News In Briefs

Introduction To Humour Part 1

It seems that the collective sense of humour in the blogosphere is wasting away, so here's the first part of a multi-part series "Introduction To Humour". Now, News In Briefs tackles satire which is a little more advanced than other forms of humour, so don't post angry comments just yet. Read on, and hopefully when we tackle satire the whole thing will come into focus.
SO, a beginning. one of the most basic forms of humor is slapstick. Fairly popular in early cinema, it now exists only on "Funniest Home Videos" and their ilk. The example below is a cartoon (funny to start with) of a man getting hit in the face with a pie.*

Notice the arms thrown out, the body falling back under the impact. Looks like the pie caught him by surprise. And the pie is fairly messy, so he'll have to go and clean up. The point? Unexpected happenings are funny unless they're fatal. And it gets funnier if the target is fairly serious. A clown hit with a pie is barely worthy of a grin. President Bush hit with a pie would be hysterical. Here's a picture of motoring journalist and tv presenter Jeremy Clarkson after he was hit with a pie.

He looks pretty indignant. And it got all over his gown and hat. Poor Jeremy.
Other forms of slapstick involve walking into doors, slipping on banana peels, or getting smacked in the head with a long piece of wood. Usually only the subject's pride is hurt. Any more is schadenfreude, which means "pleasure taken from someone else's misfortune."

* If a pie in the face is not funny, stop reading now. Leave the internet, go work in a bank, and consign yourself to being 'the man' to all men for the rest of your life. You don't know how to have fun, and never will.

posted by Steve @ Thursday, September 07, 2006