You really want to know what’s funny? How ’bout some obscure blogger, (Me!), trying to write an article entitled “What is Funny?!”
Funny is such a subjective term.
How is anyone going to write about how to be funny? It’s almost like trying to definitively answer, “Who is God?” Or “What is Love?”
As a comedian of 25 years, a comedy writer for Jay Leno and The Tonight Show, comedy instructor and founder of The Stand Up Comedy Clinic, (a comedy workshop in Los Angeles), the question is posed to me, literally, every single day.
So I thought I’d get serious about it for a minute and try to come up with a possible answer. Please remember, this is just my theory and by no means a definitive answer. So keep the nasty comments to yourself. I’m still searching too!
In other words, shut your conch!
What is “funny?” You could ask that question in many different ways–“What is funny?” “What is funny?” “What is Funny?” Or even “What’s so funny, bitch?!:” and still come up with a blank stare.
I’m not going to proclaim that I know what’s funny to everyone. Funny is very subjective. What is funny to one person is not necessary going to be funny to another.
In a nutshell, we’re just guessing, the audience is the judge.
Here’s what I can do. I can analyze funny. In fact, let’s do it together:
According to the dictionary, the number one definition of “Funny” is “to cause laughter or amusement.” Most people can agree on that. I was going to say “all people can agree on that, ” but people will find any reason not to agree—just watch the U.S. Congress. So, for the purpose of this article, let’s all agree on the definition of “Funny” as it causes laughter or amusement. In this case, since we are looking for laughs, let’s focus on laughter.
Because amusement is even more subjective. To some, the “Tilt-a-Whirl” at a carnival causes amusement. For me, it causes vomit. And here I think we can all agree that—and I’ve done a little research in this area—that vomiting is only amusing:if it’s not you.
Okay, back to what is funny?. How do we find funny? Well since we know that funny equals laughter we can start by looking at the science of laughter. When we do, we discover that according to experts on human behavior, the number one element that triggers human laughter is surprise.
Now, just by answering that, do you have any idea how far we’ve come now solving our initial question?
It’s almost algebraic. It’s almost an “if-then” statement: What is funny is something that causes laughter.
What causes laughter? Surprise, and if A=B and B=C, then A=C.
Then if Laughter = Funny and
Surprise = Laughter, then
Surprise = Funny!
Got it?
Say it with me: SURPRISE EQUALS FUNNY!
Some people say that you can’t teach stand up comedy or for that matter teach somebody how to be funny. And while I do believe you are born with talent and you develop skill, I also know that if you have a reasonable amount of intelligence and a command of the English language you can learn the structures of how to manipulate words to take something seemingly mundane and turn it into something funny.
I teach a comedy class in the Los Angeles area and I can teach just that to average, but amazing people and I’ve had tremendous results.
Can You Teach Funny?
How do you teach this, you ask?
All it takes is a little surprise.
Sid Caesar said, “Comedy is a story with a curlicue.”
If you tell me a story and you give it a surprise ending, you have just written your first joke. Tell me something about yourself:
Comedian Tim Bidore used to open with this joke: “I come from a large family:four Moms, five Dads:” He just took something mundane, a cliché of everyday life and really just changed the ending. It’s a curlicue. It’s unexpected. Hence, it’s a surprise. Is it Funny? Let’s go back to the formula
If Laughter=Funny, and
Surprise=Laughter, then
Surprise=Funny.
But we also understand the adage, the audience is the judge and in this case the audience still laughs at that line every time:and what is laughter equal to? FUNNY!
Now we’re starting to get it! Let’s look at it in another way:
How about when you go to the grocery store? When you check out, what does the clerk always say? “Did you find everything you were looking for?” Right? How do you usually respond? By saying, “Yes.” Because even if you didn’t find everything you were looking for, you just don’t want to deal with it.
But if you applied a common comedy formulas called The Double Entendre, you can start to look at a sentence or a question the way a comedian looks at it; by taking the implied meaning of a word and giving it a comedic perspective.
First, look at the question: “Did you find everything you were looking for?” We know what he/she means when they ask that question. What they’re asking is: Did you find everything you were looking for while you were shopping today.
What if we too the implied meaning of “everything” and blew it up a little? What if we took the meaning to the next level? “Did you find everything you’re looking for?” But this time we analyze it with a comedian’s sense; what do most people look for, not at the store, but in life; the meaning of life, or a soul mate, or love?
So what if we took one of those interpretations and responded to the question differently? Does it change? Let’s look:
Clerk: Did you find everything you were looking for?
Me: (Looking at the items on the conveyor) Well, I found some wine and some candlelight, but I couldn’t find my soulmate. You had Mahi-Mahi, but I’m just not into twins.
Now you have something that’s clever and unique. It will get a laugh every time at the grocery store because your interpretation of the intended meaning of “everything” is surprising and since we’ve already established that
Surprise triggers laughter and:
Laughter equals funny, then:
You’re on your way to understanding what is funny!
12 replies to "What Is Funny?"
@[1465952501:2048:Jerry Corley] That sounds great. I will try the excersise you suggested. The online course was not yours. It was from another site. I get it. The idea of a surprise.Thank you – oh, by the way, What is funny ? Joe Kahn`s Mamma`s Fat Ass
My wonderful and baba je je alhaji, i dey kampe oo. How family sir? we need to see and talk oo sir.
Clevando how u they?
You are good bro.
This thread may be a bit tangled; my note was a direct response to Mr. Foolery’s comment, specifically to his overwhelming aversion to offending anyone in the audience.
(I had not seen Mr. Corley’s reply to the same comment when I wrote my own, and my remarks in no way meant to reflect on his suggestions.)
To rephrase my point, the malaise Mr. Foolery describes must surely be aggravated–if not directly caused–by his conscientious eagerness to be inoffensive. Comedy by definition requires an edge at some level, and I bet the worst handicap an aspiring comic can have is an overwhelming fear of disappproval.
However, the ventriloquist’s advantage is that the dummy has not just a different voice but a very different PERSONALITY that can and should say things that would never occur to the human. Then the human can in turn “roll back” any disdain in the audience by chastising the dummy for the needless rudeness.
In other words, Mr. F, your desire to be genteel is admirable and should be maintained because that’s who you are — and your dummy has a mind of his own, so nobody can blame you if he lacks the same level of couth. Exploring deeper into what values or opinions or manners you & the dummy DO NOT share might help make you both less wooden [hahahahahahaahaw!] performers.
See! Surprise is Funny.
It can either be the puppet or the ventriloquist; depends on the performer. One of them is usually running into an obstacle. As far as that routine; it was off the top of my head based on a premise.
Depending on the audience that material would fly, but for a club audience, it would need more teeth.
Isn’t it generally the puppet’s JOB to offend so the human can then take umbrage on the audience’s behalf?
With all respect — I know that’s a hard skill to master — if both the puppet and the ventriloquist are taking pains not to ruffle anybody’s feathers, man, I’m either hitting the john or snoozing by the 5-minute mark of that set.
I’d have loved if the entire body of the article read something like this:
—————-
What Is Funny?
by Joe Khan.
YER MOMMA’S FAT ASS, YA DUMMY!
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comments
Over analyzing when trying to find funny material is very common. We get so caught up in getting the funny. Sometimes the funny is simply in the unexpected reaction. Did you do my e-book and say it didn’t help?
If so, let me know what happened and where the blocks came from and I’ll try to help you through it while improving the explanation.
As far as an improv exercise to help you be quicker on your feet, here’s one of my favorites: It’s called “Is That All, Bob?”
You set up a video camera and stand in front of it. (To record yourself). Frame it like you would a spokes person on a commercial. Stand with your puppet (dummy, whatever) and have someone off-camera place an item in front of you on a table, (in view of the camera). Now it’s your job, with your puppet to try to “sell” the item to the viewers “at home.”
Here’s the catch: You sell it as anything other than what it really is. You determine what the role of your puppet is going to be. Is he your devil’s advocate? Or is he helping you to sell the item. Or you guys can also sell it together as different items.
For example:
Somebody off camera says, “Is that all Bob?” You say, “That’s not all! We also have… (Somebody places a catcher’s mitt on the table.)
YOU: A… Yarmulke for a Jewish biker
BUNNY: Looks more like an organic diaphragm for the Statue of Liberty.
YOU: Is that what you think it is?
BUNNY: I don’t know, maybe not. Those laces look like they would be uncomfortable… even for a woman made out of copper!
YOU: These jokes are uncomfortable.
BUNNY: We’re riffing here, Tom. There not all gonna be gems!
YOU: What else do you think it could be?
BUNNY: Now you’re putting the pressure on me to come up with the jokes?
YOU: You don’t have to joke. Just come up with what else this catcher’s mitt could be…
BUNNY: It could be a oven mitt for the elephant man.
YOU: That’s more like it.
BUNNY: Yeah, he needs to take the casserole out of the oven, because his wife, the Statue of Liberty is too sore from her uncomfortable diaphragm!!
This is just one way to riff with that technique. All of that came from the top of my head imagining what the catcher’s mitt could be besides an actual catcher’s mitt. It uses the structure of incongruity to trigger surprise and get the laughs.
Using the video camera puts the pressure on the performer to come up with the material NOW. It’s a great exercise.
Let me know your thoughts. Hope that helps!
Over analyzing when trying to find funny material is very common. We get so caught up in getting the funny. Sometimes the funny is simply in the unexpected reaction. Did you do my e-book and say it didn’t help?
If so, let me know what happened and where the blocks came from and I’ll try to help you through it while improving the explanation.
As far as an improv exercise to help you be quicker on your feet, here’s one of my favorites: It’s called “Is That All, Bob?”
You set up a video camera and stand in front of it. (To record yourself). Frame it like you would a spokes person on a commercial. Stand with your puppet (dummy, whatever) and have someone off-camera place an item in front of you on a table, (in view of the camera). Now it’s your job, with your puppet to try to “sell” the item to the viewers “at home.”
Here’s the catch: You sell it as anything other than what it really is. You determine what the role of your puppet is going to be. Is he your devil’s advocate? Or is he helping you to sell the item. Or you guys can also sell it together as different items.
For example:
Somebody off camera says, “Is that all Bob?” You say, “That’s not all! We also have… (Somebody places a catcher’s mitt on the table.)
YOU: A… Yarmulke for a Jewish biker
BUNNY: Looks more like an organic diaphragm for the Statue of Liberty.
YOU: Is that what you think it is?
BUNNY: I don’t know, maybe not. Those laces look like they would be uncomfortable… even for a woman made out of copper!
YOU: These jokes are uncomfortable.
BUNNY: We’re riffing here, Tom. There not all gonna be gems!
YOU: What else do you think it could be?
BUNNY: Now you’re putting the pressure on me to come up with the jokes?
YOU: You don’t have to joke. Just come up with what else this catcher’s mitt could be…
BUNNY: It could be a oven mitt for the elephant man.
YOU: That’s more like it.
BUNNY: Yeah, he needs to take the casserole out of the oven, because his wife, the Statue of Liberty is too sore from her uncomfortable diaphragm!!
This is just one way to riff with that technique. All of that came from the top of my head imagining what the catcher’s mitt could be besides an actual catcher’s mitt. It uses the structure of incongruity to trigger surprise and get the laughs.
Using the video camera puts the pressure on the performer to come up with the material NOW. It’s a great exercise.
Let me know your thoughts. Hope that helps!
I have been doing ventriloquism for thirty years part time. I retired from teaching this past June. I have spent hours practicing routines and get 5 to 6 jobs a month, everything from Comedy Clubs to nursing homes and everything inbetween. This comedy writting thing has had me frustrated since I`ve started performing full time. I took the online stand up course ( whitch really did not help ), read books, and even stole jokes from other comedians. I rewrite these jokes. So far , I have had some success with what I do. Your article opened my eyes. It makes so much sense. Here , I`m over analizing. I do this already. Some people say I`m a funny guy. I can come up with funny lines at home or with friends. Example – These kids today and thier phones. Very different from my child hood. I `m watching tv and my son is sitting with his girlfriend in the same room. She`s on his lap. There not watching the movie, they`re on there phones, 5 G phones!, texing each other! I`m thinking to myself, what`s wrong with this picture.
I hate to offend people. I`m so fixed on not moving my lips, making the puppet look alive, making sure I`m using my stage voice, that I freeze. I don`t want to offend anyone, I was raised catholic , maybe that`s the problem. Do you have an excersize I can practice to help with improvisation? One vent friend of mine told me to walk around the house with the puppet and try to think of funny things to say with the puppet, while pointing to objects.Just blurt out anything and have fun. I did that and it did help a little.Is there an excersize you could suggest that would help me develope improvisational humor.