Analysis of Comedy

A FEW IDEAS TO GET YOU STARTED

The plots for these tend to be broad and simple. The show may have a major plot line (A story) and a minor plot line (B story), but may not have a runner. Each act tends to be between 3-5 scenes. The locations are fairly basic, though outside shots are more common than they used to be. The

focus isn't on action, but on the wittiness of the repartee between the characters.

One page of sitcom script translates into about 30 seconds of screen time. In that time, there should be 3 to 5 solid jokes. These are jokes that are derived from the situations that the characters find themselves in. You have to know how to bring out the comedic nature of any situation.

Structure of Sitcoms

The plots for these tend to be broad and simple. The show may have a major plot line (A story) and a minor plot line (B story), but may not have a runner. Each act tends to be between 3-5 scenes. The locations are fairly basic, though outside shots are more common than they used to be. The

focus isn't on action, but on the wittiness of the repartee between the characters.

One page of sitcom script translates into about 30 seconds of screen time. In that time, there should be 3 to 5 solid jokes. These are jokes that are derived from the situations that the characters find themselves in. You have to know how to bring out the comedic nature of any situation.

Terms Associated With Comedy

Satire Satire is a literary work that holds up human

vices and follies to ridicule and scorn. Satire is often used to improve human institutions or society. Webster's says that satire "applies to writing that exposes or ridicules conduct, doctrines, or institutions either by direct criticism or more often through irony, parody, or caricature.” An example of this is how the Simpsons often ridicules religious institutions.

Irony

Irony Irony, whether it be verbal, dramatic, or irony of a

situation, always involves some sort of discrepancy or incongruity. Verbal irony is a figure of speech in which the actual intent is expressed in words that carry the opposite meaning. In dramatic irony, there is a contrast between what a character says and what the reader knows is true. In situational irony there is a discrepancy between appearance and reality, between expectation and fulfillment, or between what is and what would seem appropriate.

Wit

Wit

Wit is a form of intellectual humor. A wit is someone skilled in making witty remarks, typically in conversation and spontaneously. Mark Twain was particularly skilled in wit:

Wit

Wit is a form of intellectual humor. A wit is someone skilled in making witty remarks, typically in conversation and spontaneously. Mark Twain was particularly skilled in wit:

“I never let schooling interfere with my education.”

Wit

Wit is a form of intellectual humor. A wit is someone skilled in making witty remarks, typically in conversation and spontaneously. Mark Twain was particularly skilled in wit:

“I never let schooling interfere with my education.”

“Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.”

Wit

Wit is a form of intellectual humor. A wit is someone skilled in making witty remarks, typically in conversation and spontaneously. Mark Twain was particularly skilled in wit:

“I never let schooling interfere with my education.”

“Action speaks louder than words but not nearly as often.”

“I don't like to commit myself about heaven and hell - you see, I have friends in both places.”

“I have been complimented many times and they always embarrass me; I always feel that they have not said enough.”

Parody

Parody Parody imitates or exaggerates the serious manner and characteristic features of a particular literary work or the distinctive style of a particular author. Most parodies are written out of admiration rather than contempt for an author or show. The Daily Show and The Colbert Report, which parody a news broadcast and a talk show, respectively, to satirize political and social trends and events.

Farce Farce is sometimes considered a low form of comedy. It is aimed at arousing

explosive laughter using practical jokes, possibly violent conflicts, stereotypes and stock characters, and coarse wit. Walter Sorell, in his book Facets of Comedy, explains that farce can be highly sophisticated when employed by a dramatist like Oscar Wilde. He uses an example from The Importance of Being Earnest to illustrate:

LADY BRACKNELL: … I am quite ready to enter your name (into the list of eligible suitors for Gwendolen's hand) should your answers be what a really affectionate mother requires. Do you smoke?

JACK: Well, yes, I must admit I smoke. LADY BRACKNELL: I am glad to hear it. A man should always have an

occupation of some kind. There are far too many idle men in London as it is.

Lady Bracknell's answer to her own question in this interchange is pure intellectual slapstick.

(p. 85, Sorell)

Double-entendreA double entendre is a figure of speech similar to the pun, in which a spoken phrase can be understood in either of two ways. The first, literal meaning is an innocent one, while the second meaning is often ironic or risqué and requires the hearer to have some additional knowledge. Examples:

The Ridge Tool Company (known best as RIDGID) once promoted itself with bumper stickers which read "I love a RIDGID tool".

Virgin Atlantic used the phrase "you never forget your first time" on their promotional campaigns. This double entendre fitted very well with their brand name. The "first time" could imply both a first time flyer as well a sexual act done the "first time in life"

On rapper Jay-Z's most recent album Kingdom Come, he states in his song "Do U wanna Ride", "the monster of the double entendre, coke is still my sponsor, Cola , yeah, Hova still gettin it in with soda". Refering both to his past as a drug dealer in Brooklyn, NY and to his recent partnership with Coca Cola.

Innuendo

An innuendo is a remark or question, typically disparaging, that works obliquely by allusion. The intention is often to insult or accuse someone in such a way that one's words, taken literally, are innocent. Innuendo can make use of, but is by no means restricted to, double entendre (note that doubles entendres can be unintentional, while innuendo is always intentional).

Example:Imagine, for example, a political candidate that says, “I agree that my opponent is telling the truth this time.” This suggests that the candidate’s opponent has a history of lying

Slapstick:

Slapstick is a type of comedy involving exaggerated physical violence or activities. (E.g., A character being hit in the face with a frying pan or pie, getting matches lit between the toes, or running full-speed into a wall). The style is common to those genres of entertainment in which the audience is supposed to understand the very hyperbolic nature of such violence to exceed the boundaries of common sense and thus license non-cruel laughter. Its greatest modern representations thus lie in cartoons and the simple, amplified film comedies aimed at younger audiences.

Black comedy:

Black comedy also known as black humor or dark comedy, is a sub-genre of comedy and satire where topics and events that are usually treated seriously – death, mass murder, sickness, madness, terror, drug abuse, rape, war etc. – are treated in a humorous or satirical manner.

Example:

The 1964 film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb presents one of the best-known examples of black comedy. The subject of the film is nuclear war and the extinction of life on Earth. Normally, dramas about nuclear war treat the subject with gravity and seriousness, creating suspense over the efforts to avoid a nuclear war. But Dr. Strangelove plays the subject for laughs; for example, in the film, the fail-safe procedures designed to prevent a nuclear war are precisely the systems that ensure that it will happen.

Theories of Humor

Theories of Humor What makes humans laugh? Psychologists,

sociologists, philosophers, literary critics, and

Theories of Humor What makes humans laugh? Psychologists,

sociologists, philosophers, literary critics, and stand up comedians have examined this

question and tried to categorize their observations.

Incongruity

Incongruity Blaise Pascal, a 17th century French scientist and philosopher, is often

credited with formulating this theory, although James Beattie in 1776 and Soren Kierkegaard, in the early 1800’s also wrote about humor in terms of incongruity. These theorists all noted that humor centers on surprising, illogical or unexpected juxtaposition of ideas and situations.

Incongruity Blaise Pascal, a 17th century French scientist and philosopher, is often

credited with formulating this theory, although James Beattie in 1776 and Soren Kierkegaard, in the early 1800’s also wrote about humor in terms of incongruity. These theorists all noted that humor centers on surprising, illogical or unexpected juxtaposition of ideas and situations.

Incongruity Blaise Pascal, a 17th century French scientist and philosopher, is often

credited with formulating this theory, although James Beattie in 1776 and Soren Kierkegaard, in the early 1800’s also wrote about humor in terms of incongruity. These theorists all noted that humor centers on surprising, illogical or unexpected juxtaposition of ideas and situations.

Incongruity can include situations in which there is a surprising

disproportion between what we expect and what we experience. An appreciation of incongruity makes demands on cognitive processing as well as an awareness of cultural and personal information.

Incongruity Blaise Pascal, a 17th century French scientist and philosopher, is often

credited with formulating this theory, although James Beattie in 1776 and Soren Kierkegaard, in the early 1800’s also wrote about humor in terms of incongruity. These theorists all noted that humor centers on surprising, illogical or unexpected juxtaposition of ideas and situations.

Incongruity can include situations in which there is a surprising

disproportion between what we expect and what we experience. An appreciation of incongruity makes demands on cognitive processing as well as an awareness of cultural and personal information.

Incongruity Blaise Pascal, a 17th century French scientist and philosopher, is often

credited with formulating this theory, although James Beattie in 1776 and Soren Kierkegaard, in the early 1800’s also wrote about humor in terms of incongruity. These theorists all noted that humor centers on surprising, illogical or unexpected juxtaposition of ideas and situations.

Incongruity can include situations in which there is a surprising

disproportion between what we expect and what we experience. An appreciation of incongruity makes demands on cognitive processing as well as an awareness of cultural and personal information.

Incongruous situations can also produce disgust, confusion, and fear.

Incongruity Blaise Pascal, a 17th century French scientist and philosopher, is often

credited with formulating this theory, although James Beattie in 1776 and Soren Kierkegaard, in the early 1800’s also wrote about humor in terms of incongruity. These theorists all noted that humor centers on surprising, illogical or unexpected juxtaposition of ideas and situations.

Incongruity can include situations in which there is a surprising

disproportion between what we expect and what we experience. An appreciation of incongruity makes demands on cognitive processing as well as an awareness of cultural and personal information.

Incongruous situations can also produce disgust, confusion, and fear. Dr. Kennedy explained that elephant jokes are funny because they

present incongruous ideas. The mind plays with the notion that things don’t fit.

Incongruity Blaise Pascal, a 17th century French scientist and philosopher, is often

credited with formulating this theory, although James Beattie in 1776 and Soren Kierkegaard, in the early 1800’s also wrote about humor in terms of incongruity. These theorists all noted that humor centers on surprising, illogical or unexpected juxtaposition of ideas and situations.

Incongruity can include situations in which there is a surprising

disproportion between what we expect and what we experience. An appreciation of incongruity makes demands on cognitive processing as well as an awareness of cultural and personal information.

Incongruous situations can also produce disgust, confusion, and fear. Dr. Kennedy explained that elephant jokes are funny because they

present incongruous ideas. The mind plays with the notion that things don’t fit.

Incongruity Blaise Pascal, a 17th century French scientist and philosopher, is often

credited with formulating this theory, although James Beattie in 1776 and Soren Kierkegaard, in the early 1800’s also wrote about humor in terms of incongruity. These theorists all noted that humor centers on surprising, illogical or unexpected juxtaposition of ideas and situations.

Incongruity can include situations in which there is a surprising

disproportion between what we expect and what we experience. An appreciation of incongruity makes demands on cognitive processing as well as an awareness of cultural and personal information.

Incongruous situations can also produce disgust, confusion, and fear. Dr. Kennedy explained that elephant jokes are funny because they

present incongruous ideas. The mind plays with the notion that things don’t fit.

See Bambi vs. Godzilla (☺)

Establishment of Superiority

Establishment of Superiority

Much literature credits Thomas Hobbes with forwarding this theory in the 1600’s. This theory argues that humor derives from others’ weakness, deformity or failures. Usually, the less friendly we are towards particular groups, the more that these groups will become the butts of jokes. We are amused when someone else looks bad. Laughter resulting from feelings of superiority occurs in almost all human cultures.

Repetition

Repetition Repetition is probably one of the most obvious

elements that causes laughter and is mentioned by almost all theorists. It is also an element that students can easily identify when reading and viewing comedy and is probably one of the most often used elements provoking laughter in many of the tv sitcoms and feature films they love. All middle school students

Repetition Repetition is probably one of the most obvious

elements that causes laughter and is mentioned by almost all theorists. It is also an element that students can easily identify when reading and viewing comedy and is probably one of the most often used elements provoking laughter in many of the tv sitcoms and feature films they love. All middle school students

have witnessed Kenny being killed in each episode of South Park. They also notice the humor in repetition in their daily lives.

Psychoanalytic Theory

Freud, in 1905, stated that wit and humor are socially acceptable outlets for repressed sexual and aggressive desires. Freud also believed that making others comic through mimicry, disguise, unmasking, caricature, parody, and travesty is a highly aggressive act.

According to Martin Grotjahn, in his book, Beyond Laughter, published in 1957, “Freud’s thesis is simple and straightforward: Laughter occurs when repressed energy is freed from its static function of keeping something forbidden under repression and away from consciousness.

Frye also categorizes typical character types into four basic groups: the imposters, selfdeprecators, buffoons, and churls. The imposters are most often the characters who thwart the hero in his attempt to win the female. The raging father, played by Robert DeNiro in Meet the Parents, fits this category.

Classic Comic Characters

Several sub-categories can fill the self-deprecator role. The hero, or young male in the classic structure, fits into this group. Secondly, the character who helps the hero to scheme is also usually a self-deprecator and can be termed a vice. Puck, from Shakespeare's Midsummer's Night Dream, is the example that quickly comes to mind. The third type of self-deprecator is the retreating paternal figure.

The buffoon, because he is usually outside of the plot and merely serves to increase the merriment, is probably the easiest type to spot. Fools and clowns certainly fit into this category of buffoon. A clown can be touchingly human and a clumsy acrobat at the same time. Sorell calls the fool an "intellectualized clown". (Sorell, p. 21) In Seinfeld, Kramer is a buffoon. This type of character developed from the Greek Chorus.

The final character type discussed by Frye is the Churl. In vaudeville this type was identified as the "straight man". The churl can be miserly, snobbish, or a killjoy. Hence , in the Simpsons, the character, Reverend Lovejoy. This is an obvious reference to “killjoy” because his character is so pious in a self-righteous way.

Historical Timeline

To understand the history of western comedy and the relationship of the critical essays to the literary works, it was helpful for me to construct a timeline.

423 BC Aristophanes, Greek Comedy, The Clouds

1600 William Shakespeare Midsummer Night's Dream

1651 Thomas Hobbes Humane Nature

1666 Moliere (stage name of Jean Baptiste Poquelin), The School for Wives

1877 George Meredith, "An Essay on Comedy"

1895 Oscar Wilde, Importance of Being Earnest

1900 Henri Bergson “Laughter”

1905 Sigmund Freud Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious

1953 Susanne Langer "The Comic Rhythm"

1966 Northrup Frye "The Mythos of Spring: Comedy"

1974 Walter Sorell, Facets of Comedy

1980 The Simpsons