"The movie creates a tone and mental space in the viewer that somehow results in them brutally slaughtering a bunch of elderly people in a rain of gunfire becoming the funniest thing I’ve ever seen."

- MarmosetSweat

"A movie where EVERY LINE IS A BRICK JOKE THAT COMES BACK."

"Seriously. Genius level writing."

- itsmevichet

"This is extremely anecdotal. I worked at a video store back in 07 through 09 and the most consistently rented dvds were Hotfuzz and Shaun of the Dead."

"We had like 10 copies of each and they were always consistently out. People would constantly have us call other stores to see if they had copies which they never did."

"I am certain those movies did better more consistent numbers than our weekly new releases."

- trolleezus

hot fuzz GIF Giphy

O Brother

"O Brother Where Art Thou had me laughing out loud the whole time the first time I watched it."

- BigBillSmash

"Not just great comedy, but a flawless film."

"The cadence of the language is critical. It's literally poetry. Shakespeare. Or, dare I say... Homer."

" 'Don't tell me how to court the electorate.' "

- SerendiPetey

"I love that George Clooney has an Uncle who sounds exactly like his part, so he sent him the script to record."

"Clooney learned his lines by listening to his Uncle's recording."

"He shows up on set, and starts filming a few scenes, and the Cohen's are like, 'Why the f*ck are you changing the lines?' and Clooney doesn't understand."

"Turns out, his Uncle didn't approve of all the cussing, so he didn't record any. Clooney learned all his lines wrong."

"Makes me laugh whenever I think about it."

- MatthewCruikshank

o brother GIF by hero0fwar Giphy

Never Even Worked In A Restaurant

"Waiting."

"I've never even worked in a restaurant and I could not stop laughing."

- KingoreP99

"It's one of those movies that's important to see because if you didn't already know how stressful it is to work in a restaurant, it's a crash course in empathy and consequences for being what later became known as a Karen."

"It's the Office Space of the food service industry."

- FishSauceFogMachine

"I have it."

"While the movie is hilarious, it’s also way to real and brings up bad memories. Working at a restaurant was easily the shittiest job I’ve ever held."

- KingUnder_Mountain

You know what makes Reddit laugh, but what about you? Is there a movie you keep going back to over and over that's never not funny?

We want to laugh with you, so tell us in the comments!

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Old Wives' Tales People Still Believe For Some Reason

"Reddit user the_spring_goddess asked: 'What is an old wives tale that people still believe?'"

Close up of an owl tilting their head to side, looking bewildered
Photo by Josh Mills

The old wives' tales.

They are the stories of legend.

I think we all need a big DEEP Google dive though.

Where did they originate?

WHO ARE THE OLD WIVES!

You don't hear about them as much anymore.

It's like science and logic are suddenly a thing.

But they sure are a good way to keep your kids and their behavior in line.

Redditor the_spring_goddess wanted to discuss the tall tales we've all been fed through life, so they asked:

"What is an old wives tale that people still believe?"

"Wait an hour to swim after eating."

What a crock!

So many summer hours wasted.

I want revenge for that one.

Say Nothing

Giphy

"An undercover cop has to tell you he's a cop if you ask him."

LonelyMail5115

"Pretty much most advice when it comes to cops are old wives tales. I’m not even a cop but most of the advice you hear is pretty off."

I_AM_AN_A**HOLE_AMA

Say Something

"That you have to wait 24 hours to report someone missing."

Severe_Airport1426

"I really think this one is important and should be the top regardless. As it’s a piece of advice that needs to be relearned and the only way to do that is through awareness."

crappycurtains

"This used to be true. I think they changed it after some guy named Brandon went missing back in the '80s or '70s. You used to have to wait 24 hours if the missing person was an adult because they had 'a right to be missing' and then everyone realized that was stupid and stopped doing it."

AlbinoShavedGorilla

Body Temps

"That drinking ice cold water after eating oily foods will solidify the oil and permanently remain in your body. I informed my coworker that if your body temperature ever reached that point, you’d have bigger problems than weight gain."

chriseo22

"Oh, I have a cousin who 100% believed this. One of those guys who believed every early 2000s internet rumor and old wives tale. One night I chugged a big glass of ice water after dinner and he started freaking out and saying my guts were gonna harden."

"I sarcastically told him to drive me to the hospital if that happened. Obviously, nothing happened and the next morning I said something like 'Thanks for being on standby in case my guts filled with hardened oil.' He just walked off muttering under his breath."

apocalypticradish

Arms Down

"When I was pregnant, I was told by young and old alike that I should NOT raise my arms above my head or exert myself in such a manner because it could cause cord strangulation to my unborn sons and daughters."

Fatmouse84

10 Years Actually

Unimpressed Uh Huh GIF by Brooklyn Nine-Nine Giphy

"Chewing gum stays in your stomach for 7 years."

REDDIT

"I remember accidentally swallowing a piece of gum when I was a kid in like 1995 and just accepting my fate like welp, gonna have this in my stomach til high school I guess."

Gecko-911

I was so afraid to sallow my gum when I was young.

This tale is haunting.

High/Low

Hungry Debra Messing GIF by Will & Grace Giphy

"You can tell the sex of the baby by how you carry."

LeastFormal9366

"Pregnancy certainly wins awards for the most old wives tales. So much absolute BS was repeated to us by everyone we talked to."

IllIIIlIllIlIIlIllI

The Cursed

"If you’re a woman and you wear opal jewelry but opal is not your birthstone (October), you’ll never be able to have children, or will be widowed, or just generally have bad luck or something. You can counteract this by having a diamond in the same piece of jewelry as the opal, though."

"I have a nice opal ring that my parents gave me years ago, and I’ve had other women give me this 'advice' unprompted more than once when I’ve worn it. I have absolutely no idea where it started, but I’m pretty sure this little chunk of silicate rock has no concept of what month I was born in, let alone of how my reproductive organs work."

SmoreOfBabylon

Stay In

"Going outside with wet hair will make you get pneumonia. Or an earache. Or maybe arthritis. Depends on which old wife you listen to."

"Jokes on them - I haven't blow-dried my hair in decades and usually leave the house with wet hair in the morning. On winter mornings, the tips of my hair get frozen. No ear infections or pneumonia or arthritis yet."

worldbound0514

Dreams and Facts

"You never make anyone up in your dreams you've seen everyone in your dreams somewhere else before and never make anyone up entirely."

"How would you possibly prove that to be true? My partner adamantly believes this and tells me this 'fact' whenever I have a dream about someone I've never met before."

mattshonestreddit

"My late wife used to tell me that before she met me she would have dreams of standing at an alter on her wedding day but could never see the guy's face, no matter how hard she tried. After meeting me the face was filled in with mine. Don't know if it's true but one of those things I like thinking of every now and then when I miss her."

Darthdemented

Cracked

Getting Ready Episode 2 GIF by The Office Giphy

"Some people still believe cracking knuckles causes arthritis."

Choice-Grapefruit-44

"There's a doctor (Donald Unger) that cracked his knuckles a couple of times a day for 60 years, but only on one hand, just to prove it. Both hands remained exactly the same."

MacyTmcterry

I love my knuckles.

Do you have any tall tales to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.

lottery tickets
Erik Mclean on Unsplash

A lot of workers daydream about some day winning the lottery and being able to say goodbye to their job.

Far too many workers are unhappy with their job duties, workplace dynamics or company culture.

But with a taste for luxuries like housing and food, they keep plugging away, year after year.

However not everyone feels that way about their job.

So what are these compelling careers?

Keep reading... Show less
Therapist talking during session
Photo by Mark Williams on Unsplash

Some people stand firmly stand behind their beliefs that everyone would benefit from therapy and that therapy is life-changing.

It's because of the totally life-changing truth bombs their therapist had dropped during their sessions.

Curious, Redditor anonymiss0018 asked:

"What is a little bombshell your therapist dropped in one of your sessions that completely changed your outlook?"

Communication Issues

"'If you don’t have these problems with any other person in your life, why do you think you’re the problematic person in this one?'"

- maggiebear

"I love this. I have a 'friend' who I always seem to run into misunderstandings with. Every time we had a conversation, it somehow turned into a debate even if it was me talking about my day. The conversations were never easy."

"I always evaluate myself first and take into consideration his critiques. He was very good at convincing me that I was contradicting myself or wasn't good at communicating my thoughts."

"I NEVER had this issue with ANYONE else in my life. I kept trying to figure out where the miscommunication was coming from. In the end, I just minimized contact and now I don't run into this issue."

- chobani_yo

"I read this quote somewhere once (and probably have it a bit wrong): 'It's a waste of time arguing with someone who is determined to misunderstand you.'"

- Reddit

Emotional Regulation

"'You can’t control your emotions, but you can control what you do with them.'"

"At the time, I was a young adult who had learned zero healthy emotional regulation skills (only suppression and shaming) growing up, so this blew my mind."

- lil_mermaid

Tough Relationships

"'It sounds to me like you are trying to convince yourself to stay with your girlfriend. I'm not so sure it should be so difficult.'"

"At the time he said this, I remember it was like he said, 'The earth is flat.' I thought he was crazy when he suggested relationships don't need to be difficult. But eventually, I started to realize I was trying to change myself to stay with this person rather than just being who I am."

"It took me three more months to finally break up with her but from that day on, I vowed to never again abandon myself just to be with someone I had convinced myself was better than me."

- metric88

High-Stress Situation

"I was at a high-stress time, and I asked her how people live like this."

"She replied, 'Oftentimes they have cardiac events.' She said it as an urging to care for myself as much as possible."

- KittenGr8r

The End of Alcohol

"I was struggling with my alcoholism, and we were discussing how I had been cutting back."

"She asked what I would consider success, with regard to my drinking."

"I said I wanted to get to a point where it wasn't interfering with my daily life. I wanted to just be able to have a glass of wine at holiday dinners or family gatherings."

"She simply asked me why. Why was it important for me to drink at those times?"

"It was as if she'd turned on a light. Alcohol had always been a key ingredient in every family function, for my entire life. When I smell bourbon, I think of my uncle. When I smell vermouth, I think of my dad. Alcohol ran through almost every happy childhood memory."

"But, even more than that, I was very afraid of the explanation I'd have to give when family and friends asked why I wasn't having a drink. I had tried to quit before but failed. What if I admitted my problem, only to fall off the wagon?"

"When she asked why I didn't want to completely quit, it was the first time I saw that last part of the big picture. I'd be willing to drink myself to death in order to avoid being scrutinized, or judged for possible future failures."

"That was the day I quit. I've been sober since May 6th, 2017. 2,407 days."

- sophies_wish

Acceptance vs. Enjoyment

"'Accepting something doesn’t mean you have to like it.'"

"That took away a lot of my inner conflicts about situations because I could accept a situation without expending energy internally fighting against the injustice of it."

- alibelloc

Emotionally Immature Parents

"You are not responsible for your parents' emotional wellbeing. They are independent adults who have been on this earth for many more years than you."

- SmokedPears

Not So Lazy

"'Why do you think you're lazy?' Then she listed off all the things she knows I'm doing for my family, my job, and my life."

"It kind of blew my mind when I struggled to come up with an example."

"She also described family dysfunction as water. Some families are messed up in a way that everyone can see the huge waves across the surface. Others are better at hiding it, but there's still a riptide that you can't see unless you're also in the water."

"It made me realize that trying to keep the surface from ever rippling doesn't erase what is happening underneath."

- flybyknight665

The Harm in People-Pleasing

"'Why do you make people more comfortable when you are uncomfortable?' when talking about people pleasing and fawning."

- ERsandwich

Agree to Disagree

"'Stop trying to get everyone to agree. When you need everyone to agree, the least agreeable person has all the power.'"

This really changed my outlook on planning family events."

- freef

Grieve and Start Anew

"For context, I had a major TBI (traumatic brain injury), seizures, strokes, and all around not a fun brain time when I was 28."

"They said, 'You have to grieve the loss of yourself.'"

"Most people wanted me to go back to how I was. The f**ked up truth is that part of my brain is dead. The person everyone (including myself) knew died. I needed to grieve the loss of myself."

- squeaktoy_la

Multifaceted Identity

"They told me that my job and career is just a way to make money; it's not my life or identity. That took a lot of pressure off me."

- unfairpegasus

Breaking the Cycle

"They validated me."

"'You always talk about not wanting to do to your daughters what your mom did to you. You worry about it so much in every interaction you have ever had with them."

"But your children are 19 and 21 now. They are happy and healthy and they trust you because you’ve never abused them in any way. So I just want to validate for you that you really have broken that cycle of violence."

"You did that. And you should be proud of it. I’m proud of you for it.'"

- puppsmcgee74

The Grieving Process

"I was constantly bringing up how I felt like a completely different person after my mom died... like there was a marked difference between before and after her death."

"But once, she was asking about my hobbies, I got really into describing all the things I loved to do or at least used to do before I got into a deep depression."

"She was like, 'Wow, you seem very passionate.'"

"And I just sat there like, 'Well, I mean, I can't change what I like to do, they're still fun to do.'"

"And it's like she knew when to take a step back, because it was like, wow, I may be super depressed about my mom passing, but I'm still me. I'm still my passions and those don't go away."

"I don't know, maybe it only makes sense to be, but it really started getting me back on track."

- Hannibal680

Sharing the Load

"I've never really had friends. I've had colleagues and classmates and housemates and people who have hung out with me, but I never really felt close to any of them."

"And I did that thing you see on here sometimes; I stopped reaching out to see if I would be reached out to, and I wasn't, which I took as confirmation that they didn't really want me around, or at the very least, that they wouldn't mind my absence."

"I was talking to my therapist about people I'd been close to in college, and she told me to pick one and talk about him. So I did. After I shared some basic stuff like his name and his major etc., and a couple of anecdotes, she asked me what else I knew about him."

"And I couldn't answer. It wasn't really a broadly applicable bombshell, but she said, 'What else?' and I started crying because I realized that for as simple as the question was, my inability to answer spoke volumes."

"I've never had good friends because I've never been a good friend. I'm withdrawn and reserved and I always made others do the work to drag me out, without ever extending my own friendship in a meaningful way in return. If I wanted to have meaningful relationships with other people, I would have to build them."

"I'm still working on this, but I'm trying to make more offers and extend more friendliness to others in my daily life."

- Backupusername

The discoveries in this thread were incredibly touching and profound; it's no wonder these were lasting concepts for these Redditors.

It's important to keep ourselves open to inspiration and insights from others, as we have no idea how their experiences could help us, or how we could help them.

Aerial view of a church in a small town
Sander Weeteling/Unsplash

There's something comforting about living in a small town.

It's characterized by close communities where neighbors know each other by name and there is an abundance of kindness extended to others.

Gift-giving is a commonality, as is the sharing of recipes, and people going out of their way to help each other in a time of need.

The pace of living in small towns is also a striking contradiction to city life, where crowds of people go about their busy lives without much interaction.

Curious to hear more examples of what small town living is like, Redditor official_biz asked:

"What's the most 'small town' thing you've witnessed?"

These are positive examples of a tight-knit community.

Live Updates

"We have a village Facebook page. Every time the ice cream man drives into the village, the entire page goes ballistic. People send live updates of where the van is and which direction he's heading. The ice cream man has started accepting DMs so he knows which streets to go down."

– PyrrhuraMolinae

Brush With The Law

"I’m from a town of less than 2,000 people. When I worked at the grocery store there people would often drop off stuff for my family members because they didn’t want to drive all the way down to our house. I no longer live there but recently got a call from my daughter. She had been stopped for speeding and handed over her license and insurance which happens to be in my mother’s name. The officer goes 'Hey, you’re Donnie’s granddaughter! I ain’t gonna write you a ticket but I’m telling Donnie when I see him tomorrow cause we’re going fishing.' She replied 'I think I’d rather have the ticket.'”

- Reddit

Roadside Catchup

"The traffic on the 'main street' of my town is so sparse, two drivers going opposite directions can stop and talk to each other for a few minutes without causing any problem."

– anon

When things go wrong, people take notice without incident.

Bank Robbery

"A guy robbed a bank and everyone knew immediately who he was and the teller got mad at him."

– AlexRyang

"A local bank was robbed and one of the tellers told the police to bring her a yearbook from about ten years earlier and she would be able to point the robber out. He had been in the grade before hers in school."

– Strict_Condition_632

Wise Woman

"When I worked at the bank in town there was an older lady that had worked there through 5 mergers."

"She knew everyone, there was a young guy yelling at me one day. She walked out of the back and he immediately quieted. She went off about telling his grandmother that he was treating young women like sh*t. She also said that if he didn’t straighten up not one girl in town would ever marry him she would make sure of it."

– ilurvekittens

Intoxicated Local

"Town drunk was paralyzed and used a motorized wheelchair to get around. I was driving home one Saturday night and said town drunk was passed out in his wheelchair doing circles almost directly in the town square. Had to call his brother who came and picked him up on a rollback truck. Strapped him down and drove off into the cold dark night."

– DoodooExplosion

Grazing Over To The Bar

"In my former small town, there was an older guy who'd lost his license after getting a few DUIs. Every day, he would ride his John Deere lawnmower to the corner bar around 3PM and sit around watching TV and sipping his beer well into the night. Then he'd head the couple miles back home on his mower. He even had a little canvass shell he put on when it rained or got too cold."

– brown_pleated_slacks

It's not surprising how small town people behave differently than those who are from metropolitan areas.

Welcoming Committee

"I lived in a small town. When I moved there, people would ask, 'Whose house did you buy?'"

–MoonieNine

"Move to a small town. 30 years later, you are still the new guy."

– impiousdrifter

"I lived in a small town for most of my childhood but I wasn't "from there" because my grandparents weren't from there."

– raisinghellwithtrees

"Worked with an older guy, relative of the owner of the business, he was 73. I asked him if he was a local, he said 'no his parents moved here when he was two.'"

– realneil

A Busy Day

"Lived in a town of about 5,000: A woman walked into the DMV on a Friday, saw that there were 3 people ahead of her and left to come back another time when they weren't so busy."

– KenmoreToast

Who Let The Dogs Out?

"My dogs got out while i was working. the police called my niece's elementary school (she was a 5th grader) to get her to round them up and take them back home."

– mediocrelpn

"There was a small kennel behind the police station for runaways. They called us saying they had our dog, and moments later our dog showed up home. He broke out of jail."

– Worried_Place_917

While life in a small town sounds appealing, I don't know if I can ever live in one.

I'm so used to life in big cities, I think it would be quite unnerving to adjust in a neighborhood where everyone literally knows your business.

I would be paranoid.

And I'm sure the same could be said of life in the big city.

Would you consider making the switch to life in a different setting?