I used to think Peter Sellers was the funniest man alive. The other day, however, I watched A Shot in the Dark, the 1964 movie that established the Inspector Clouseau character. It really wasn’t very funny at all.

We all know, of course, that humor is perishable, and that what made our parents — or even our younger selves — laugh can leave us stone faced. There are degrees of perishability, though, and the very best humor can stay funny for decades. I thought Sellers was in that league. Nope. His repertoire was narrower than I’d remembered — really just two or three funny voices and a couple of facial expressions. It’s sad… Though now I don’t feel quite so bad at never having found Charlie Chaplin the least bit funny.