Topic 7: HumorTangent: The Powerpoint

You Know What Humor Is

“The quality of being amusing or comic, esp. as expressed in literature or speech.”

There are many different types of humor, all with different executions. The success of humor largely depends

on the audience. There’s also a lot of overlap between

types.

Incongruity Humor

Incongruity Theory: “Humor is perceived at the moment of realization of incongruity between a concept involved in a certain situation and the real objects thought to be in some relation to the concept.” Translation: I’s funny because it’s not what you

expect.

Ex: The peasant scene in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS_1bzaj2fw

Physical Humor

More commonly known as slapstick. “Comedy based on deliberately clumsy

actions and humorously embarrassing events.”

Very visual-dependent. Criticized for desensitizing viewers to

violence.

Ex: Tom and Jerry.

Cringe Comedy

“Humor drawn from placing characters in the most embarrassing situations possible, or having them say the most awkward or offensive thing possible at all times.” Extremely prominent in modern

television.

Ex: Pick a sitcom. Any sitcom.

Ironic Humor

Verbal irony: Intentionally worded statements that imply a meaning in opposition to their literal meaning. The most common type of ironic humor.

Situational irony:  “Incongruity between the actual result of a sequence of events and the normal or expected result.“ Overlaps with the previously mentioned incongruity

humor.

Dramatic irony: A character speaks or acts erroneously, out of ignorance of some portion of the truth of which the audience is aware. Ex: Into the Woods.

Allusion Humor

Humor that exists because of a reference to another work within a work. This is why pop culture references are

funny.

Ex: Several from Back to the Future: George: Who are you?  Marty: [wearing radiation suit] My name

is Darth Vader. I am an extraterrestrial from the planet Vulcan. [makes Vulcan salute]

Gallows Humor

Alias black comedy, morbid comedy or  schadenfreude. “Joy in the suffering of others."

At its core, gallows humor is bad things being treated in a satirical manner while still being portrayed as bad.

"Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall in an open sewer and die.“ Mel Brooks, explaining the phenomenon.

Randomness Humor

Banana. Banana banana. Banana, banana banana. Banana, banana? Banana! Piiiiiiiinapple.

Humor that’s surreal, absurd, unexpected, unpredictable, nonsensical, and/or incongruous. Closely related (and often overlapping with)

gross-out humor.

Ex: Roughly 34% of the Internet, and 47% of anything preteen boys find funny.

Parodic Humor

“Comic imitation often intended to ridicule an author, an artistic endeavor, or a genre.” Note that parodies are not necessarily humorous

(ex: Lord of the Flies is in fact a dark parody of Jules Verne’s Two Years Vacation – they have the same setup, but drastically different outcomes), but in the majority of cases, they are.

Ex: A Very Potter Musical for the Harry Potter Series, Men in Tights for the Robin Hood mythos, the Scary Movie series for horror tropes.

Other Points of Interest

The Rule of Three: While dramatic things often come in sets of three, comedy also utilizes this often. Ex: A brick joke/running gag appearing 3

times in total.

The K Rule – Apparently, words with a “K” sound in them are inherently more funny than words without one. Hard “G” sounds also qualify. Ex: Kangaroo. Kidney. Kookabura. Guacamole.

The “Brevity is the Soul of Wit” Challenge

You have up to 500 words to utilize one type of humor effectively enough to make your reader legitimately laugh out loud. You can attempt to use more than one, but I wouldn’t

recommend it. Quality over quantity. I have probably forgotten at least one type of humor. If

there’s one I didn’t mention that you wanted to use, just ask.

Cosine: Draw a short, newspaper-strip-style comic showcasing a type of humor. Or you can draw me something involving bananas,

pineapples, or floating skulls. Your choice.

Banana!