What Makes Something Funny?

Many times in our lives, we want to make people laugh, which does not always work because the proper technique and guidelines are followed. Furthermore, many people are perplexed as to why this could be amusing to one person while being uninteresting to another. For eg, certain people get bored when listening to or watching a comedy movie while their friends are laughing and enjoying the jokes. In another real-life example, a person could slip on something slick, such as a banana peeling, and fall. While the survivor is in agony, some onlookers might find this incident amusing. A concerned Good Samaritan might rush to give aid to the victim who might start laughing for the blunder made. As a result of this, humor can be said to be highly unpredictable as explained in the Benign Violation Theory (BVT).

Key proponents of BVT argued that funny entails the violation of the expected results which should be harmless and benign (Nwokah 301-304). Another key proponent of the theories of humor is E.B White who argued that humor is dissectible just like the frog (Tanner 43-45). In such a case, the scientist might be amused by the process of surgery while another person might not like the look of the internal organs. E.B White, therefore, had a similar view of the concept just like the theorist in the Benign Violation Theory. A comedian utilizes these skills in picking the kind of jokes to crack in front of an audience. A joke in the wrong context or audience renders the attempts to make it accepted to fail.

Works Cited

Nwokah, Eva. “Clowns and Jokers can heal us. Comedy and medicine.” (2013): 301-304.

Tanner, Stephen L. “EB White and the theory of humor.” Humor-International Journal of Humor Research 2.1 (1989): 43-45.