One Last Thing

What makes us laugh? A lot of things. Fart jokes can make you giggle, a good pun could elicit a huge chuckle, or watching someone trip over a banana could cause a guffaw. However, the art of comedy writing is far more complicated than just a few farts and banana peels. Comedic literature is a complicated art that involves a deeper knowledge of the psychology behind humor.  Beyond comedy's importance in terms of general human happiness, comedy is also essential for voicing concerns about society.

I would like to write my paper about the importance of humor in society. Comedy serves to reveal truths about the human experience. By laughing at ourselves, we are better able to view our flaws. Humorous literature, stand up routines, TV shows, and political cartoons have been helpful for catalyzing social change ever since the printing press was invented. Once I have discovered why we laugh, I think it's important to touch on why it's important for us to laugh.

To do this, I would like to first delve into the psychology behind humor. Obviously, there are a lot of different forms of comedy. Asa Burger wrote about the different techniques for comedy in Europe's Journal of Psychology. In her article "Why We Laugh and What Makes Us Laugh", she compiled a list of 45 different comedy techniques, which can be seen below:

1. Absurdity 

2. Accident 

3. Allusion 

4. Analogy 

5. Before & After 

6. Bombast 

7. Burlesque 

8. Caricature 

9. Catalogue 

10. Chase Scene 

11. Coincidence 

12. Comparison 

13. Definition 

14. Disappointment 

15. Eccentricity

16. Embarrassment 

17. Exaggeration 

18. Exposure 

19. Facetiousness 

20. Grotesque 

21. Ignorance 

22. Imitation 

23. Impersonation 

24. Infantilism 

25. Insults 

26. Irony 

27. Literalness 

28. Mimicry 

29. Mistakes 

30. Misunderstanding

31. Parody

32. Puns 

33. Repartee 

34. Repetition 

35. Reversal 

36. Ridicule 

37. Rigidity 

38. Sarcasm 

39. Satire 

40. Scale, Size 

41. Slapstick 

42. Speed 

43. Stereotypes 

44. Theme & Variation 

45. Unmasking

Each of these techniques are unique in their own right, sometimes even diametrically opposed. For example, "literalness" (#27) is the complete opposite of "misunderstanding (30). However, despite their differences, there are examples of all of them working to make an audience laugh. 

In my paper, I aim to dissect these different forms of comedy by pinpointing the most effective ones. (Namely: Exaggeration, allusion, caricature, irony, parody, and satire.) From there, I plan on exemplifying their power through their utilization in samples from literature (especially from authors such as Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Woody Allen, and obviously BJ Novak's). Once I have zeroed in on the important elements and their use in well-known works, I plan on showing how these particular works/techniques helped to illuminate a particular problem in the world. Most comedy aims to prove a point. It's important to dig through the layers of laugh to the lessons inside. 

This is a thin outline as I (regrettably) haven't had time to fully flesh out an outline! I will have a first draft by the end of the week. Someone once told me that if you have to explain a joke, it probably isn't funny. I'm looking forward to dehumorizing (I made up that word) the works of great comedians.