Douglas Carey

June 6, 2004

Types of Comedy and Humor

Introduction

            Writers use many different devices in order to inject humor into plays or literature.  While the popularity of these devices has changed according to the time period, the devices themselves have remained relatively unchanged.  Some of these devices are pun, innuendo, double entendre, sarcasm, irony and simple foolish blundering. 

Sarcasm

            Sarcasm is probably the least “funny” type of humor because it is usually intended to hurt or degrade the recipient.  Sarcasm is often used in satire and in the single-voice representational genre, such as stand-up comedy.  According to The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms, the word sarcasm, “…comes from a Greek word meaning ‘to tear flesh like dogs’ and signifies a cutting remark.  Sarcasm usually involves obvious, even exaggerated verbal irony,” (425).  This verbal irony can be extremely funny, especially if the recipient is unaware that he/she is being insulted.  The characters Dogberry and Leonato provide a good example of this in act 3, scene 5 of Much Ado About Nothing:

Dogberry: It pleases your worship to say so…but truly, for mine own part, if I were as tedious as a king, I could find in my heart to bestow it all of your worship.

Leonato:  All thy tediousness on me, ah?

Dogberry:  Yea, and ‘twere a thousand pound more than ‘tis; for I hear as good exclamation on your worship as of any man in the city, and though I be but a poor man, I am glad to hear it.

            In this exchange, Leonato’s response has an obviously sarcastic tone which Dogberry fails to notice, thus continuing the joke.  Sarcasm was also used in classical drama, like Oedipus Rex (p. 78), and it is so prolific in present-day language that people sometimes fail to notice when they use it or imagine it when it is not there.  For example, people sometimes mistake a sincere compliment for a sarcastic remark (nice shirt).

Pun and double-entendre

            Pun and double-entendre have only a few subtle differences.  Puns are plays on words that sound, look, or are spelled the same, but have different meanings, like the words son and sun, or ass (donkey) and ass (fool).  Puns are almost always used with the intention of making a joke.  Double-entendres are puns that only one word or phrase with two distinct meanings (one of which is usually sexual).  Also, a double-entendre is usually used unknowingly so that another individual makes a joke by pointing out the second meaning. 

Pun:

“No wonder, my lord.  One lion may [speak], when many asses do.” (A Midsummer Night’s Dream)

Double-entendre:

I’ll have you mated in five moves.

Don’t you think we ought to get to know each other first? (Grumpy Old Men)

Both of these examples involve a joke based on one word with two different meanings.  However, the second example shows that the speaker is unaware of the second, sexual meaning of his statement until his companion points it out.

Innuendo

            The dictionary defines innuendo as, “an indirect statement,” or implication.  This is an oversimplified description because techniques like sarcasm and insinuation also involve indirect statements.  However, sarcasm is much more obvious and ironic while insinuation has a more aggressive connotation.  Furthermore, like sarcasm, innuendo is not always funny, though drama that deals with sex almost always contains some kind of comic innuendo:

Kalonike:  Tell me: what is it?

Lysistrata:  It’s big.

Kalonike:  Goodness!  How big?

Lysistrata:  Big enough for all of us. 

This passage, taken from Lysistrata, is actually a case of mistaken innuendo; Lysistrata is referring to her plan for peace, but Kalonike believes that she is alluding to something sexual.

Irony

            Dramatic irony involves a situation or statement that is directly opposite of the characters’ or audience’s expectations.  For example, when Oedipus declares that the murderer of Laos should be exiled or killed, he is essentially writing his own sentence without his knowledge.  Comic irony is usually more lighthearted and impermanent than this.  The story of King Midas is a good example of comic irony.

Types of comedy

            According to Aristotle, comedy is basically a genre of literature and drama that ends well.  The characters usually manage to solve their problems, and order is restored with little or no sacrifice.  However, outside of these guidelines, comedy can fit into several different sub-genres. 

Festive Comedy:  Much Ado about Nothing, My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

• Not always funny
• Always involves a wedding or love story
• Not very violent
• Usually ends with a party

Dark Comedy or Tragicomedy:  Chasing Amy, Measure for Measure, Lysistrata.

• Some violence and psychology
• Sick humor, taboo jokes, high humor
• May have some violence
• Usually does not end as well as it could

Farce:  Rumors, Reeve’s Tale, Sitcoms.

• Improbable or ludicrous story line
• Light, or low humor
• May be very violent, but not intellectual
• Usually ends well, but not always

Satire:  Satyricon, Mel Brooks’ Movies.

• High and low humor
• Not always funny, but meant to make a statement
• Usually involves sarcasm
• Was a classical form of drama

Questions

1.)   If tragedy is considered the “greatest” genre and is more enduring than comedy why is it necessary to study both?  What can comedy teach that tragedy cannot?

2.)   What makes a comedy like A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or The Canterbury Tales to be great? If they had been written by other authors, would they be as well known?