What’s So Funny? Humor, Mark Twain, and a bag of cumquats

1. What’s So Funny? Humor, Mark Twain, and a bag of cumquats

2. Through humor, you can soften some of the worst blows that life delivers. And once you find laughter, no matter how painful your situation might be, you can survive it. - Bill Cosby Humor is tragedy plus time. - Mark Twain Humor is a rubber sword - it allows you to make a point without drawing blood. - Mary Hirsch

3. The purpose of humor is to point out common ground and to make people feel better about the bad things in their life. It is a coping skill, a way for people to get through difficult times.

4. The perception of humor exists within your mind. It is culturally defined and socially constructed. • When you laugh your brain releases neurochemicals, such as, endorphins - which is a feel-good chemical. These chemicals are released instantaneously. It makes you feel good, which loosens the muscles in your face, and lights up a smile. • It is interesting to note that smiling is a universal sign of feeling good.

5. Elements of Humor • A sense of humorcan be defined as the ability to perceive one or more of the universal characteristics. Therefore, one’s sense of humor involves the capacity to appreciate incongruity, wordplay, absurdity, what if..(future), common experiences, cultural and historical contexts.

6. Incongruity • Incongruity means putting two things together that don’t belong together. • “Don’t sweat the petty things, and don’t pet the sweaty things.” - George Carlin • “Never take a sleeping pill and a laxative in the same night.” - Dave Barry

7. Wordplay (double meanings) • We exchange anything - bicycles, washing machines etc. 
Why not bringyour wife along and get a wonderful bargain? • Elephants please stay in your car. • Toilet out of order. 
Please use floor below • In case of fire do not use elevator, use water.
 • The farmer allows walkers to cross the field for free, but the bull charges

8. Wordplay (Double entendres) • A double entendre usually implies a subtext beyond the real literal meaning…phrases that can be understood in two different ways (often sexual.) “Gymnasts do it upside down.” “Actors do it onstage.” “When talking about taking pictures of people he passes on the street, he says "I often startle passers-by when I suddenly pull it out of my trousers and it goes off in their eyes.” “If I told you you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?”

9. Wordplay (Rule of three) • This is often used by comedians, and requires that they list two normal items in a sequece, followed by a third that is nonsensical or absurd or wrong. • “Can I get you anything? Cup of coffee? Doughnut? Plastic surgery?” • In The Addams Family, Morticia is clearing out a closet and finds three bags. In bag #1, "Uncle Knick-knack's Winter Wardrobe". In bag #2, "Uncle Knick-knack's Summer Wardrobe". In bag #3, "Uncle Knick-knack.” • “For Halloween this year, my kid got 3 apples, 2 candy bars, and the deed to one of McCain’s seven houses.” • The Constitution guarantees life, liberty, and the pursuit of useless consumer goods imported from China.”

10. Absurdity, ridiculousness Something that makes no sense and is just over-the-top strange. “Some people are like Slinkies - not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs.” “English - Who needs that? I'm never going to England!” - Dan Castellenata

11. What ifs… • “Now it is such a bizarrely improbable coincidence that anything so mind-bog-gglingly useful could have evolved purely by chance that some thinkers have chosen to see it as the final and clinching proof of the non-existence of God.The argument goes something like this: `I refuse to prove that I exist,' says God, `for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing.'`But,' says Man, `The Babel fish is a dead giveaway, isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. • '`Oh dear,' says God, `I hadn't thought of that,' and promptly vanished in a puff of logic.`Oh, that was easy,' says Man, and for an encore goes on to prove that black is white and gets himself killed on the next zebra crossing.” • -Doug Adams, “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe.”

12. More what if… • “The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A Death! What's that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you're too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you're young enough to enjoy your retirement. You do drugs, alcohol, you party, you get ready for high school. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last nine months floating…” - George Carlin

13. Common Experiences • Truth in comedy is what makes people laugh and relate to the humorist’s jokes or comments. • “Oh, you hate your job? Why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called EVERYBODY, and they meet at the bar.” - Drew Carey • “Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?” - George Carlin

14. Cultural Context • Humor is funny because we can relate to it. What people in America find funny, people in Egypt might not find funny. • Jokes about our culture work because we recognize the truth in them. • What’s funny in your culture?

15. Historical Context • Humor is a real snapshot of a certain time. Things that were funny in the ‘80s aren’t as funny today. • Mark Twain’s humor doesn’t make us laugh as much as it made the people of his own time laugh.

16. TYPES OF HUMOR • Satire - sarcasm (Daily Show) • Farce - broad, over-the-top humor (Weekend at Bernie’s, Dr. Doolittle, Austin Powers) • Slapstick - physical humor (Three Stooges) • Parody- copying the form of something established, but tweaking it (Saturday Night Live, Colbert Report) • Situational - personal life situations that are funny. • (Dane Cook, Jerry Seinfeld, Chris Rock)

17. Your job: • You will be working on “monologue” using some of the elements we discussed today.It should be about a page long (or longer). To get you started, think about something in your world that strikes you as being strange or weird or wrong. Some things to help you begin: • “Did you ever notice that….” • “What if….” • “Something that really bothers me is…” • “Here’s the problem with school today…” • “Yesterday (last year, this summer) was the worst (day, year) of my life…” Now, take one of these, or something on your own, and use some of the elements of comedy to create a monologue!