Humor me: Funny 'n Fiction

A Rabbi and a Priest buy a car in the same agency. The Priest starts sprinkling his car with water. “What are you doing?” says the Rabbi. “I am blessing my car” says the Priest. “Well…while we are at it…” and then the Rabbi cuts two inches off his car's exhaust pipe.

Humor has been with us for a long time. Be it to make a point, like Jonathan Swift making a Modest Proposal (Or BlueNinja0 correcting my mistakes), to make downright mockery for political statements, or to simply entertain. Wit. Puns. Without Puns, humor stretches across the world, real and fictional, and laughter knows no cultural bounds.

Theories abound as to what this magical thing is. Some have linked it to neural pathways of our brain: as we are hearing, looking, or reading something, our brain draws pathways of what the possible results are. As we are confronted with the joke's punchline and find out neither of our expectations were met, the cerebral cortex translates all those thoughts into the motor cortex, that spasms our chests into laughter. Social behavior of evolution hints at us that laughter, like say, blushing, responded to other situations and as our societies evolved, laughter took over that function.

Let us put it in the context of TV Tropes.

With all manners of Stock Jokes and Comedy Tropes available, I thought it would be a fun experiment to allow us a thread for the serious (Read: only a bit) discussion of humor on fictional works of all kinds. Things to discuss are and not limited to:

• Comedy Movies, what makes them funny or not so funny
• Comedy Tropes
• ”I don't understand why X is funny” (So long as you can ask and discuss this in a way that is not a complaint about X)
• Benefits of including Comedy, or not including Comedy (Say, Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy versus exposing a Crapsack World)
• Funny stuff, Not Funny stuff, and PMing Aszur your credit card info social security number and Mother's Maiden's name.
• Humor Theory

To point something out, however, there is a little history of humor talk in this forum, in this case specifically oriented to the question of if you “laugh at” or “laugh with” characters in a work of fiction. So, while that subject is not as broad as this thread is still qualifies as an example of fictional discussion in humor.

To start us off, I want to pose a simple question that you are feel free to join in upon, adding your opinion upon its theme. What is your favorite humor work? Mine would be impossible to pick, for there are many examples. I am drawn to inane silliness, like Monty Python, or even The Terminal for a simple laugh. I can also laugh at the grotesque humor of say, Sacha Baron Cohen but I cannot pinpoint at a single thing that I hold over all others. If I was forced to pick something, however, I would maybe, go with Les Luthiers, group upon whom I could spend HOURS talking about how hilarious they are and why.

I might touch more on their subject later if this thread kicks off or if there is interest. So how about you?

edited 22nd Oct '14 8:25:38 AM by Aszur

Nice OP.

To address the question you suggested as a lead-off, I don't have only one "funniest" type of humor. What is funniest for me varies from time to time, much like "what music I like best." In general, I tend to like subtle or sly humor almost anytime (James Thurber can always raise a smile from me, for instance). But there are definitely times I want — no — need, humor that's broader, more raucous — that's when I go for the Pythons, or Benny Hill, or the Marx Brothers. Early George Carlin, because he went socially-conscious — The Six O'Clock News can reduce me to gasping for breath — or Bill Cosby reminiscing about his childhood. Then, if they can mix comedy with music, that's even better. Anna Russell, for instance; I have a fond memory of lying on a living room floor with my niece and a friend, late at night in a house full of sleeping people (some sleeping not far from us on the floor in fact)and introducing them to Anna via her "Ring Saga Synopsis" and "The Bagpipe", all three of us trying so hard not to laugh out loud that we were in pain. Peter Schickle's work as PDQ Bach and Allan Sherman are in the same category.

Personally, I enjoy both parodies/mockeries, and more clean humor. Really, anything that's not too mean-spirited or too juvenile can get me amused.

I like humor that makes me think about it for a while (e.g. George Carlin, Bill Hicks), particularly about stuff like language and thoughts.

I feel like I'm stimulating both my mood and my brain.

My humour... I like a dash of black in mine, thanks. Being a Brit in tastes: gimme Lightmare Fuel, innuendo and satire (political or social: not picky) by preference. In those am I happiest!

I'm not such a fan of Cringe Comedy, though. And, never have been. -_- Benny Hill is also not really for me, as a result. It's a case of being totally embarrassed on his behalf and finding him too damn heavy with the postcard humour. A little goes a long way. <_< People may find his humour "light" and "charming", but I don't. -_- (The undertone is also waaaaay too creepy.)

About Frankie Boyle: I know I should hate him... but, I don't. For some reason, he can be as insulting as he pleases, yet I still giggle. He usually balances the affront with the humorous very, very well and, most importantly, makes a point with it. If there's a point, I can usually take the bad with the good.

edited 22nd Oct '14 4:21:56 AM by Euodiachloris

”I don't understand why X is funny”: X for me is stereotypes. If, as you said, humor comes from the unexpected, why do people find their beliefs being validated to be funny?

You are correct. I meant Jonathan Swift. But I am an idiot. However, this being a thread on humor, I am allowed to be an idiot, so it is ok. I have corrected my mistake.

As for "Black Humor" or "Socially conscientous content"...I think that it has to do a bit with the same line of thinking the common Sienfield joke has. "What is the deal with X?". I mean. What is the deal with peanuts on an airplane? They are a completely innocuous object but when thrown on the spotlight the ridiculousness of the situation is what brings levity.

Same for social content.

I mean. How ridiculous is it that simple words can affect people so, that it brings out the most vitriolic out of us? "Fuck" is but a word, but to react with abject horror to it...it just heightens the fact there are people who get mad at a simple word.

There is another theory of humor thta might talk a bit of what you mean, Anti. The "Theory of superiority". Things like schadenfraude are funny because you are not the one suffering, and you are being the clearly superior being there. Laughing at the poor hapless guy who slipped on the banana is funny because you did not slip on the banana. Laughing at racist humor, or stereotypes, might be a thing expected so, that reinforcement of the expected stereotype can be triggering that sort of "Schedenfraude"?

Alternatively, it also just plays out on its ridiculousness.

Relevant:

Mel Brooks: "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into an open sewer and die."

Oh Madrugada. Wish you could understand spanish. Les Luthiers are all about music and humor. For example, every single one of their titles is a pun in on way or another.

"Unen canto con humor" can be read as "A charming endeavor with humor" or "They mix singing with humour".

"Grandes Hitos" can be read as "Great Achievements" or "All grown up"

And musical puns of all sorts come from the fact they are Luthiers. They make their own instruments and they are ridiculous. Like...a Mandocycle, which is a mandolyn powered by a bycicle. Or the Nomeolbidet◊. Or the Barreltone Bass which is a double bass whose body is...A giant barrel◊.

And of course musical puns with notes, names and anything else. They have a fictional character with a hell of an intricate story whom they named "Johann Sebastian Mastropiero". And in one of their songs, a tango called "El Regreso de Carlitos" (The return of Carlitos) they do a barrage of puns and one of them is about the guy singing a small tango he made up.

The tango is about the plumber, who wakes up in the morning. Brazenly picks up his tools, and then...he sol-ded. (In spanish, the verb "Solded" is "Sol" + "Dó". No points for guessing which two notes accompany that last sentence.)

They actually have a song in english and one they managed to translate to english without losing (most) of its humorous diatribes. But they are an Argentinian group, hence spanish is the vast majority of what they do. (Didn't keep them from making a Conlang of their own, though). If you care for some of their works, the ones in english, I can link some.

I'll look them up. Even if I don't get all the humor, it still sounds eminently listenable.

"El Regreso de Carlitos" is the one they translated. I bet you can find some with english captions on the web.

"Lazy Daisy" is just a small, silly song, but completely done in english. It is not hilarious as much as it is...well .I woul just describe it as but a "cute little song", and in the video they physically show a bit of their humor with their actions.

Being the smarmy mother fucking necromancer that I am, I reach out to the decrepit, crooked hands of this cadaver and hoist its bony fingers from the grave and proceed to do the danse macabre with it.

Let us expand a bit on why things like Dark Humor are funny

It is safe. Morbid jokes about deaths, or horrid situations are not happening to you. They are not threathening you. In relief, the human brain goes like "Whew. hah hah. I am safe! Gosh, that is scary but it is not happening to me but it is totes ok, guys".

Make it personal however and it becomes Serious Business or Nightmare Fuel. Could explain how some people actually get a laugh out of Saw movies or such.

I've heard the same one before, but they're going to a shooting range and the Rabbi saws off a shotgun.

I can usually appreciate most kinds of humor, but the ones that really stick out tend to be Lightmare Fuel. Maybe it's just because our current kick of grimderp in media, but laughing at it is fun.

Also irony. Lots and lots of irony.

edited 18th Dec '14 11:14:04 AM by Pykrete

I can't stand "humiliation comedy". I can't watch it, too empathetic.

I like Lampshade Hanging if it's done well.

What do you mean with "humiliation comedy"?

Where the embarrassment of the character is played for laughs. Like when a character trips and falls and that's considered funny.

edited 19th Jan '15 11:13:30 AM by muddycurve424

Aaahh. A bit of Schadenfreude, or more like slapstick humor, perhaps?

I think those are fun in moments of "comeuppance", for example, the important suit just showed up threathening the upstart business to buy them all off if they do not pay X debt or acheive Y objective and just as his snooty face turn from them he slips on a banana peel after his chastising, condescending spiel.

Can be fun.

I'm fond of gallows humor and tongue-in-cheek humor. Count me in for Lightmare Fuel as well.

To be more specific, my favorite brand of humor is the type that appears, sometimes unintentionally, in very cynical and serious settings with a seemingly strong adherence to realism. This works quite well in both fantasy stories and straight-faced action stories with something dire or bleak. I'm not quite talking about action comedy per se, but something a few notches below it. Think less Guardians Of The Galaxy and more The Dark Knight Trilogy. Melancholy sarcasm.

For example, a bannerman in Game Of Thrones continuously missing his mark during a funeral pyre session:

Edmure Tulley's Failure in Shooting Arrows

To be fair, the TV version is different from the book. In the book, Brynden takes over, but only after telling him that tried his best and that firing an arrow onto a funeral pyre is understandably difficult. He seems much more angered in the TV adaptation.

Either way, it's grin-inducing in an otherwise somber moment, and that's the kind of humor I love to see in my media.

edited 19th Jan '15 12:41:09 PM by Aprilla

@Aszur: Indeed, but sometimes it's just a Sadist Show. I remember some old Disney comics that had "Everything piles on Donald Duck" as a theme, such as one when he buys a farm and everything it its turn out to be utter crap. It ends with everyone but him rich.

edited 19th Jan '15 12:46:37 PM by Medinoc

Humiliation Humor tends to go further than simple slapstick. In it, the entire source of the humor is putting a basically-sympathetic character through one Humiliation Conga after another for no real reason. Slapstick is physical, but it may not reach the levels of humiliation that humiliation humor does.

Mmm what Aprilla mentions makes me think it is the contrast again that brings about the humor. The funeral of beloved characters marred by anger. It is almost a laugh or cry situation but its presentation allows more leeway for humor

The Sadist Show seems to lean more in laughing at the misfortune of a Butt-Monkey rather than a specific contrast.

Like, in Go T, it was something that was really unexpected. And in the Donald Duck comedy, the unexpected thing was the way everything responded to Donald Duck.

One well done bit of Lightmare Fuel I've giggled at recently: Black Speech over the airways is never good, right? Wrong! (It's all in the timing.)

edited 19th Jan '15 1:21:32 PM by Euodiachloris

^^^ Exactly. It's akin to bullying. It just seems wrong to laugh at the misfortune of others.

A good Double Entendre that serves as Parental Bonus makes me absurdly happy, and makes sitting through the 457th viewing of Cars endurable.

edited 19th Jan '15 8:25:48 PM by muddycurve424

I cannot say I understood it...

From a moral point of view, yes, laughing at others' misfortune is a pretty douche thing to do. However, laughing at the misfortune of someone who deserves it, a trope that comes to mind being Adolf Hitlarious to exemplify it, tends to get a little bit more leeway in our minds because "He di something awful and now he has what is coming to him"

It might be appealing to some primitive thoughts in our mind of "revenge", given how inherently good it feels to have our magical thoughts (such as karma) to be fulfilled by the nebulous thing that is fate, I think there is an important difference that must be done when we are talking about the actual misfortune of others and when we are talking about the misfortune of fictional characters.