That's true and when they're like that, they become much like liberals who are also too serious all the time. Reagan was cool because his humor was always there.
And that's why the liberals hated him. Liberals loved it when the typical conservative was a grumpy ultra-serious type. So Reagan comes on the scene and he is laughing AT their foibles....and they really hated that. A lot of the old line conservatives don't even realize how clueless they are. Many of them probably condemned Sam Kinison for foul language without actually LISTENING to what he said.