GullahGullahIslander
17703
532
11
Apr 27, 2026 7:27 PM
GullahGullahIslander
17703
532
11
littlefoxpounce
Drugs in massive quantities
SecurityBadger
I can no longer watch sit-coms for this reason. I do not find cringe to be funny.
sometimesarobot
Worst thing ever
Eyeetsass
Every Ben Stiller movie.
SlyMrFox
Growing up my mom and sister liked watching Never Been Kissed. I couldn't last 5 minutes before I left the room. Body swap movies/episodes are right up there, too.
distractedFreek
Yeah, my gf watched Friends, and like every episode I was around for, I was like, "I can't do this."
dooremouse
I've always called it embarrassment humor and I can't stand it. It's why I've never been able to watch any version of the Office or Parks and Recreation. Probably the worst I've ever seen was Punch Drunk Love. I only got about 20 minutes in before having to turn it off.
horsetuna
I had to stop watching Blades of Glory due to secondhand embarrassment. It physically was hurting.
Sechran
This is why "cringe" as an adjective is my favorite linguistic evolution.
SilentScreamsX
I have some tolerance for it. My line is at the extreme cringe stuff like Borat, where making you uncomfortable is the entire point.
EvilBilbo
there's a line for me. If it's absurd enough it doesn't trigger, but pretty much every Ben Stiller movie? Can't do it.
AHundredBillionBottles
SavageDrums
It's why I couldn't enjoy modern family at all.
graehall
Ricky Gervais can eat 10,000 bags of fuck I can't sit through his cruel excuse for comedy it makes me physically cringe like the post says
AgamemnonsMemes
Its the worst and its ruined shows for me. Also anything where someone is sad. The show doesn't have to be sad, but if the person is, ugh..
TheSecondPiewackit
Everyone said Napoleon Dynamite was one of the funniest movies they'd ever seen. I fuckin hated it.
nicilaskin
ELF is one of the worst things for me to watch , Napoleon Dynamite too . all of these I just can't it physically hurts . I also get that weird feeling when someone hurts themself on video ( fall , crash ) its physical and I can't describe it
Pace171921
The movie where mellisa McCarthy makes fun of her character hurt me to watch.
OnePingOnlyPlease
Its why the Meet the Parents (the first one) is a horror movie for me
Skawomplious
I don't know about that. I'm not very empathetic at all, and I can't watch any of that cringe shit like The Office.
TheDaharMaster
Empathy upon seeing inanimate objects being purposefully destroyed is odd also.
symmetry7
I'm honestly very disturbed by comedy of embarrassment, and similar kinds like making fun of loser men for being poor or even lonely. (Like 30 Rock: Kenneth) For that matter, making fun of "crazy cat ladies."
Kittenman15
Norman Wisdom did it 'way back.
strawberrycocoa
Had trouble watching the cartoon Doug as a kid because of this
burnsep
While I recognize Sascha Baron Cohen is very good at what he does, I still find it unbearable.
TsukariYoshi
Love him in The Dictator, because that's obviously set up as a regular ol' movie. Can't handle him in Borat, because that's him interacting with people who aren't in on the joke and it's soooo hard to watch
burnsep
I don’t know if this just means I can’t control my empathy or whatever but I love entertainment where everybody is having a blast (see: my love for the Beastie Boys) and am crawling out of my skin when the comedy is about “look how uncomfortable I’m making these unsuspecting mooks!”. I didn’t make it past the first 5 minutes of the UK Office.
cxmpxsxd
We live in a 'post pie sex' America. Everything after American Pie became that...
Heisanevilgenius
British comedy has been like this for a while.
cxmpxsxd
I can't speak for the rest of the world but it seemed pivotal in Hollywood.
dirtmarker
This hits me too. I hate social awkward comedy or even drama. Especially teenage years.
MyPseudoIsAlduinSkyrimStoleItFromMe
I never could watch teenage show, I hated the wonder years.
justmemyselfi
Same
KilroyLichking
cringe does not exist in a vacuum it must be observed
mikeatike
If a mime cringes in a forest and nobody is around to hear it, does it still get posted to tiktok?
TheMindEntropic
Nice skin hooks. Where'd you get them?
apairofpetducks
It's the reason I can't watch The Office or Peep Show (which I would otherwise really love) but I did manage to get through Toon somehow.
Penelelop
My partner is the same. Especially with the in betweeners
TKpotato
Took me a whole year to get through The Office and I only forced myself cos of my ex, torture of a show. Broke up after finishing it
SuperfluousMeh
I fucking cannot stand The Office. Somebody once said I was a lot like one of the characters on that show and I was in tears.
lemmerustlethosejimmies
I just can’t do the office. Not a bad show, clearly well made, but I can’t do the cringe and that’s the main character’s entire thing
Ebo352
Extras and Curb Your Enthusiasm
I want to enjoy them, and some scenes I do; not worth it
MuffinButter
I couldn't watch the office until my daughter pointed out that Steve Carell's character never actually gets embarrassed, and the other people in the office don't react as though he should, they just kind of accept him for who he is. Once I had that, the show was easier to watch and very funny.
apairofpetducks
That's a good take on it, thank you!
PumpkinDriver5
I spent a fair amount of Bridesmaids on my phone too.
jerusalemspider
I didn't get through the office, but I did manage to finish Brooklyn 99 because even though it's a similar show, it's much less mean-spirited.
worm61
B99 relies a LOT less on secondhand embarrassment.
apairofpetducks
I didn't find B99 cringey like that at all. I really, really enjoyed it! But I already liked the actors who played Boyle and Peralta, and quickly fell in love with Holt and Rosa (for very different reasons) so it was easy for me to enjoy.
HypoMix
Try Utopia (internationally titled 'Dreamland'). Its sort of like the office but as Australian comedy is based more on highly relatable characters and situations instead of over-the-top comical characters in cringe situations.
candle340
It's definitely one of the reasons I hate the whole "mockumentary" format
oopsydsy
They are just not funny to me at all. Borat, oh my god, there are months I won't get back from listening to that movie being quoted over and over and over again.
MadamPuddifoot
This! I can't stand the office cuz it's so cringey.
jtwood
omg I always thought I was virtually alone is not being able to watch these shows for that reason
kevbot5000
Are we referring to the British Office? Because I think that might be the worst show I have seen, could not finish a single episode.
hughmannequinskywalker
Aressted development too
DevilsAdvocat
TsukariYoshi
I have this problem too and I can make it through most of The Office but some situations just fuck me up too much. I know everyone loves Dinner Party but I just can't watch it. Same with Scott's Tots.
The Gang Dines Out in IASIP has the same issue for me. You'd think I'd struggle more with that show but the main characters are such shitty people that it doesn't really activate the empathy circuitry quite as well.
delecti
If you ever get curious again about The Office, just skip the first season. Steve Carell's character is much less awful, and the focus shifts a bit more towards the rest of the cast. It's less "he's a cruel idiot torturing these people" and more of "he's a bumbling idiot that these people have to put up with". I watched it a few years ago and it quickly improved after the first season.
Though at this point the cultural relevance has mostly run its course so you aren't missing a ton.
AtmaDarkwolf
I mean... ya. hes far more tolerable after that, but still, the taint that his character brings (to the ones of us who react that way...) it still stinks. I did manage to get though the office, and glad I did, but even at the very end, I highly disliked His character and could not get past that.
Besamel
I’m assuming that they are referring to the original UK series since they also reference Peep Show which is another British show.
apairofpetducks
Lol no I was actually thinking of the US version but I feel the same way about the UK one (and might like it more of the two, if I could get past the cringe).
iamgnat
Join the Republican Party. I believe empathy removal is part of their standard sign on incentives.
iusedtodream
It is a process. You do one terrible thing after another, witness the damage you've caused to others, and then get a bunch of money. Do it enough times and you can kill the kindness within yourself, or die in the attempt.
IHateTransphobes
That's actually an entry requirement, not a perk.
Raventhief
But the lobotomy is mandatory also.
aChungusAmongUs
People talk about empathy like it’s a superpower and it isn’t. It’s like common sense it’s supposed to be standard issue off the shelf brain activity
skrimg59
lol well said ++
CallMeCourierSix
No. It's not "off the shelf brain activity". Empathy isn't some standardized thing.
It's a MASSIVE spectrum, from being unable to put yourself in someone else's situation, to being so empathetic that you cannot function within society without constantly getting ill and having mental health issues.
The worst one is a total lack. The psychologist who observed the Nuremberg trials defined evil as the complete absence of empathy. If you cannot empathize, you have no moral compass, period.
stillnodog
It definitively is supposed to be that - it’s vital for the survival of us humans! But just like with common sense, some people have more of it and some people have so little it seems like they have none at all.
Prom7766
Some people couldn't willingly hurt an insect while others can bomb schools and hospitals. Even the difference between a vegan and a trophy hunter shows a big difference in empathy.
It's absolutely not standard issue. It's a spectrum and a lot of it seems learned.
But I have heard people brag about being "empaths" before. Which has always been cringy in my experience.
AgamemnonsMemes
Its the difference between knowing and understanding how someone feels, and FEELING the way someone else is feeling. One is good, one can be debilitating
Imalwaysready
Except vicarious embarrassment is like unregulated empathy. You can have a completely healthy sense of empathy and not have vicarious embarrassment.
worm61
There are definitely people who are hypo- and hyper-empathetic.
idrinkcheapbeer
But it's obvious that it isn't. I'm not sure it ever has been. Empathy seen as a weakness is MUCH more common.
InfocalypseRising
I dunno, it does seem like an awful lot of people don't have it
Khanamana324
Antisocial folks are around 16% of a given population, so you’re not wrong.
SlydFox
When a child is punished for empathizing often enough, and severely enough, it can be conditioned out of them. Toxic masculinity is one of those tools to do so. It's why jocks are the stereotypical bullies in many shows and movies.
Haemaelaeinen
Also forcing your baby sleep alone. What fucking monster just lets their baby cry itself to sleep alone? Fucking idiotic parenting method and one that was very loudly recommended in US at least some decades ago. I am firmly in the belief that it makes kids grow up wrongly. Creating a nation of sociopaths.