by Tim Ferguson
All good humorists share one characteristic: an archetypal onstage persona, be it ethnic, regional, sexual or social. Performers like Rachel Berger, Richard Pryor, Woody Allen, Sarah Silverman, Lea DeLaria, Dave Chappelle and O’Rourke are all larger than life. They are ‘character comics’, but their character is a caricature of themselves.
Sometimes, the observations of humorists are not intrinsically funny. They’re designed to confound their targets and comfort the converted. Janeane Garofalo made the following observation about conservative talkback-radio hosts: they ‘have conned the American people into thinking there is such a thing as a pro-life, pro-war, pro-gun, pro-death-penalty Christian’ (Left of the Dial, 2005). There is no ‘gag’ here beyond the negation inherent in hypocrisy. The statement could be regarded as simply an opinion, particularly if you happen to be a pro-life, pro-war, pro-gun, pro-death-penalty Christian. The thing that makes audiences laugh at Garofalo’s observation is that she dares to say it. And her audience (as broad as Greenwich Village is wide) agrees with her. Likewise, PJ O’Rourke’s views on nature will get cheers from his pals but boos from bushwalkers: ‘Any person who has spent time outdoors actually doing something, such as hunting and fishing as opposed to standing there with a doobie in his mouth, knows nature is not intrinsically healthy’.
Understanding the comic intent in both lines requires the audience to know who is saying them. Out of context, read by someone with an opposing view, they could be seen simply as opinions.
Of course, all comedians infuse their humour with their personal beliefs, but humorists do nothing but tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but what they reckon is the truth.
Truth, however, comes in many forms.
TRUISMS
Humorists and comedians all have truisms derived from their experience or identity:
You can’t buy love. But you can pay heavily for it.
—Henny Youngman
Australia has a history of male failures that became heroes … Ned Kelly put a bucket over his head—hero. Burke and Wills got lost—heroes. Jews wandered in the desert for forty years, nobody called them a hero.
—Rachel Berger
That’s right, ‘Tell your Mama!’, ‘Tell your Mama!’, ‘Tell your Mama!’… Nobody tells Daddy shit!
—Chris Rock
Comic characters can offer truisms that stem from their particular prejudices.
The ship of state, Bernard, is the only ship that leaks from the top.
—Sir Humphrey Appleby (Yes Minister, Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn)
Green and green should never be seen, except with a dickhead in between.
—Bob Downe (Mark Trevorrow)
Never follow a hippy to a second location.
—Jack Donaghy (‘Rosemary’s Baby’ by Jack Burditt and Tina Fey, 30 Rock)
ASSERTIONS WITH A GRAIN OF TRUTH
Something doesn’t have to be self-evident to contain an insight. These assertions often use metaphor or euphemism to make their point, and may be broadly accepted by their intended audience.
Liberals feel unworthy of their possessions. Conservatives feel they deserve everything they’ve stolen.
—Mort Sahl
A liberal is a conservative who hasn’t been mugged yet.
—PJ O’Rourke
POINTED QUESTIONS
The truth can be left for the audience to infer. Sometimes the question itself pushes buttons that, in a different context, would be better left un-pushed.
Hitler was a bad man. Winston Churchill was a good man. But if you were in a balloon with Hitler and Churchill and you were losing altitude …
—Harry Hill
If money is the root of all evil, why does the Catholic Church have so much of it?
—Paul McDermott
DRAWING A LONG BOW
Some gags take an accepted fact and draw a conclusion that is absurd or does not necessarily follow.
If our founding fathers wanted us to care about the rest of the world, they wouldn’t have declared independence from it.
—Stephen Colbert
If God didn’t want us to eat beef, why’d he make cows so slow?
—Brothers Judd
Some comedians or comic characters use an audience’s assumptions about them to build surprises. The bold and brazen Sarah Silverman repeatedly plays upon the audience’s assumption that she is an archetypal razor-tongued beauty. They expect such a self-possessed modern woman to react angrily, or at least sassily, to a lewd approach at the entrance to a liquor store. However …
So I’m walking into the door, and standing, loitering outside the door is a man. And I walk by him to go in, and he says, ‘I want pussy!’ Now, I don’t want to seem conceited or anything, but (getting excited) he was talking about me!
—Sarah Silverman
It’s sarcasm, of course, which she sells as a genuine response.
The material of minority comedians will often focus upon the bigotry they face:
What do you mean you ‘don’t believe in homosexuality’? It’s not like the Easter Bunny; your belief isn’t necessary.
—Lea DeLaria
… What would upset the Taliban more than a gay woman wearing a suit in front of a room full of Jews?
—Ellen DeGeneres at the 2001 Emmy Awards
They’re free to apply stereotypes to their own social group that could be viewed as offensive coming from others:
Terrorists don’t take black hostages… I have yet to see one of us on the news reading a hostage letter. Like, ‘Uh … they is treatin’ us good. Uh, we are chillin’ and shit. I’d like to give a shout out to Ray-Ray an’ Big Steve and, uh, send some Newports!’
—Dave Chappelle
Fat people are brilliant in bed. If I’m sitting on top of you, who’s going to argue?
—Jo Brand
And even though they can be the targets of bigotry, they’re not beyond dishing out some of their own stereotypes:
I could be the first black President. I mean, I don’t think anyone would hurt me … because my vice president would be Mexican, for a little ‘insurance’. I mean, you can shoot me, but you’re just gunna open up the border.
—Dave Chappelle
Men lie the most. Women tell the biggest lies. A man lie is ‘I was at Kevin’s house’. A woman lie is, ‘It’s your baby!’
—Chris Rock
Is this fair? Or, as Daniel Tosh puts it:
Whaddya think of these faggots getting married? I can say that: I’m black. Here’s a social experiment: figure out why the second statement softens the first.
There are Anglo-Saxon character comics who get away with material that could be regarded as offensive because the final laugh is aimed at the character themselves. Even within a predominantly Anglo-Saxon culture, an Anglo-Saxon comic can, like Rock and Chappelle, use self-satire to deliver jokes that ignore propriety.
Al Murray’s masterful portrayal of a pissed British ‘non-bigoted’ bigot allows him to get away with things a non-character comedian would find difficult to sell.
When a Frenchman is in trouble, he doesn’t do what you or I would do, does he? No, when a Frenchman is in trouble, he does something very strange. He doesn’t shout ‘Help’. The international word for ‘Help’, coming from the English word ‘Help’, meaning help. Used in times of stress requiring help.
You see, the thing about xenophobia is, it’s a Greek word.
Catherine Deveny, a fearless left-wing columnist, shows she is capable of humour that may mildly offend its ethnic targets.
The first thing I saw when I got off the plane in London was a sign that read, ‘Do you want to complain?’ It was like landing in Germany to ‘Do you want to engineer something with precision?’
All comedy writers are free to use ethnic and regional humour against white Anglo-Saxons because their culture is so dominant. Irishmen, Americans and blondes will just have to cop it.
Q: What did the white guy do before his blood test
?
A: He studied.
—Unattrib.
Canada is like a loft apartment over a really great party.
—Robin Williams
EXERCISE
1. Choose an opinion held by one of your characters that stems from their prejudice or world view.
For example: the conservative Barbara takes a dim view of those who claim to be liberal. Her unpolished opinion is, ‘People who believe they have “open minds” on social, sexual and political issues like to feel morally superior to those who favour personal responsibility, hetero monogamy and traditional institutions. In effect, their minds are closed to a broad range of viewpoints and the people who hold them’.
2. Reduce the opinion to its core assertion.
For example: ‘“Open” minds are in fact closed to a lot of conservative views.’
3. Use a metaphor, comparison, scenario or wordplay that presents the opinion simply. Dramatic irony or sarcasm can also be used to show the character’s own limitations or hypocrisy on this issue. (In most cases it’s best to express the viewpoint without greatly extending the length of the compressed statement.)
For example: There’s nothing so narrow as an open mind.
Self-Referential Gags
Self-referential gags are like the mythical serpent, Ouroboros, coiled and biting his own tail. He may swallow the length of his own body right up to his neck or even consume himself entirely.
They’re self-enclosed jokes that set up an archetypal quality (e.g. shyness or pedantry) or persona (e.g. a soccer mum or terrorist), then play on the audience’s preconception. While the comedy in narrative gags derives from character traits established through the course of the story, in self-referential gags the audience doesn’t need to know anything about the character in the joke beyond what is set up in the joke itself.
Once an archetype or characteristic is established, the punchline presents an affirmation, negation or exaggeration of that archetype or characteristic.
Self-referential gags often appear in narrative comedy. Like one-line gags, they set up a personal quality or role, then play upon it.
CONFIRMATION
The punchline is a direct confirmation of the premise.
I enjoy using the comedy of self-deprecation … but I’m not very good at it.
—Arnold Brown
I used to be indecisive, but now I’m not quite sure.
—Tommy Cooper
I forgot something once. Buggered if I know what it was …
—Flacco (Paul Livingston)
JEMAINE: I can’t believe you got that job and I didn’t.
BRET: You know, you’ve got to work on your people skills.
JEMAINE: Yeah, shut up, Bret.
—Flight of the Conchords (‘Bret Gives up the Dream’ by James Bobin, Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie)
NEGATION
The premise is undermined or absurdly negated by the punchline.
I want to join the Optimist’s Club, but they probably won’t accept me.
—David Cervera
Nobody goes there anymore, it’s too crowded.
—Yogi Berra
I don’t like meeting strangers, which is why I try to get to know everyone.
—Author
BARRY: I told you, Clive, never explain, never apologise.
CLIVE: Well, I didn’t hear you … sorry.
—Shock Jock (‘Vive Le Difference’ by the Author)
EXAGGERATION
The punchline takes the premise to a nonsensical extreme.
Yes, I like my coffee hot and strong … like I like my women: hot and strong … with a spoon in them.
—Eddie Izzard
I read Fat is a Feminist Issue. But I ate that as well.
—Jo Brand
I was a vegetarian until I started leaning toward the sunlight.
—Rita Rudner
There are countless examples (usually found on car stickers) of jokes that play on the qualities of a given archetype. These gags are typically confirmations of the archetype in the form of a pun:
Butchers do it in the raw.
—Unattrib.
Old professors never die; they just lose their faculties.
—Stephen Fry
You know you’re a redneck if your gene pool has no deep end.
—Unattrib.
Blackadder is seeking an eligible princess. He dismisses most of the candidates as being too old or too young. The last thirty-nine princesses, he says, are mad …
BALDRICK: They sound ideal.
BLACKADDER: They would be if they hadn’t all got married last week in Munich to the same horse.
—The Black Adder (‘Amy and Amiability’ by Richard Curtis and Ben Elton)
COMBINATIONS
Some narrative self-referential gags perform two functions at once:
BRIAN: You’re all individuals.
CROWD: Yes! We’re all individuals!
BRIAN: You’re all different.
CROWD: Yes, we are all different!
MAN IN CROWD: I’m not.
—Life of Brian (Monty Python)
In the space of five lines the crowd negates the premise ‘We are all individuals’ by trying to confirm it, and the crowd member confirms it by trying to negate it.
EXERCISE
1. Choose an archetype or characteristic, e.g., ‘peace activists’ who challenge institutions, chain themselves to trees and public monuments, start riots, meditate, smoke dope and get naked as a form of eye-catching protest.
2. List lines that affirm, negate or exaggerate that archetype or characteristic.
Affirm—‘I want to be a peace activist so I can smoke joints, strip off and chain myself to the Statue of Liberty. World peace would be a bonus, too.’
Negate—‘I want to be a peace activist and I’ll kill anyone who tries to stop me.’
Exaggerate—‘Being a peace activist at home is about setting priorities—do I chain myself to the fridge or the toilet?’
3. Pick your favourite.
Build self-referential gags using these examples:
Archetype:
Pessimist
Sex addict
Crisis counsellor
Animal psychologist
Jockey
Archetypal characteristic:
Bad memory
Political correctness
Fear of public speaking
Easily bored
Everything is predictable
Devise punchlines that confirm, negate or exaggerate the following:
‘I forget things all the time’
‘I get lonely at parties’
‘I’m easily shocked’
‘I don’t believe in ghosts’
Working backwards from the punchline to the set-up can be easier, as it opens up a logical path:
1. Devise a punchline. This might be a simple sentence, but it should be short and conclusive, e.g. ‘I lost interest in it’. While this is not intrinsically funny, it opens up possibilities.
2. Define the emotion, sensibility or intention behind the punchline, e.g. ‘I lost interest in it’ suggests apathy or aimlessness.
3. Identify archetypes that experience the opposite or extreme of the quality you’ve identified, e.g. someone who never experiences apathy might include drill sergeants, Olympic athletes and motivational speakers, while those who are always apathetic might include roadside workers, teenagers at school or people with attention deficit disorder (ADD).
4. Identify situations in which the punchline would be positive or negative, e.g. losing interest could be positive when the subject is murder, or when the speaker is someone who (absurdly) prides themselves on their ability to lose interest. Losing interest would be negative when the speaker’s livelihood or relationships depend on their continuing interest.
5. Identify possible causes for the sentiment behind the punchline, e.g. a loss of interest might be a response to a boring person, a boring subject or simply an
inability to concentrate.
6. From the archetypes, situations and causes you’ve identified, mix and match until you come across a satisfying lead-in to the punchline, e.g. as motivational speakers are meant to inspire tenacity in others, they’re the people least likely to lose interest in things, making them a strong contender for a lead-in that the punchline negates: ‘I used to be a motivational speaker, but I lost interest in it’. Alternately, attention deficit disorder by definition leads to a loss of interest. A lead-in based upon ADD suggests a confirmation of the punchline: ‘I used to study ADD, but I lost interest in it’.
Devise other set-ups that will confirm, negate of exaggerate the following punchlines:
… but nobody noticed.
… but I thought it had some positive qualities.
… but you have to see it my way.
… but I’m not going to tell you.
… but I guess you had to be there.
Flawed Logic
Flawed logic is the idiot brother of negation. Unsound reasoning undermines even the loftiest plans.
Flawed logic is grist for character comedians and sitcom’s more clownish characters. Despite misplaced confidence, left to their own devices they can’t think their way out of a plastic bag.
Now they’re saying cigarettes can cause cancer of the cervix, I’m always very careful to put them in my mouth.
—Fiona O’Loughlin
Why do people in ship mutinies always ask for ‘better treatment’? I’d ask for a pinball machine, because with all that rocking back and forth you’d probably be able to get a lot of free games.
—Jack Handey
A man sits on a train throwing biscuits out the window. A woman asks him, ‘Why are you throwing biscuits out the window?’ ‘To keep the tigers away,’ the man replies. The woman frowns. ‘But there aren’t any tigers in Australia.’ ‘See?’ says the man, ‘It works!’