Deconstructing Comedy

I was in a discussion where we were talking about a "comedic villain" who is extremely silly and does things that at first seem funny, but soon turn out to be disturbing or horrifying, because the narrative shows the consequences of those actions, and that got me thinking about a lot of comedy being based on jerkasses abusing and brutalizing each other, and all this physical and verbal and psychological violence being Played for Laughs largely by not acknowledging the hurt and pain they represent. In its simplest expression, Amusing Injuries.

Those of you who've read Grant Morrison's Animal Man may know of "The Gospel of Crafty," which deconstructs Chuck Jones comedy into something truly horrifying and pitiful, both on a personal and Cosmic level. Who Framed Roger Rabbit also had it deconstructed by having a character die by Anvil on Head. And I'm not sure if Jojos Bizarre Adventure's horriffic, hyper-detailed Body Horror is intended to invoke this feeling... but then again that manga is bizarre.

So, I was thinking, it would be very easy to generate a crapload of drama just by, say, taking a Monty Python story (for instante, The Meaning Of Life), and actually showing the consequences of what happens onscreen. Mr. Creosote explodes in the restaurant; clients are horrified and die cruelly. The Protestant couple go on having a dreary, bleak life, and die in ominous silence. The Catholic children's life as guinea pigs is told like a Dickens novel. I don't know what to make of the leg-thiefs dressed as a tiger, though...

I knew this would be a Handle thread. I knew it. Yay me.

Oh my god. I have a Signature Style, don't I? Woe me.

Anyway, this is what De Construction is all about, right? Taking the stuff that's glossed over, that's inconvenient, that people just didn't think of, didn't want to think of, and pointing it out in lavish detail, telling the audience "Stop! Wait a minute, you. Look at this. Look at this. Acknolwedge this." Am I wrong?

edited 17th Nov '13 3:10:07 PM by TheHandle

Because I recalled your discussion of The Great Dictator in the classical music thread.

Also, sounds redundant. The examples you cite aren't a case of things not being thought through - they're just a case of serious situations being thrown in a ridiculous framing. Particularly in the case of the Monty Python examples, they're fully aware - that's why it's funny.

edited 17th Nov '13 3:55:18 PM by Pannic

... I don't get it.

Deconstructing a joke ruins it.

Unless the deconstruction is a further joke. Or crosses the line twice.

Like playing a prank on an airport security guard leading to someone getting arrested, detained and sent to prison for 5 years. Compared to playing a prank on a security guard in an airport, leading to someone getting arrested, the security guard leaving their post to process the prankster, everyone shuffling around to cover and the 9/11 hijackers being allowed to board unnoticed in the confusion all because of one idiot with a water-pistol.

All I can think of is this

Back in 2002, there was a university study dedicated to trying to find the "world's funniest joke". The joke that had the widest appeal across all cultures was this one:

When I first read about that, I felt a niggling sense of discomfort that the joke with the widest appeal was one where a guy murders his friend.

edited 17th Nov '13 11:17:02 PM by Unknownlight

I was on the periphery of the anonymous group who originally created Powerup Comics. For those who don't want to wade through it, Powerup Comics is a So Unfunny, It's Funny Stealth Parody of the "two gamers on a couch" webcomic genre. Allegedly it's written by "Shadow" and drawn by "Chug", but in reality Shadow and Chug are just sockpuppets. Most of the "punchlines" are just Shadow and Chug's Author Avatars shooting whoever's annoying them.

Anyway, at one point it was decided that the ending of the comic needed to yank the rug out from underneath the readers in some way. One idea was to have the Butt-Monkey character address the audience and say something to the effect of, "And that's my story. Now that you've seen how Shadow and Chug used to treat me, I'm sure you understand why I killed them. I'm not sorry." Another idea was to abruptly turn off the Snap Back and Comedic Sociopathy, without changing the author avatar's behavior. So when Shadow shoots the Butt Monkey, we see the rest of the cast freak out over seeing a brutal murder. Shadow is arrested, put on trial, and found criminally insane. The final panel is him in a padded room—with the implication that the entire comic before this ending story was just his delirious fantasy.

But none of those plans came to fruition. Powerup Comics went in a completely different direction and still hasn't officially ended.

I love this. So much.

@"ruins the joke": personnaly, I don't like that kind of joke much. People getting hurt is not funny.

The Joker is pretty much a walking deconstruction of comedy.

No, the Joker is a parody of a comedian; he's never actually trying to amuse anyone in-universe other than himself, and most of his "jokes" consist in a Faux Affably Evil, highly and obviously sarcastic play-acting of family and couple relationships. He may have a clown motif, but he's hardly a clown in any real sense. Harley is funnier than him, shrill and annoying though she is. The Mask is a deconstruction of comedy tropes—the comic, not the film, which plays them straight.

In some adaptations the Joker makes some actual (if morbid) jokes. Like in The Dark Knight. "Let's not blow things out of proportion," he says, with his finger on the detonator of a bomb strapped to his chest. Or that bit where he blocks off a street by setting a fire truck on fire.

If you want a comedian who fails to live up to his name, look no further than The Comedian from Watchmen. He's too uncreative to make any jokes of his own; he just laughs at inappropriate times and insists that the entire world is a joke.

Ledger's Joker is the only one that made me laugh. Well, there was that one joke in The Killing Joke, but that was only so funny because it was so sad...

And yeah, I kept getting really annoyed by all the hype the Comedian kept getting in-Universe. What do you mean, "The Comedian Understood"? Are you out of your mind? Oh, wait, you probably are.

When you're depressed and/or hate the world, anything misanthropic just sounds so deep man.