The Irreducible Complexity of Humour
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The Irreducible Complexity of Humour
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Let's take an example:
Question: How does Bob Marley like his donuts?
Answer: Wi' Jam in.
On the face of it, this is a simple pun which works well if you are familiar with the works of the late great reggae artiste from Jamaica, with the fact that "Jam" is the British-English word for the fruit conserve known in some other English speaking countries as "Jelly" and that a donut (or doughnut) is a popular dessert food into which this conserve is often injected. (See? I'm already starting to destroy it. Let's see if I can finish the job.)
But it's perhaps surprising how many jokes, even the simplest ones, require a lot of specific background cultural knowledge and experience in order to be fully appreciated. For example, the joke I have just mentioned was one that I first heard from the working-class northern English comedian called Peter Kay. In that context, the utterance "wi' jam in" takes on cultural overtones.
Many, perhaps most, jokes rely on the unexpected breaking of rules and norms. One way to do this is to juxtapose concepts, sayings, ideas or worldviews from radically different cultural backgrounds. We can add to this the observation that people often fear the unfamiliar, the unkown or the foreign, and another common comic device seems to consist of inducing slight fear and then relieving it.
A part of the stereotypical character of the Northern English working-class (as with similar groups elsewhere) is a slight fear of, and feeling of inferiority to, unfamiliar exotic lifestyles or cultures. This is illustrated very graphically and humourously by the works of writers like Alan Bennett who were the first generation of their background to go to University, become successful in the London based media world and thereby be able to examine this phenomenon from both sides with exquisite accuracy and insight. (And, inevitably, the stereotype was turned upside-down by the Monty Python "Northern Playwrite" sketch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPSzPGrazPo)
Somebody like Bob Marley, and reggae culture, would certainly, in the past, have fallen into the category of unfamiliar and exotic. The phrase "wi' jam in", spoken in a northern English accent, is reassuringly familiar sounding while the phrase "We're jammin'" spoken in a Jamaican accent is exotic. Bringing these two together via the device of a pun achieves both the juxtaposition of alien worlds and the relief of fear and the sense of inferiority. There's the slight suggestion, as there is with a lot of Peter Kay''s humour, that an arty/intellectual/exotic culture has been brought down to size and made less daunting and full-of-itself by no-nonsense honest working class common sense. (The question of whether Reggae really is arty or intellectual is irrelevant. This is about perception, not reality.)
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This, it seems to me, is the main reason why humour appears to be irreducibly complex. It has the unique ability to encapsulate huge swathes of the entire history of whole cultures in deceptively simple-seeming sentences like "wi' jam in".
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Discuss.
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Re: The Irreducible Complexity of Humour
Like Steptoe and Son in which sitcom are the competing moral claims of aged, dependent and annoying parent, and son's predicament who confronts his own desires and aged parent alternately. Real life situation well portrayed and treated lightly with empathy.and another common comic device seems to consist of inducing slight fear and then relieving it.
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Re: The Irreducible Complexity of Humour
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Re: The Irreducible Complexity of Humour
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Re: The Irreducible Complexity of Humour
You don't get that so much in these modern uninhibited times. There's less and less to rebel against. I wonder if that will ultimately kill comedy. Or if we'll revert back to a new age of repression against which we can start to rage again.
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Re: The Irreducible Complexity of Humour
Simple puns may be the exception but they usually will not elicit a belly laugh.
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Re: The Irreducible Complexity of Humour
But I wouldn't say it covers almost all types of humour. Another major category could perhaps be the "rule breaking" type that I mentioned in the OP. Challenging our conception of normality by showing us something bizzare or unusual. This can be something that breaks the established rules of anything from physics to the norms of human interaction.
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Re: The Irreducible Complexity of Humour
2023/2024 Philosophy Books of the Month
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