I've often thought about how exactly humor works. Why do certain jokes appeal to some and not others? Why are there different "types" of humor, like observational or situational? What is the biological mechanism that induces laughter?
Over the last few months I've managed to form some explanation that suites my interests well enough. The way I see it, humor is a drastic but harmless contrast between expectation and outcome. For example, if I switch out someone's regular pen for a zapping pen which administers a mild electric shock upon pressing a button, I know that his expectations for pressing the button will differ drastically from what will actually happen, but ultimately it will result in no lasting harm.
Making contrasts "drastic" enough is perhaps the proverbial rub when it comes to making quality jokes. In my experience, knowing BOTH the expectations and experiences of your audience is key. Having a sense of what your audience anticipates allows you to diverge from it, in a sense creating a "point A". Knowing their experiences allows you to make "point B"; in other words, the punchline should be something they can associate with, but if they haven't been exposed to it in the way you want them to, then the joke will not make sense. For example, I heard a joke where a Mexican farmer says to his cow, "da leche," whereas the Argentinean says "dale, che!". Since the setup is in English, most English readers will understand the setup, but probably won't understand the punchline because they don't understand the Spanish.
Subtlety is also a player here. Letting references or common associations complete the joke allows you to tell it using fewer words, and since "brevity is the soul of wit", the joke's impact will be greater. In my opinion. there is virtue in letting the jokes tell themselves, by which I mean letting the listener figure out the joke in their own mind.
Over the last few months I've managed to form some explanation that suites my interests well enough. The way I see it, humor is a drastic but harmless contrast between expectation and outcome. For example, if I switch out someone's regular pen for a zapping pen which administers a mild electric shock upon pressing a button, I know that his expectations for pressing the button will differ drastically from what will actually happen, but ultimately it will result in no lasting harm.
Making contrasts "drastic" enough is perhaps the proverbial rub when it comes to making quality jokes. In my experience, knowing BOTH the expectations and experiences of your audience is key. Having a sense of what your audience anticipates allows you to diverge from it, in a sense creating a "point A". Knowing their experiences allows you to make "point B"; in other words, the punchline should be something they can associate with, but if they haven't been exposed to it in the way you want them to, then the joke will not make sense. For example, I heard a joke where a Mexican farmer says to his cow, "da leche," whereas the Argentinean says "dale, che!". Since the setup is in English, most English readers will understand the setup, but probably won't understand the punchline because they don't understand the Spanish.
Subtlety is also a player here. Letting references or common associations complete the joke allows you to tell it using fewer words, and since "brevity is the soul of wit", the joke's impact will be greater. In my opinion. there is virtue in letting the jokes tell themselves, by which I mean letting the listener figure out the joke in their own mind.
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