Comedy

Your definition
What makes something funny?

What are some of the funniest

scenes or commercials that you have
seen? Why were they so funny?
 Watch
Watch these clips. What makes them
funny?

What strategies are being used here?

Gabriel Inglesias
Funny commercials
 Categories of Humor
Farce/Physical Humor

This is comedy based on improbably

coincidences and has overwrought, frantic action
at times. This also refers to incidents or
proceedings that seem too ridiculous to be true.

The Three Stooges

Dumb and Dumber
Mr. Magoo
 Wit/Wordplay
Wit is a form of intelligent
humor, the ability to say or
write things that are clever
and usually funny

Wordplay is a literary
technique and form of wit
in which the words that are
used become the main
subject of the work,
primarily for the purpose of
intended effect or
amusement.
Puns are especially used here
 Satire
Humor that mocks human
weaknesses or aspects of society.
 Improvisation
This is a form of theater where most
or all of what is performed is created
at the moment it is performed.

Examples:
Whose Line is it Anyway?
 Parody
an imitationof the style or content of
a particular writer, artist, or genre
with deliberate exaggeration for
comic effect.

Batman Parody
Honest Trailers
How It Should Have Ended
 Spoof
a humorous imitation of something,
typically a film or a particular genre
of film, in which its characteristic
features are exaggerated for comic
effect.

Undercover Boss
 Structure of Humor
Set up and a punchline.

Sometimes the set up is woven into

the context, but often you need to
set the expectation (relate something
that is familiar to the audience).
Then, add a punchline which
subverts the expectations you have
set up.
 Rule of 3
One of the most common strategies
for creating jokes is the rule of three.
The writer creates a list or series of
three ideas or things:
The first sets the theme
The second confirms it
The third twists it into a moment
of surprise
 Rule of 3 Examples
Lions, Tigers, and scary old men who want
to hit you.

The great speeches of Abraham Lincoln,

Martin Luther King, and Justin Beiber.

Shes hateful, shes despicable, Im in love!

Rule of 3 examples
 Rule of 3 Activity
Create TWO rule of three sentences:
Create one about YOU
Create one about ANYTHING else
 Incongruity
This meanssomething that does
not belong.

This is often done by making

comparisons that are unheard of,
unexpected, and yet also make
sense. There MUST be an actual
connection between the two items,
no matter how dissimilar, so that the
connection can reveal a new truth.
 Incongruity examples
Stephen Colberts introductions
John Olivers Net Neutrality

Surprise:
John Olivers Lessons in Geography
 Irony
All about opposites! The opposite of
the words is meant, the opposite of
what is expected happens, etc.

In Lamb to the Slaughter, the police

officers eat the murder weapon (a
leg of lamb) while searching for it.
 Pun
A pun is a play on words, in which a word of multiple
meanings, or a word of similar sound but different
meaning, is used to create the joke. It is probably the
commonest form of verbal humor, and often the most
derided! (though I think they can be awesome)

An old teacher never dies. They simply lose their class.

Without geometry, life is pointless.

A man walked into a bar and said Ow.

 Innuendo or Double
Entendre
An innuendo is an indirect, often derogatory
hint. The speaker appears innocent and the
innuendo is discovered in mind of the
listener. The most frequent of these are
sexual innuendos or double entendre. The
second meaning, often achieved through a
pun, is intentional.

Shrek
Australian Newscast
 Malapropism
A malapropism is created through
either the intentional or unintentional
misuse of a word - substituting the
'right' word for another with a similar
sound.

My sister has extra-century

perception.
At a family outing, my sister said,
You know, this is some really good
 Spoonerism
A spoonerism is an either intentional or
unintentional transposition of the sounds of
two or more words. It takes its name from
the Englishman credited with making them
famous - Oxford professorWilliam Spooner.
Apparently his were genuine slips of the
tongue.
You have hissed all my mystery lectures.
Go shake a tower.
Let's raise a toast to our queer old Dean.
 Mixed Metaphors
Mixed metaphors are the
confusing/amusing result of
combining well known cliches.

We can talk until the cows turn blue.

He's not the smartest kid in the
toolbox.
 Overstatement/Hyperbole
Overstatement is deliberately maximizing a
subject often with hyperbolic exaggeration.

In fact the only thing that I dont like

about Whisky, is that if I take the merest
sip of the stuff, it sends a sharp pain from
the back of my left eyeball down to the tip
of my right elbow, and I begin to walk in a
very special way, bumping into people and
snarling at the furniture.Douglas Adams
 Understatement
Understatement is deliberately
minimizing whatever is being spoken
about, often absurdly. Generally, the
audience knows and that is what
makes it amusing.

The Hulk crashes through, destroying

a town. Tony Stark says, He seems a
bit upset.
 Incongruity
Some say this is at the base of all
humor.

It is the idea of putting two things

together that dont normally go
together. This can be used to play on
the
 Captain Obvious
The statement made is an observation that
most people wouldnotsay because
regardless of the subject, the comment
highlights what most people regard as normal
or expected - ie. unworthy of comment! A
statement of the obvious is generally
delivered dead-pan or straight-faced.

Captain Obvious Commercial

Drax
 Funny Videos!
What strategies are these clips
utilizing to make you laugh? (even if
you dont think theyre effective)

Disney Princes Make Terrible Boyfrien

ds
After Ever After Disney Parody