For the first essay I have chosen to write about the article from Laughing Matters titled Light-Bulb Jokes: Charting an Era, written by Daniel Harris. In this essay the author sets out to show the importance of humor in society and how it has adapted over time. The author forms his argument around the ever popular Light-Bulb joke. By opening his argument with a timeline of these jokes and giving more examples throughout the work, the author shows that no social class, culture, or technology is ever free from ridicule. The essay also argues that through slight manipulation of the joke the insulted can easily become the insulter. The essay also shows how jokes and humor change from generation to generation, and the content often relies on what is occurring in that era.
The questions I plan to use in order to formulate my essay are as follows:
What is the purpose of the argument? What does it hope to achieve?
Who is the audience for this argument?
What shape does the argument take? How is the argument presented or arranged? What media does the argument use?
How does the language or style of the argument work to persuade an audience?
Out of the three chapters in Comedy Writing Series I found that the concepts discussed in chapter 3 surprised me the most. The concept discussed here was that of the recipe for humor includes six essential ingredients and they are represented by the acronym THREES. THREES stands for target, hostility, realism, exaggeration, emotion, and surprise. Target represents the audience of the humor and your humor must be suitable for your audience. Hostility is the second ingredient and its presence shows that humor is cruel. The next two ingredients are the antithesis of each other, but they are both needed for good humor. Since “good humor is a paradox.” The next ingredient emotion is important for building tension in your audience and can often be used as a trick. The last key ingredient is surprise, since surprise is one of the primary reasons why people laugh. The book claims that if any one ingredient is missing that the humor will most likely be ruined. At first I found this concept hard to wrap my mind around, it seemed impossible to have all six of these components present in a simple sketch or joke. However, the more I though about the things that I found funny the more I found that indeed all of them were present, more often then not.In looking at things I found funny, I found that one my favorite comedy skits from Monty Python’s Flying Circus did indeed fit into the THREES model for ingredients of humor. I found that the more I practiced using the model the easier it became to identify each part of humor.
Chapter one in Comedy Writing Secrets gave an overview of why humor writing is important. The chapter explains how comedy writing is something that can be taught and is very useful in everyday life. The chapter gives many exercises to help one become a better humor writer and to use ones imagination more. One example of these exercises is to collect cartoon strips and then to analyze who the humor is targeting and why the joke is funny. The chapter also shows how humor can bring fame and fortune to those who have mastered the art. Along with those rewards humor can also allow someone to gain respect from others. One important fundamental that is talked about in chapter one is the MAP acronym. MAP stands for material, audience, and performer. This acronym is important for understanding the dynamics of comedy and humor writing. It shows that no matter what type of humor is being used the audience is always the most important piece of the puzzle. The audience is the ones trying to be persuaded; therefore the humor must always try to match their ideas and interests.
The first reading out of Laughing Matters also discusses what makes good humor writing. The chapter brings up and interesting point on how humor is completely a human element. So that when we find things other than humans to have humor it is because we have noticed human characteristics in that thing. The writing also talks about how the more natural something is the more funny it will be. The second section in Laughing Matters explains how humor often comes from out perception of the world and not by fitting into a model. The other uses his own life experiences to illustrate his point. A suggestion is also made in this writing, similar to Comedy Writing Secrets, to keep a journal of things one finds funny to help improve ones humor writing. The writings in this book were much wordier than those in Comedy Writing Secrets and it was often hard to follow the authors’ train of thought.
I found both of the assigned reading to be extremely insightful. However, I found that the Comedy Writing Secrets book was much easier to follow and held my attention better. I thought the exercises given, as well as the many quotes to be very helpful and fun. The thing that surprised me the most was how much time and effort comedians and humorists put into their work. I always thought that humor was something that came naturally to a person and not that it was something that could be studied and learned. I found the information on the importance of audience to be very true. I fell that both books will help greatly in becoming a better comic writer.
Question: Is comedy and humor strictly a learned ability or is it something that can also be inherited?
