Given the conversation about farting and political satire, I was expecting to see Spike Jones "Der Feuher's Face" show up at some point -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWF8iRCan7I
You guys are the comedy experts and I don't wanna tell you your jobs but... isn't it a basic rule of comedy that a zany madcap needs a straight man to react to them in order for it to be funny? Lewis needs his Martin, Costello his Abbott, Ernie his Bert. Who is Trump's straight man? I mean, Melania would seem like a natural choice, what with her admitted mastery of the icy, contemptuous glare. But she seems largely relegated to a non-speaking role, and he'll never give her equal billing.
Comedy is just the interruption of expected patterns that creates a situation that makes our brains go “wait, what?” Then we laugh due to the pattern being upended.
lol. Prove what? It’s deductive. There’s not forensic evidence for it. It’s not like there are comedy fossils I can present to the jury.
It’s why people laugh at dark humor. Or why my family always cracks jokes at funerals.
The whole straight man, wacky guy trope relies directly on this interruption of patterns. We laugh at the straight man being perturbed by his nonsensical fellow. It’s just a form of pattern interruption.
Despair and sadness also come from interrupting patterns. (We are first and foremost pattern seeking creatures).
At the end of every joke is some subversion of an expected pattern.
Take “why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side?” Why is that funny? (Some might say it’s not. But it’s a good example). Because the expected pattern is set up: punchline. And usually the punchline is something unexpected. The chicken joke works because it gives you the unexpected by being boringly honest. Your brain sets up for this big punchline and so you’re thinking “ok punchline. I’m ready hit me” and then it gives you the most boring non punchline answer ever. Which is why it’s funny.
Trump, or whoever all rely on generally the same principle when trying to be funny. It could be that the timing was unexpected, an aside was unexpected, a little snide comment out of nowhere. Timing is a big part in this too.
It’s the timing that really separates very funny people from cringe. But it still relies on just usually interrupting some pattern the audience brain is looking for.
If you explain it, it either wasn't funny or it won't be when you're done, so this is against my better judgment, but here goes: If I go to the primate house and see a chimp scratching his ass, it's pretty funny. But if I bring a folding chair and watch that chimp for a couple hours it won't be as funny the fiftieth time (trust me on this.) However, that same chimp scratching his same ass at a key moment during the coronation of King Charles is somehow, magically funny again.
Understand this koan, and you will have begun to grasp the mystic alchemy of the straight man.
Oh I understand it. It’s just not the only type of funny.
Also there’s the old “it’ll come back around” sorry but if I saw you watching a monkey on a folding chair for 5 hours straight. It might not be funny the 50th time. But I’m a big believer that that 51st time would be funny again. Also. Watching a chimp for hours to count his ass scratching might not be funny to you. But the people who walk by and are like “the fuck is this guy doing?” They’ll find it funny.
But my sense of humor is more absurdist than most.
No I agree a good straight man is great. Though I wouldn’t say it’s strictly necessary.
Trump is a walking piece of shit but the one sided take on him by liberal comedians has become boring and unfunny in the extreme. I like Jimmy Kimmel’s interviews but his constant, repetitious focus on Trump alone in his opening monologue has become tedious and boring. He mirrors Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and John Oliver who cannot bear to poke fun at the foibles of the left. Ricky Gervais, Bill Maher and Dave Chappelle are equal opportunity comedians. That’s why they are consistently funny and the others are not.
The rules of political comedy:
Mocking Bush: Funny
Mocking Obama: Racist
Mocking Trump: Your Patriotic Duty!
Mocking Biden: Anti-American
I'm no longer bisexual after seeing that picture of a Naked Mole Rat.
Given the conversation about farting and political satire, I was expecting to see Spike Jones "Der Feuher's Face" show up at some point -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWF8iRCan7I
You guys are the comedy experts and I don't wanna tell you your jobs but... isn't it a basic rule of comedy that a zany madcap needs a straight man to react to them in order for it to be funny? Lewis needs his Martin, Costello his Abbott, Ernie his Bert. Who is Trump's straight man? I mean, Melania would seem like a natural choice, what with her admitted mastery of the icy, contemptuous glare. But she seems largely relegated to a non-speaking role, and he'll never give her equal billing.
Comedy is just the interruption of expected patterns that creates a situation that makes our brains go “wait, what?” Then we laugh due to the pattern being upended.
There are a lot of ways to be funny.
Prove it!
lol. Prove what? It’s deductive. There’s not forensic evidence for it. It’s not like there are comedy fossils I can present to the jury.
It’s why people laugh at dark humor. Or why my family always cracks jokes at funerals.
The whole straight man, wacky guy trope relies directly on this interruption of patterns. We laugh at the straight man being perturbed by his nonsensical fellow. It’s just a form of pattern interruption.
Despair and sadness also come from interrupting patterns. (We are first and foremost pattern seeking creatures).
At the end of every joke is some subversion of an expected pattern.
Take “why did the chicken cross the road? To get to the other side?” Why is that funny? (Some might say it’s not. But it’s a good example). Because the expected pattern is set up: punchline. And usually the punchline is something unexpected. The chicken joke works because it gives you the unexpected by being boringly honest. Your brain sets up for this big punchline and so you’re thinking “ok punchline. I’m ready hit me” and then it gives you the most boring non punchline answer ever. Which is why it’s funny.
Trump, or whoever all rely on generally the same principle when trying to be funny. It could be that the timing was unexpected, an aside was unexpected, a little snide comment out of nowhere. Timing is a big part in this too.
It’s the timing that really separates very funny people from cringe. But it still relies on just usually interrupting some pattern the audience brain is looking for.
If you explain it, it either wasn't funny or it won't be when you're done, so this is against my better judgment, but here goes: If I go to the primate house and see a chimp scratching his ass, it's pretty funny. But if I bring a folding chair and watch that chimp for a couple hours it won't be as funny the fiftieth time (trust me on this.) However, that same chimp scratching his same ass at a key moment during the coronation of King Charles is somehow, magically funny again.
Understand this koan, and you will have begun to grasp the mystic alchemy of the straight man.
Oh I understand it. It’s just not the only type of funny.
Also there’s the old “it’ll come back around” sorry but if I saw you watching a monkey on a folding chair for 5 hours straight. It might not be funny the 50th time. But I’m a big believer that that 51st time would be funny again. Also. Watching a chimp for hours to count his ass scratching might not be funny to you. But the people who walk by and are like “the fuck is this guy doing?” They’ll find it funny.
But my sense of humor is more absurdist than most.
No I agree a good straight man is great. Though I wouldn’t say it’s strictly necessary.
Trump is a walking piece of shit but the one sided take on him by liberal comedians has become boring and unfunny in the extreme. I like Jimmy Kimmel’s interviews but his constant, repetitious focus on Trump alone in his opening monologue has become tedious and boring. He mirrors Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart, and John Oliver who cannot bear to poke fun at the foibles of the left. Ricky Gervais, Bill Maher and Dave Chappelle are equal opportunity comedians. That’s why they are consistently funny and the others are not.