Humor and Comedy

[peter]

Do both of the above always have to have a victim? Is there truly nothing that can be funny that is not so at the expense of something or someone else. I can and have laughed in pure joy at times - but this is not the same. I don't want all funny to be mean at its core; I'll accept it if it is, but in a way it would be sad.

[Avatar]

Maybe...at best if there has to be a victim, make the victim yourself.

--A

[peter]

With most of the jokes I tell, that's how it ends up anyway Av! I was thinking about the post after I made it, running through some gags in my head, and did seem to come up with some that were 'victim' free.......until you thought about it and then realised that at back of them someone always paid the coin.

Anther thing that interests me with jokes (l know thousands; they were a big part of rural culture in my part of the world when I was younger) is 'the turn'. All jokes have a turn, in that they lead the mind in one direction and then flip it through 90° with the punchline. Think about it.

[Fist and Faith]

I don't think you can have humor without the turn. I'm sure you can without a victim. Any number of knock knock jokes spring to mind. Stephen Wright also. "I used to work at a fire hydrant factory. You couldn't park anywhere near the place."

[JIkj fjds j]

Huemor and Comeddy,

... a twist on words that doesn't victimize anyone named Hue or Eddy.
Not the funniest joke in the bag I'll admit, but a fair example.

[wayfriend]

Mike threw back his head and laughed – went on laughing, loudly and uncontrollably. He gasped for breath, tears came from his eyes; he started to tremble and sink to the floor, still laughing.

“Stop it, Mike!”

“Jill … I grok people!”

“Huh?”

"I grok people. I am people … so now I can say it in people talk. I’ve found out why people laugh. They laugh because it hurts so much … because it’s the only thing that’ll make it stop hurting.

“I had thought – I had been told – that a ‘funny’ thing is a thing of a goodness. It isn’t. Not ever is it funny to the person it happens to. Like that sheriff without his pants. The goodness is in the laughing itself. I grok it is a bravery … and a sharing … against pain and sorrow and defeat.”

"I grok ‘love’ now, too.”

[Fist and Faith]

Yup. Love him even though he's sometimes wrong.

[Avatar]

Haha, me too.

(Knock Knock jokes aren't funny.)

--A