The assertion of logical contradictions will always generate laughter, especially if the character asserting it doesn't realize that he is a contradicting himself. Associated with this is the non-sequitor, an illogical statement that is humorous because the second statement (the sequitor) is in no way conceptually connected with the first statement. This is the George Burns-Gracie Allen style of humor and is also often found in the dialogues between Chico and Groucho Marx.
Switching between conceptual frameworks during a dialogue will also generate laughter, especially if there are words in the different frameworks that sound alike. Any violation of a rule of logic will cause people to laugh, provided that they understand which rule is being violated. Arthur Koestler, in Acts of Creation, states that laughter results from "the perceiving of a situation or idea in two self-consistent but habitually incompatible frames of reference."
"Modal jokes" are the result of a deviation from an utterance and the normal expected attitude associated with that type of utterance. An example of this is a hysterical person screaming that they are relaxed, or a person yelling at the top of their lungs that they are speaking softly.
Laughter is often generated when a character assumes an inappropriate attitude for an issue, which the audience will interpret as the character perceiving the situation from a radically different perspective. One example of this technique is to discuss a topic with "mocking insincerity," a method often used by David Letterman on his late night television show.
Another construction that extends the modal form occurs when a joke fails to make the audience laugh. An experienced comedian will then respond with ridiculing his own delivery or the writer of the material, or chastising the audience for their lack of comprehension. Johnny Carson was a master of this technique.
Linguistic incompetence, in all of its variations, will generate laughter. The audience understands the appropriate language use and will laugh at any deviations. Puns are often not successful because the speaker usually does not sincerely expresses the second use of the word in the sentence. The audience does not believe that the speaker could really be confusing the two different meanings of the word.
To misinterpret the intended metaphoric meaning of a word for its literal meaning will generate laughter, especially if the audience understands the context of conversation. Ambiguity is a fruitful source for humor. The setup line makes a true statement using one of the possible meanings of a word. This establishes the audience's expectations within this context. The punch line then states another true statement based on a radically different meaning of the same word. This produces the deviation from expectations that causes people to laugh.
The comic "rule of three" forms another standard construction, consisting of two setup lines followed by the punch line. The first case introduces the situation and the pattern of behavior to the audience. The second case reinforces the pattern within this situation, so that the audience will come to accept this as a standard and normal pattern. This effectively builds up the audience expectation about what will happen next. The third case will be a surprise radical deviation from this pattern, but a deviation that does not threaten the audience. If the audience feels threatened, they will feel fear and anger, instead of laughing.
In Comedy Writing Handbook, the professional Hollywood comedy writer, Gene Perret, explores the various linguistic constructions that create humor by deviating from expected patterns of linguistic usage. Some of the suggestions offered by Perret are discussed below.
The punch line should be kept hidden until the very last word. This will prolong the audience's expectations and make the deviation sudden.
Sentences using words that generate bizarre images within the minds of the audience will create incongruity by making them visualize unexpected patterns. Exaggerate an impossible image. The more absurd or outlandish the image, the greater the incongruity in the mind of the audience, and the greater the resulting laughter. Use very 'concrete' and particular images, because the more visual it is, the more the audience will become emotionally involved and the more energy will be expended in laughter when they can't make the image fit into their normal framework of things.
Humor is often generated when one character misinterprets the meaning of the words and sentences uttered by another character. The laughter will be even greater if the hearer then ascribes the opposite attitude to the speaker than the speaker intended.
Language that exaggerates and distorts objects will generate laughter. This is accomplished when an object is viewed from a radically different perspective and its traits are magnified to the extreme. For example, the small becomes the infinitesimally small, and the large becomes the gigantic. Distortions of the dimensions of space and time will create absurdity.
Transforming clichés and quotations is another important technique that constructs humor. The Joker in Batman often uses the inappropriate use of clichés to produce humor. As Melvin Helitzer states, "one definition of a cliché is a phrase so predictable you can finish it after you have heard the first few words." Both quotations and clichés are effective because the audience knows what to expect, so the comic writer will then suddenly deviate from that expectation in the punch line.
HUMOROUS SITUATIONS
D.H. Monro, in Argument of Laughter asks the following questions. "What is the common element in laughable situations? How does the common element in laughable situations fit in with human behavior in general? What is the relation between the common element in laughable situations and the physical concomitants of laughter?”
Humorous situations can be grouped into the following types, all of which can be conceived to involve sudden radical deviations from expected patterns of behavior:
1. Any breach of the usual order of events. A sudden radical deviation from the natural order of things in the world.
2. Any forbidden breach of the usual order of events. This is a sudden radical deviation from the social norms of appropriate behavior.
3. Indecency, which could be considered as a deviation from the moral codes of appropriate behavior.
4. Importing into one situation what belongs to another situation. Universe changing is a very important factor for humor. Things that are normally associated with one context appear in another radically different context.
5. Anything masquerading as something that it is not. This is a deviation from expected role behavior or type behavior.
6. Small misfortunes. We laugh because things could be much worst, and no one was seriously harmed.
One technique that can be used to construct a humorous situation from a non-humorous state of affairs is to reverse the intention of the primary character to the opposite intention. For example, if a man appears extremely angry, reverse his intention to that of trying to help the other character in the scene.
The misunderstanding generated by the other character will cause people to laugh. Humor is generated by incompetent actions that characters do when trying to overcome obstacles to their objectives. The characters could under-prepare for an obstacle that turns out to be enormous, over-prepare for an obstacle that turns out to be insignificant, or irrelevantly prepare for an obstacle that turns out to be completely different than anticipated.
HUMOROUS CHARACTERS
In morality plays, characters "were named after, and made to personify, human vices and virtues: Lust, Sloth, Hypocrisy, Pride, Avarice, Honor, Prudence, Temperance, Charity, and so on."
- Raymond Hull, How To Write A Play
What my comedy is all about is envy, greed, malice, lust, narrowness and stupidity - John Cleese.
- Melvin Helitzer, Comedy Writing Secrets
The source of much character humor is found in deviations from expected patterns of role behavior or social behavior. In Taking Laughter Seriously, John Morreall discusses humorous characters.
We also laugh at the absent-minded professor, who is intelligent in theoretical matters, but who is forgetful or doesn't have practical intelligence. A
stock way of getting a laugh in a play is to have some character speak or act in ignorance of a fact that we in the audience are aware of.
Moral shortcomings, too, have been a standard object of laughter throughout history: the miser, the liar, the drunkard, the lazy person, the lecher, the gossip, the coward, the hypocrite - are all stock comedic characters.
Henri Bergson, commenting on the comic plays of Moliere, states that the "comic character is simply a man with an obsession." The joke is to see how this obsession crops up again and again in the most varied situations, so that he always behaves in a manner inappropriate to the circum- stances as others see them, but entirely appropriate to his own ruling passion.
Pretense is a common trait of many humorous characters. The audience will laugh at any character who lacks self-knowledge, who are frauds, or who try to publicly present themselves as other than what they really are.
Humans that take on animal characteristics and animals who act like humans, such as the Cowardly Lion, and many of the Walt Disney and Warner Brothers cartoon characters are also examples of deviations from expectations. Their behavior deviates from what is expected of different kinds of creatures, humans, and animals.
Characters involved in embarrassing situations, pratfalls, and small misfortunes are humorous and will generate laughter. Chevy Chase made a career from this type of comic behavior. Successful comedians develop a persona, a character with an essential incongruity at the core of their personality. Judy Carter in Stand-up Comedy, The Book, states that "a persona is when a comic has one specific emotional attitude for their entire act, and all of the material hangs on that hook." As examples, she includes Rodney Dangerfield ("I don't get no respect."), Jay Leno ("Here's something stupid"), and Richard Lewis ("I'm in pain.").
But this does make the characters one-dimensional. Other successful comedians possess an incongruity at the core of their personality, such as Steve Martin ("the would-be sophisticate who is socially inept"), Bill Cosby ("an adult with child-like enthusiasm") and Bob Hope ("the womanizer who never gets the girl").
Besides deviant behavior patterns, humor is also generated whenever a character expresses exaggerated or understated reactions to a situation, absent-mindedness, superfluous motions, and mechanical and automatic movements, as long as these behaviors suddenly break an established pattern, and conclude by being non-threatening to the audience.
Continual repetition of any behavior is a deviation from the norm and will produce laughter. Another common comic type is the bumbler, best exemplified by Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther movies. This character poses as an authority figure, a police detective,
who in actuality is an incompetent fool.
One process for designing comic characters that radically deviates from expected norms of behavior is to work with the framework of Aristotelian ethical theory. Aristotle, in Nichomachean Ethics, designed a theory of virtues and vices. For each "sphere of action" he indicates a "mean," which is the norm or appropriate behavior for that type of situation. From this "mean" he then constructs an "excess," which represents the exaggerated behavior pattern for a type of situation, and a "deficiency," which represents the understated behavior pattern for this kind of situation. Extreme deviations from the "mean" will produce laughter.
Writing Assignment: Create one humorous piece of dialogue, one humorous situation and one humorous bit
of character behavior for your story. Study scenes from GhostBusters.
Aristotle's Ethical Concepts: Excess Character Traits
Rashness (Courage-Fear)
Forrest (Forrest Gump): Running in the jungle to rescue his fellow soldiers in Vietnam.
Licentiousness (Temperance-Pleasure/Pain)
Venkman (Ghostbusters): lusting after the female student during the ESP experiment.
Prodigality (Liberality-Getting/Spending)
Joker (Batman): Throwing money into the crowd at the Gotham City parade.
Vanity (Honor/Dishonor)
Joker (Batman): Admiring himself in the mirror as his girlfriend Alicia watches.
Ambition (Proper Ambition- Honor/Dishonor)
Joker (Batman): Wants his face on the one dollar bill.
Irascibility (Patience-Anger)
Joker (Batman): Easily angered and prone to violence.
Boastfulness (Truthfulness-Self-expression)
Joker (Batman): Boss Grissom could not run Gotham City without him.
Buffoonery (Wittiness-Conversation)
Ray Stantz (Ghostbusters): Over-enthusiastic whenever he talks about the supernatural.
Obsequiousness (Friendliness-Social Conduct)
Hotel Manager (Ghostbusters): He tries to placate clients waiting to use the Ballroom.
Shyness (Modesty-Shame)
Forrest (Forrest Gump): Forrest is shy when Jenny first makes a sexual advance toward him in her college bedroom.
Envy (Righteous Indignation-Indignation)
Joker (Batman): He is envious of Batman getting all the publicity.
Aristotle's Ethical Concepts: Deficient Character Traits
Cowardice (Courage-Fear)
Sallah (Raiders of the Lost Ark): When Sallah sees snakes in Well of Souls, he tells Indiana Jones to go first.
Insensibility (Temperance- Pleasure/Pain)
Louis (Ghostbusters): At the end of the story, Louis is oblivious to the danger he has just experienced.
Cheapness (Liberality-Getting/Spending)
Uncle Frank (Home Alone): He will not pay for the pizzas.
Pettiness (Magnificence-Getting/Spending)
Kevin's Sisters (Home Alone): They don't help Kevin pack his suitcases.
Timidity (Magnanimity-Honor/Dishonor)
Cowardly Lion (The Wizard of Oz): He is afraid to go in the Witch's Castle to save Dorothy.
Un-ambitiousness (Proper Ambition- Honor/Dishonor)
Kevin (Home Alone): He wants is to be left alone at home.
Lack of Spirit (Patience-Anger)
Egon (Ghostbusters): Egon is a scientific nerd who is passive and indifferent to the sexual advances of the secretary.
Understatement (Truthfulness-Self-expression)
Venkman (Ghostbusters): Almost all of his reactions are understated.
Boorishness (Wittiness-Conversation)
Egon (Ghostbusters): Egon is a scientific nerd who only talks about his research topics.
Cantankerousness (Friendliness-Social Conduct)
Mr. Peck, the EPA Inspector (Ghostbusters): Self-righteous.
Shamelessness (Modesty-Shame)
Burglars (Home Alone): Marv brags that they are "the wet bandits."
Malicious Enjoyment (Righteous Indignation-Indignation)
Marv (Home Alone): Blocks sinks so water overflows.
GENERAL CATEGORIES OF HUMOR
Inappropriateness: Deviations from expectation of appropriate patterns of behavior.
Incongruity: Deviations from the expected patterns of objects in situations.
Irony: Deviations from the expected intended meaning of a statement. Usually the exact opposite meaning is expressed from the normally understood meanings of the words.
Misdirection: Deviations from the expectation of honesty and unambiguous communication.
Rule of Three: Deviations from the expected pattern established in the first two cases. The punch line, which is the surprise radical deviation from the pattern, occurs in the third case.
Misinterpretation of Ambiguous Words: Deviations from expected word meaning.
Double Entendre: Deviations from the norm of not discussing sex explicitly in public.
Contradictions: Deviations from the expectation that a person will utter consistent and truthful statements.
Logic Violation and Incorrect Reasoning: Deviations from the expectation that characters will be reasonable and make correct inferences.
An Incorrect Definition or Explanation: Deviations from the expectation that characters will utter true statemen
ts and explanations.
A Literal Truth Inappropriately Stated: Deviations from the expectation that characters will only make informative statements.
Exaggeration: Deviations from the expectation that characters will react to a situation with an appropriate emotion or behavior.
Understatement: Deviations from the expectation that characters will react to a situation with an appropriate emotion or behavior.
An Irrelevant Comment: Deviations from the expectation that characters will make statements relevant to a situation.
An Ineffectual Statement: Deviations from the expectation that characters will make statements effective to solving the problem.
Clichés Incorrectly Stated: Deviations from the expectation that characters will state clichés correctly or not use them in conversations.
Clichés Inappropriately Applied in Situations: Deviations from the expectation that characters will apply clichés to appropriate situations.
Misspellings: Deviations from the expectation that characters will spell words correctly.
Malapropisms and Mispronunciations: Deviations from the expectation that characters will use words correctly.
Nonsense Presented as Being Sensible: Deviations from the expectation that characters will use language correctly and think correctly
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