Humor Theories

It started with Humor: A Very Short Introduction by Noel Carroll. A short book assigned by Professor Williams. Beyond excited to start the year and begin my normal school year reading habits, I opened the book and anxiously began to read. One part into the book and my interest in reading quickly developed into fecklessness. I wanted none of it. The author was biased and the way in which the novel was written could have put a sixteen year old version of myself on multiple energy drinks to sleep. Aside from the boring presentation and biased writing, Humor: A Very Short Introduction by Noel Carroll did teach and inform me about a multitude of humor theories. Now in class we often asserted that the incongruity theory held the most validity of the theories. Unfortunately, as my mind often tends to react, I disagreed. The superiority theory can answer almost any counter argument even conceivable. Simply put, we laugh because we feel above or better than the experience, action or person that initiated the laughter. Knock knock, anti, and “Yo momma” jokes all work with the superiority theory. When someone says a knock knock joke, it is in an attempt to either trick or deceive the other person (Superiority) or to be extremely silly (in which the other person would laugh because they feel superior). Although the theories are interesting, they all have their flaws and to talk about which one is more correct would amount to nothing as both are still incorrect. No theory can ever be correct because it would be impossible to illustrate the infinite number of humor styles that each person has. I do find that I thought the superiority theory was the most correct interesting because I think it made me realize that deep down I am always trying to maintain or achieve superiority. It is not that I do not respect people, but to me personally, I almost always want to be the best. This is not the worst goal to have, but this desire can hold someone back in a myriad of scenarios. This semester I have worked on taking a step back and seeing what others can accomplish instead of always trying to one up the competition. Now my trial period has not ended but I am struggling to “relax” nonetheless. My father always tells me to involve myself in less activities so that I can dedicate more time to the activities I truly prefer. But the chance that I could be left with dead time kills me as I have an enormous fear or wasting time. On a side note I just looked that up in case it was on one of Professor William’s vocab hand outs and failed to find an exact name for the fear of wasting time. The closest thing I found was the fear of time itself; chronophobia. Now heading back to what I learned, aside from the fact that the fear of time itself was chronophobia, I now realize that the humor theories taught me more about myself than I still am willing to admit. Through that dreadfully bland novel I learned that the interpretation of comedy can stem from a myriad of factors. Personal development and emotional capabilities tend to illustrate one’s humor style. Sadly as I am writing this, I finally realized the fatal flaw of the superiority theory. There is a point in every person’s life in which they simply become accepting of the world around them and don’t feel the need to improve upon their current state. At that point the superiority theory could not be applicable because one is not achieving some sense of superiority but a sense of content. A good example this debate will last forever is the fact that in response one could argue that the feeling of content and lack of ambition could be one’s way of feeling superior or matured. Regardless of the validness of any of these theories, I learned through those theories to take a step back and allow life to unfold around you on occasion.

Meeting Juan

It was a Thursday night and it was the first time I was going to meet my conversation partner. Since I am currently in a class focused on humor and comedy, I thought it would be fitting to go to Senseless Acts of Comedy –an improv comedy show on campus—to meet with my new friend. The night started off not according to plan as both of us were late and had no idea what the other looked like. I remember walking up to around three different people asking if they were Juan only to be informed that I was wrong and looked at as if the idea that they could be Juan was out of the realm of possibility. Eventually when he showed up, we quickly introduced ourselves and went into the show. This week’s show was a competition between two teams. The moment I realized this twist in the presentation I began to fill with anxiety. What if this different type of performance would not be funny and Juan’s opinion of me would lower based off of my poor sense of humor? Easily this format could not do justice to the pure comedy that Senseless Acts of Comedy provides. In addition, I was beyond nervous that his sense of humor would differ from mine and that he would be extremely bored at the show. However, that worry and anxiety turned moot as I saw him laughing and enjoying the show as much, if not more, than the enjoyment I received from the show. He found some of the actions oddly funny and understood, from what I gathered, the jokes that even involved our popular culture. The show lasted around forty minutes and although it was without a doubt not their best performance, It did do the cast justice. After the show I introduced Juan to my girlfriend, she was at the show as well, and we began telling each other about ourselves.  Coincidentally enough Juan and I both lived in the same dorm our freshman year—Milton Daniel. Even weirder, we both live(d) on the third floor—something very uncommon for freshman. If I could picture where he said his room was correctly, he actually lives in the room that one of my current roommates resided in last year. We began talking more and more and eventually our conversation developed into sports. I found that Juan and I have a fond opinion on basketball; well sports in general. Eventually we started heading back to our dorms and the night concluded. By meeting with Juan however, I learned that although there may be cultural differences, we really are not that different.  The two of us may have grown up on two completely different parts of the world, but we still talk the same and enjoy a fair amount of the same activities. Heading back towards the subject of humor, I also realized that humor has no boundaries. Two people, nurtured in entirely different environments, still can laugh and enjoy at the same humor. Now whether the laughter engendered from the comic material or presentation is irrelevant because it would be the performer’s actions we as the audience would enjoy. In the future I want to learn more about Juan’s upbringing and what he considers “funny”. In addition, I would love to meet some of his friends. I think the more interesting commentary will develop as he gets to learn more about me and me of him.  I thoroughly enjoyed hanging out with Juan and I cannot wait for our next hangout.