3. 3
“In every instance, the psychological process which the joking remark
provokes in us, and on which the feeling of the comic rests, consists
in the immediate transition, from this attaching of sense, from this
discovering of truth, and from this gathering of consequences, to the
consciousness or impression of relative nothingness.”
Sigmund Freud
4. 4
Index
The Pledge ___________________________ 5
The Premise ___________________________ 6
The Antithesis ___________________________ 8
Glossary of Jokes ___________________________ 9
The Aristocrats Joke ___________________________ 11
Bibliography ___________________________ 12
5. 5
The Pledge
Jokes fall into a rhythm. The content alone creates only the salience for
a joke, perhaps evoking a smile, but what makes you laugh is the way it’s
told: the structure, the timing, and the mechanism. They fall into three
beats; a ternary rhythm: a pledged, a premise, and antithesis. The pledge
provides you with the scope, it introduces you to the important
elements. The pledge sets the scene and poses the question of what will
happen. A man walks into a bar; he has with him a small dog that sits
quietly beside him while he orders a drink…
“In every wit there is something of a poet”
The rules are simple, analogous to poetry, a combination of rhythm and timing pared
with precision and synthesis. The rhythm and timing confirm the format of the joke,
making it recognisable. In general the audience are aware of the joke before the
punch line confirms it as a nonsense. But the precision and synthesis is key, they lend
the composition. Shaped by the linguistic use, and clever exposure of information, so
that only the necessary is revealed, there must be wriggle room, space for a false
impression. As much should be portrayed through as little words as possible;
Formulaic sentence structure, the precise words that give only what they need to:
‘economy of censorship expenditure’.
They fall into categories, sub-categories, and they fall across categories. Subjects of
sensitivity form a focus; political, ethnicity, self-deprecation, poor taste, non sequitur,
dark humour. But the techniques vary vastly. Misdirection is always the objective,
through methods of condensation or modification of words and meanings, or
multiple use of material. Sophistry and faculty reasoning are utilised in the delineation
of stupidity and inability. The ambiguity of language is exposed through the use of
double meanings of words and concepts.
“Linguistic usage is untrustworthy and itself needs to have its justification examined”
But the desired response is always the same; the joke ends not with the punch line
but with the laughter. We laugh because our expectation is transformed to nothing.
The mind is a pattern-making machine, we try to recognise familiarity in stories and
behaviour and fit them into categories, by making connections. But these
connections can be broken and in turn new ones made. The joke leads the thought
pattern in one direction but then disrupts the arrangement with the introduction of
a new element, forming a new connection. The laughter comes with the forming of
the new connection.
Yet the joke can have an awareness of itself as a joke; we can know a joke is a joke
and still laugh. There is no broken expectation here; we were looking for the punch
line. Here the pun is on the formula of the joke, the broken expectation is the
6. 6
expectation of the composition. A Meta narrative is formed within, a meta-joke is
made. The shaggy dog story relies on its expectation to have a punch line for its wit.
Equally it breaks the convention of brevity, after the extended build up the
dissatisfaction the absence of a climatic phrase is itself the unexpected element.
Self-awareness and self-critique in this respect reveals the creative aspect. The telling
of a joke is easily comparable to the creative act.
“Habits are the indispensable core of stability and ordered behaviour; they also have
tendency to become mechanized and reduce man to the status of a conditioned automaton.
The creative act by connecting previously unrelated dimensions of experience enables him to
attain to a higher level of mental evolution. It is an act of liberation –the defeat of habit by
originality”
The mind is governed by a code; all patterns of thought and behaviour adhere to a
learnt and innate set of rules, our own matrix. Yet in the same instance the mind
possesses the ability to be flexible. If two habitually incompatible frames of reference
the result is a new intellectual synthesis, originality, or humour.
The Premise
Once the pledge has been delivered we receive a premise; something
happens or changes, a plot is given. The important function of the
premise in a joke is to lead you in a direction, to build a climax but to
imply more than is actually said. The premise must allow through brevity
a space for misconception. A man walks into a bar; he has with him a
small dog that sits quietly beside him while he orders a drink. The
bartender asks the man if his dogs bites and the man response no, his
dog does not bite. A few minutes later however, the small dog viciously
attacks another customer, “I thought you said your dog didn’t bite?!”
exclaims the bartender…
“Comedy is the philosophers stone; It takes the base metal of our conventional wisdom and
transforms it through ridicule into a different way of seeing the world”
Joking is inclusive, a dish to be shared. Through the telling or receiving of a joke we
can feel unified; I have something in common with this person, we both have a
shared understanding, or are coupled in the breaking of a convention. Joking is the
elite linguistic technique, but is entirely dependant of language. Spoken or written,
symbolised or signified, language completes us, it unifies us, but allows us to realise
our differences, build our divisions and segregations, and create inclusivity through
exclusion.
7. 7
A joke cycle is often initiated after a national event, a series of jokes, often in poor
taste, centred on an event to sensitive to approach in a critically; to traumatic to
approach seriously. But they easy the anguish: if you can laugh at it, it cannot kill you.
They reassure, and they help us find comfort through communication: through
contact.
We are born with a sudden sense of secularity; from being part of something we are
suddenly alone. We will spend our entire lives trying to be part of something again.
“But imagine the sense of wonder in a baby when it first discovers that merely by uttering a
sound it can get objects to move across a room as if by magic, and maybe even into it’s
mouth”
Language is telemetry, it allows us to pluck a thought from your own mind and
implant it into someone else’s, and it allows them to do the same to you. Beyond
personal gain this facilitates social learning and growth. I can be told the reaction to
an action to bypass the process of having to experience it myself. The impasse here
is that social learning is visual theft, and humanity is built on competition as well as
collaboration. And so the tower of Babel fell, language is not just a tool of
communication, but though its ambiguity and diversity it is a barrier. However ‘every
act of communication is an act of translation’ and ‘a great piece of comedy is verbal
magic’.
Wit is rhetoric, an irony or a trope, language can be used figuratively to allude to
meanings other than that of literal sense. In this respect sensitivity can be employed.
Imagine you are asked if you are able to shut the window, the implication is that
someone wants you to close the window, but this is not what has been asked. What
was asked was if you were capable of shutting the window. The phrasing of the
request in this manner avoids the presumption of dominance. A direct request
would imply that you were expected to obey. Language can be levelling.
Joking relies on linguistic technique, while humour is built from or in response to
social conforms. Humour is the economised expenditure of emotion. It is a safe
zone, where offence is reduced. It allows the discourse and approach of subjects that
are otherwise taboo; it erases an emotion that should be felt about a subject.
“Comedy travels along a distinct wave length from other forms of language”
Laughter releases endorphins; it is precisely this that brings down our guard. It
short-circuits the emotional attachment we hold to a subject, approaching it side on;
through the laughter we can question its validity. It allows us distance and objectivity:
it offers detachment. But it offers relief, through contact. It breaks down tension.
8. 8
The Antithesis
Preceding a pledge and a premise, there is an antithesis: a reveal. The
allowed misconceptions are shattered and a new realm of understanding
is opened up to us. We are offered a solution to the posed problem, and
it falls logically into place just beyond where we searched for it. A man
walks into a bar; he has with him a small dog that sits quietly beside him
while he orders a drink. The bartender asks the man if his dogs bites and
the man response no, his dog does not bite. A few minutes later
however, the small dog viciously attacks another customer, “I thought
you said your dog didn’t bite?!” exclaims the bartender. “This is not my
dog.” replies the man…
“Humour, more than anything else in the human makeup, affords an aloofness and an
ability to rise above a situation, even if only for a few seconds”
Finding things to laugh at helps to maintain a sense of meaning and purpose. Gallows
humour allows a sense of nonsense in the face of death. A realisation of lack of
control awards lightness to moral. Serenading an attempt of jurisdiction over
physical events, awards management over emotional state, control of fear. On being
offered a cigarette, a man facing a firing squad politely declines, saying only “No
thank you, I’m trying to quit.” An understanding of humanbeingness passes. He
regains emotional control.
“Laughter sets us free”
We develop language as a necessity; for survival as a race we work in teams, in
packs: we must communicate. But equally we develop language so as not to be alone,
to allow a means with which to share the complexity of our internal matrix. We
seek assurance through similarity, and through relation. I am not alone: this person is
like me. But in the face of distress we find avoidance, we resort to humour. If a
subject is to distressing to approach, comfort must still be found, then we joke.
Humour is at heart, rooted in trauma.
9. 9
Glossary of Jokes
Anti-joke: Relying on an anticlimax, essentially unfunny, however comic effect comes
from the breaking of the expectation of a pun. Often containing nonsensical or
surrealist notions.
Cycles: Joke cycles often occur after or around a national event. A cycle is a viral
phenomena during which nation or even world wide a trend of jokes about one
subject are quickly circulated.
Dark or black comedy: Satirical or gallows humour, usually mocking tragedy. Often
jokes cycles fall into this category, the purpose of the joke is to make light of a
subject that is too difficult to approach conversationally, the ethos being if you can
laugh at it cant hurt you.
Elephant: Riddle or conundrum or sequence of connected riddles evolving an
elephant. Often surreal, anti-humour or meta-joke, the elephant joke was a popular
joke cycle in the 60’s.
Ethnic: Exploiting ethnic minorities, they are also known to be racist or offensive.
The wit is rooted in the breaking of silence surrounding a taboo subject.
Mathematical: A form of in-joke. Often entirely visual, they are composed so as to
be understood only by ‘people in the know’. As a result the humour lies in the
inclusive/exclusive aspect: we are cleverer than you.
Non sequitur: Complete nonsense, inclusion of two completely unrelated objects or
ideas with no attempt to make a connection.
Political: Generally a form of satire, can include caricaturing and general mocking of
heads of state, but usually allude to the absurdities of a national political status or
system. Political jokes usually portray negative attitudes towards opposing parties or
utilise political clichés and comparisons.
Poor taste or dirty: Simply taboo breaking jokes, and can include political
incorrectness. The comedy lies within the feeling of breaking social constraints and
rules of conversational etiquette.
Professional: Most commonly forming caricatures of certain professions of instance
teachers or door-to-door sales man. Professional jokes may also be considered as
in-jokes between employers. Used to help association and express similar
experiences associated with the job, they can ridicule the boss, clientele, or even job
procedure.
Religious: A very broad category. Can utilise a number of techniques including
stereotyping, belittling/mocking, longevity, wordplay, etc.
10. 10
Self-deprecating: Ostensibly a stereotyping joke, except that the joker is always the
pun of the joke. Often used in the diffusion of tension surrounding politically,
religious, ethnic, or social division. Often this forms a good levelling tool in socially
awkward situations.
Shaggy Dog Story: Archetypically a long story about a shaggy dog. The narrative of
the joke goes into great description of how shaggy the dog is, implying that this is an
important component of the punch line, however the antithesis is that there in no
punch line. The contemporary version however simply follows this formula of
breaking the convention of brevity and stressing an irrelevant point only to reveal a
lack of punch line.
Stereotyping: For instance blond jokes, jokes about male/female. Superficially they
may appear taboo breaking in their potentially offensive nature, however essentially
they rely on simple inclusion/exclusion psychology.
Wordplay: Simply utilising the flexibility of language and concepts attached worlds as
a tool to misdirect the narrative of the joke.
11. 11
The Aristocrats Joke
Described as a secret handshake amongst comedians, The Aristocrats is an incredibly
transgressive and cross genre joke that derives from the Vaudeville ere. The wit of
the punch line traditionally complied with cliché vaudevillian humour, but through re-
appropriation due to changing social stereotypes and connotations it now
masquerades, as a poor taste dirty meta-anti-joke shaggy dog story used to
showcase a comedians improvisation skills, and so could also be described as an in-
joke and professional joke. In contemporary stand up comedy the joke is a right of
passage for professional comedians as it is know for its complexity and difficulty to
perform. The joke can utilise as many linguistic methods as possible including
techniques from all genres of joking, but essentially relies on the audience knowing
the legacy of The Aristocrats joke.
The framework of the joke follows the same narrative each time the joke is told,
although details can be added or changed, but the essence should remain constant.
The pledge is a family going to a talent agent, the talent agent enquires what their act
is and after initial dismissal, the family persuade the talent to let them watch the act.
The premise of the joke is a graphic description of the act which is dragged out to
make the joke last as long as possible. The aim is to make this description as crude,
tasteless and ribald as the comedian can. The intention is to transgress social norms
by openly talking about as many taboo subjects as the comedian can work into the
narrative. Common themes include violence, incest, rape, paedophilia, sexual abuse
and mutilation, bestiality, coprophilia, coprophagy and murder. The antithesis is the
talent agent asking what you call an act like that and the response from the family, or
just one member being “The Aristocrats”.
Originally the humour of the punch line was a satirical comment of the decadence of
aristocracy, however because this social connotation has faded the punch line can
simply be interpreted as the end of the joke.
