Katherine | September 25, 2009
Laughter when something seemingly terrifying turns out to be harmless is a classic form of tension release. I’ve seen this happen with bungee jumping. People who jump off that bridge with a bit of bungee attached to an ankle (and a body harness for backup) may respond by vomiting, crying, or laughing. The ones who [...]
Katherine | July 20, 2009
Back in my article about Comedy Dance Steps I spoke of the three-step. That particular comedy formula goes: introduction, validation, violation. For instance—”You must make sure you get plenty of the three major food groups
every day: fruit, vegetables, and chocolate cake.” The third item may not be impossible, but it will always be unlikely. The [...]
Katherine | July 2, 2009
Transformations and instant inversions are in part about the exaggerated suddenness of a change, partly about the absurdity of the change, and sometimes the pleasure in observing a little instant karma.
Transformations are when something or someone changes into something comically distinct. Usually comic transformations are fast, like a prince turning into a frog, but they [...]
Katherine | June 24, 2009
The comedy element of “ignorance and enlightement” is most popularly used in farce. Farce is a form of storytelling that involves exaggerated and improbable situations that frequently include witticisms, sexual innuendo, mistaken identity, and disguise. Classic examples would be Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors and Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest. More recent examples [...]
Katherine | May 25, 2009
We live in a big crowded world where rules are necessary for the smooth conduct of life.
Imagine what a busy intersection would look like if we had no traffic rules. The crash repair guys would love it. These rules frequently feel annoying. Perhaps you are late for a meeting and would dearly like to be [...]
Katherine | May 7, 2009
Innocents and geeks (a sub-set of innocents) most frequently express this style of humour. Think Stan Laurel, Frank Woodley, and Mr Bean. They don’t necessarily break rules, but they show an unselfconsciousness when it comes to social norms, expectations, and conventions. For example: wearing pants that are too short, laughing at a funeral, finding a [...]
Katherine | March 24, 2009
I felt “nonsense” needed an exclamation mark here. I kept hearing a Britishy voice call out, “Codswallop! Nonsense!” It’s also one of my favourite comic elements and therefore actually deserves a comic double exclamation mark. Nonsense is absurd, surreal, or free-associative humour, for instance a talking cat wearing a saucer and teacup on his head. [...]
Katherine | March 11, 2009
After putting many jokes and comic situations through my personal cyclotron of humour. I have come up with a list of what I feel are the most basic elements of comedy. Certainly, some of these overlap, but so long as they have distinct characteristics that are not always shared with another element, they went on the list. Here they are:
