/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.18629200]

Comedy, like all things, can be measured on the cartesian plane. On one axis you have wet and dry humor which is a measurement of right and wrong. On the other axis you have verbal and hot humor versus cold and physical humor. More on this later.
The wet and dry, right versus wrong axis, is very much the goof versus the gaff. A goof is an error on our part and can be bodily as in the Hebrew word for body: goof. A gaff is a tool consisting of a large metal hook with a handle or pole, especially the one used to pull large fish aboard a boat or a harsh criticism. A pure goof is surrealist humor where everything is in bizzarro world. Up is down, left is right. Sometimes it is also a comedy of errors. On the other hand, a pure gaff is savage humor, the expert burn or correction where everything is put in its proper place.
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[Anonymous No.18629204]

>>18629200
The verbal and hot humor versus the cold and physical humor is very much the cerebral versus the concrete. A purely cerebral piece of humor might be a parody or burlesque type comedy where one needs requisite knowledge of a subject or must think about a subject. On the other hand, is the pure concrete. This type is pure anti-humor, facetious in how it is funny. It is so grounded in reality that it no longer makes life funny like an artist imitating life. It is the humor in life itself. It is funny in how true it is and how it points out that life does not always make sense. Cartoonist Bill Waterson in a Calvin & Hobbes cartoon said once in so many words and images that sometimes we laugh as a response to the fact that things don’t make sense because otherwise, we don’t know how to respond. It gets to the core of this theorized basic evolutionary reason for laughter. It a way it can even be a trauma response releasing otherwise problematic energy.
There can be combinations of goof versus gaff and cerebral versus concrete. For instance, a purely cerebral gaff (remember a gaff is a fishing tool) is a troll. A troll is a net cast at the bottom of the sea to pull up large quantities of fish or a person on online message boards that likes to insult people with an expert level of sass all for the sake of laughter. The online troll casts a large net to bring in as many unsuspecting internet users as possible in a “gotchya” moment.
The opposite of a troll is a physical goof. This is slapstick humor, typical of clowns. In clown world everything is not only silly, but very real. Typically, clowns are seen as sad, sacrificing their comfort for the sake of a funny. Clowns are the delight of children as they get bonked on the head or go through any other form of discomfort for the sake of silliness. Things can get dark very quickly. When the clowns go home, they are people too, wondering what they have done with their lives.
The more verbal and less physical clown, a cerebral rather than physical goof, is the punster who is always coming up with what these days are called “dad” jokes. Sometimes their groanworthy puns are so bad they make people cringe. These punsters are lighthearted and mean no harm by their humor. Laughter comes at nobody’s expense.
Lastly, the opposite of a punster or the concrete gaff, is sarcasm. Sarcasm, frequently in the deadpan, is meant to correct wrongs with something real even if it is delivered with a level of facetiousness. Sarcasm is a way of getting us to laugh while straightening up. It makes a cutting remark while giving a salve of laughter as if to be comedic surgery. The hope with sarcasm is the correction doesn’t leave one with brain damage.
Maybe there is a more exhaustive way of describing comedy. This essay was written more with a hope that something could be built upon it, providing some foundation, than it was to be some megalithic structure.
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[Anonymous No.18629241]

Poopy doopy fart and booty

[Anonymous No.18629571]

>>18629200
>>18629204
I have nothing to add, just wanted to say I appreciate the effort you've put into this essay. Very interesting

[Anonymous No.18629823]

>>18629200
https://youtu.be/UTkicLWwW1M

And what of the absurd? I like your approach here as a structure. Just to add something on my mind here, I look into comedy, as all forms of (art), as a way to reflect the current state a society finds itself in. Today we find absurd stuff that blurs reality and nonsense, incorporating bits with real people on the streets and confusing them with insane conspiracies while seeing how far they will believe them along with physical aspects like yelling and breaking things, aspects we find in Conor O’Malley, Sam Hyde and Eric Andre. These are the best examples of hypermodern comedians, the leaders in comedy of the hysteric worried age we find ourselves in.

[Anonymous No.18630052]

>>18629823
that's clown world

[Anonymous No.18630057]

>>18630052
or the surreal as mentioned

[Anonymous No.18630121]

Good job OP. Makes me wanna start adding some names to your plane, but you should go first.

Wait - just a slight note. I dunno if your whole idea covers "comedy" itself, or if "comedy" is only one part of it. I mean, wouldn't "humor" be the generic term, and comedy = one type of humor? not too sure about that.
I remember that Bergson's essay called "Laughter", while being good enough, is kinda disappointing in that it's not about "laughter" - it's only about comic, which is one of the several means of inducing laughter.

[Anonymous No.18630141]

Cool thread, saved

[Anonymous No.18630732]

Tag a couple examples on the graph please

[Anonymous No.18630807]

>>18629200
Hello Venkatesh Rao.