Humour

Humour (or humor, for you people that leave U out of everything) generally comes from the unexpected. We get the setup, which is a general event, and then the punchline, which is contrary to our expectations of what the setup would indicate. So, for instance, you might get the question "How many (blanks) does it take to change a light bulb?" The expected response might be "one" since it usually only takes one person to change a light bulb. Perhaps two, in case the light bulb is high and someone needs to hold a ladder for safety concerns. The punchline is usually "(number) - one to change it and (number minus one) to (act in a stereotypical manner of blanks)." So you get "How many Baptists does it take to change a light bulb?" "Eight. One to change it, but not before seven get together to form a committee for approval." Or "How many trumpet players does it take to change a light bulb?" (For this, you have to know that trumpet players are the most egotistical of all those gifted with music. Even more than drummers) "Four. One to change it and three to say how they would have done it better."

One of the more recent interpretations of this is subversive. For instance, with an obvious setup, most people would expect a joke. So to be unexpected, there is no punchline. "Why did the chicken cross the road?" "To get to the other side." It's unexpected because people are expecting a punchline, and not getting one. For light bulb jokes, this is usually played out by having the answer not be a number. “How many Catholics does it take to change a light bulb?” “Change?”

In all of these, though, missing expectations is not enough. You generally have to be funny, and I can't explain that really well. All I can do is point out examples of different types of humour.

Observation humour is pretty much just contrasting expectations with something funny. "You ever notice how (something you're familiar with) is actually (something funny)?" The expectation is the view of what we have of said object. The humour comes from the new view we gain of said object. Some of it falls flat if the view isn't so different from what we know. "You ever notice how men and women are different? (pause for laughter)" Observation humour is mainly used by standup comics, and the good ones are terrific. The bad ones get another job.

Cringe Comedy (as TVtropes calls it) or awkward humour (as I call it) is mainly based on the difference in expectations of what we're comfortable with in our relationships. Shows like The Office or Parks & Recreation or 30 Rock or It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia show what happens when people say things that other people aren't comfortable with. It usually needs a straight man to play against (not that kind of straight ... not that there's anything wrong with that) to show them being uncomfortable. So when Michael Scott or Dwight Schrute go off the deep end and do something that would get them arrested in real life, the camera can focus in on the facial expressions of Jim or Pam and show what we'd be feeling in those situations.

In that vein, but a little moreso is offensive humour. It's like cringe comedy without the straight man, so everyone says or does the uncomfortable things. Most of the time, they have to be so obvious and over-the-top that that's where the humour comes from. Also, on a meta-level, part of the humour comes from watching it and saying to yourself "I can't believe they just said that. I wonder how many people aren't going to get the joke and protest?" Well Family Guy, the PTC (Parents Television Council) did not get the joke and protested. Way to go! Unfortunately, this humour is a very fine line, subject to many different tastes, so some people will enjoy the jokes, some people won't, and some will be offended. Personally, I like Family Guy, I think The Simpsons is a bit too tame, and I'm not a fan of South Park. But that's a matter of taste.

I'm more into the zany, wacky humour partially pioneered by Monty Python. They defy expectations by having anything happen. "How many engineers does it take to screw in a light bulb?" "I don't know, how many?" "Gah! I'm having a heart attack ... while aliens are landing ... and complaining about the food!" It's somewhat head-spinning and doesn't appeal to a whole lot of people. But it did open up a lot of different avenues of comedy and if you ask any modern humourist, most will list Monty Python as an influence. It's this type of humour that made me enjoy Scrubs and Better Off Ted so much. Killing those was "like beating a unicorn to death with a bag of rainbows." - Phil, Better Off Ted.

Spoofs are kind of hit and miss. The expectation is whatever's being spoofed. Airplane was mainly a parody of Airport, so people would expect most of the same events as that movie. Airplane did a good job of being very similar, but changing one or two details to turn the situation on its head. Good parodies will change very little and still be hilarious. Bad parodies won't change anything, and expect the humour to come from the references to the movies they're spoofing *cough* Seltzer-Friedberg *Cough*.

Black comedy is very hard to pull off well, because death isn't very funny. It's not used in movies or TV shows very much. I've heard it's used by people who face death or worse a lot to help them cope. Doctors, policemen ... I imagine funeral directors or embalmers use it a lot.

Blue comedy (sorry, dirty jokes) will get a lot of people riled up. Sex tends to be a private thing, so people will get offended when it's brought up publicly. It can be pulled off quite well, but often times it just tends to be crude. Same thing with toilet humour. The potential is certainly there, but writers either haven't harnessed it right, or their viewers are content to find humour in the gross-out factor. It's not something I like, but if someone pointed out a tasteful bathroom joke, I bet I'd laugh.

One of the main problems with humour in general, though, is the tendency to make fun of someone. Anyone who's the subject of the joke may be offended. Light Bulb jokes make fun of the subjects using stereotypes. Same with Dumb Blonde jokes (never mind that stupidity has never been limited to hair colour ... or any other characteristics, for that matter).

Generally, you can only make jokes at the expense of a people group you belong to. I can make fun of Baptists, or Christians, but not Jews. I can make fun of Canadians, but not the Polish. I can make fun of white people, but no others (there's been enough of that, and worse, over the course of human history). Self-deprecation is the extreme form of this. Since no one is the butt of your joke but yourself, no one can really protest except yourself. Conan O'Brien does this a lot, mixed with zany humour and some offensive humour as well.

Of course, there are some groups of people that can be made fun of by everyone. TVTropes calls them Acceptable Targets. Men and women can be made fun of by either gender, because we pretty much exist in equal amounts. Other acceptable targets are usually majorities. Americans, white males, Christians. Making any of these a target of a joke is generally fine (again, taste is an issue, and anyone can protest if they're not good humoured enough). Making a joke of anyone else is a tricky business, and writers had best be prepared, lest they face the wrath of the PTC. Of whom it takes 476 to screw in a light bulb. One to actually do the work, and 475 to make a special interest group and complain to the government about the effect of dead bulbs on children.