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I. Introduction/Book/Media Discussion –
o Monty Python and Philosophy,
Philosophical
perspectives presented via
o The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor,
Excerpts
from philosophical essays of major philosophers on the topic of humor.
II. Discussion: What makes something funny? Why do we laugh?
- Violence is often seen as funny. In fact, in one episode Sponge Bob burns his eyes in front of some children and they laugh. He then concludes, “They seem to enjoy other people’s suffering”. He then injures himself in various ways getting shrieks of laughter from the children. The Three Stooges, many cartoons such as Tom and Gerry also rely on violence. But not all violence is funny. The characters must be unreal and no real danger seems to be present, i.e. cartoon characters cannot be hurt and the Three Stooges are never really injured either. The characters also have to be pathetic.
- The 3 Stooges – Slapstick
o Men seems to like them but women don’t, why?
o Related, why do people’s taste in humor differ?
- Exaggeration is key to what is funny
- Timing is very important – some comedians use it as a key device
- Surprise, the unexpected and contradictions are keys to humor.
- Viewer’s experience is central to what they find funny. For example, in a talk I went to in Virginia in which the speaker told a skiing related joke, it went over very badly because most of the audience had never been skiing.
- Some humor is dated, e.g. Laugh In.
- Sometimes One upmanship is funny like when a child outsmarts an adult or says something precocious. A traditional plot line for centuries involves a servant manipulating his master. In modern times this was rendered in Sgt. Bilko or McHale’s Navy.
- Sometimes humor uses double meanings.
- Often the character’s personalities are what make something funny. For example, Cheers often relied on who said the line and it was funny because of the personality of the speaker. Taxi was also like this.
- Embarrassment is often a device of comedy but sometimes it goes too far and is in bad taste. In recent times, humor crosses this line a lot more and people seem to get used to it. Candid Camera was a TV show that caught people in mildly embarrassing situations. Later they came out with an R rated version.
- Sometimes humor attacks as in the movie Borat which involves a reporter
from
- Humor can be used to attack or defend. For example, Don Rickles’
act was based on criticizing members of the audience. In day
to day life, people often use humor as a way of defending themselves,
as a replacement to fighting.
- Absurdity is central to comedy such as Woody Allen and Monty
Python.
- Humor traditionally is used to attack authority, whatever the authority
figure is at the time, i.e. the king, the president, or even the white
male as he is seen as the dominant majority in the population.
- Sometimes it is used as a means of poking fun at evil. Mel Brooks
said making fun of evil was the best way to undermine it.
- What about the Danish comic about Mohammad? It pokes fun at Islam but the reaction from Middle Eastern Muslims was outrage. Oddly, humorous portrayals of Christianity do not result in outrage or if they do, the movie becomes even more of a hit. Nietzsche said that people did not fear God anymore, that they did not take Him seriously any more. This would support that claim.
- Nonsensical statements are often humorous such as “5 out of 4 Russians disagree with the government.”
III. Introduction – Theme is Philosophy of Humor
Theories of Humor
Superiority Theory –
- We laugh over feeling of superiority over others,
or our own former situation.
Relief Theory –
- Lets off pressure, venting excess energy.
Incongruity
Theory –
- Some idea or
thought clashes with what we expected in a certain context.
Other
Uses of Humor
§ Break the stress
§ Entertainment
§ Self
Defense and Offense
§ Cover up emotions
§ Many a truth said in jest
Philosophical Views Presented by Popular
Comedy
§
o Absurdity in many guises.
o Caricature
of society.
§ Religiousness
– Life of
§ Government Bureaucracy – Bureau of Silly Walks
§ Rules are Rules
· Bring Out
Your Dead
· Women getting
a new stove
· Humor in unexpected
places
o Middle Ages / Chivalry
o Bible
o Meaning of Life
§ Dilbert – Funny because we know it’s true
§ Hogan’s Heroes - Deal with Fear/Anger
§ The main actors were Jews and they wanted to make fun of the Third
Reich. When you laugh at something, it loses power over you.
§ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – What we really do with powerful
technology
§ Kafka – A different View of Things