WHAT ARE YOU LAUGHING AT?

: A LITERARY ANALYSIS OF HUMOROUS FICTION JOHN BJORKLUND A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty in partial fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree Masters of Arts in English Belmont University 2012 Approved: _________________________________________________Date___________________ Mentor _________________________________________________Date___________________ Reader _________________________________________________Date___________________ Reader

Table of Contents

2 Introduction: Whats the point if its not funny?..........................................3 Chapter One: Did you hear about the lady who backed into the fan? It was a Dis-ass-ter!.............................21 Chapter Two: I wasnt raised in San Francisco, but I was reared there............................................................42 Chapter Three: Rectum? Damn near killed em!.........................................63 Conclusion: My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right.................................................79 Works Cited..................................................................................................84

Introduction: Whats the point if its not funny?

3 Comedy has long existed as a fringe genre to the serious business of art and literature. Ever since the Greeks considered comedy a play which required merely that not everyone died at the end, comedy has taken a back seat to tragedy in issues of stature and attention. Much of this devaluation can be traced back to the ancient theories of Plato and Aristotle. Plato views humor as a vice which mixes malice and laughter: malice is pain of the soul (10) and laughter is pleasant, and on these occasions we both feel malice and laugh (13). Aristotle articulates this viewpoint by calling comedy an imitation of people who are worse than the average (14). Both opinions condemn comedy as being an indulgent vice. Likewise, nineteenth century critic George Meredith says, Comedy, we have to admit, was never one of the most honored of the muses. She was in her origin [] rolled in shouting under the divine protection of the Son of the Wine-jar (5). These statements portray the genre as mean-spirited fun making that is coarse, unsophisticated, unstructured, or plain-old low brow art. More importantly, they demonstrate that comedy is under-appreciated as a social device and fail to recognize the deliberate context that must be constructed in order to achieve humor. Comedy is a manifestation of human civilization that is created for and appreciated by human beings alone. The reality is that the comic writer must adhere to the highest standards of craft by using correct judgment, a correct ear, readiness of illustration within a narrow range [] and copious language (Meredith 20). The simple, but important, fact that comedy stems from intention is often overlooked by both scholars and readers of the genre. Opponents of humorous literature who think that the genre is unable to provoke thought should heed the words of Aristophanes who promises his audience that, if they will retain the ideas of the comic poet carefully [] their garments shall smell odorifer-

4 ous of wisdom throughout the year (Meredith 50). This thesis will argue that many defamations against humorous fiction are problematic. Because humor, as Henri Bergson said, has a kinship with humanity, the genre of humorous fiction can reveal just as much, if not more, about the human condition than any other genre or medium. Humor solicits laughter, engages the intellect, is widely acknowledged for its power to heal, and unifies an audiences experience through the collective recognition to a joke. Consider comedian Bill Hicks philosophy on humor: If comedy is an escape from anything, it is an escape from illusions [...]. What before seemed a tiresome, frightening, or frustrating wall, the comic deftly and fearlessly steps through, proving the absurdity of it all. The audience is relieved to know theyre not alone in thinking, This bullshit we see and hear all day makes no sense. Surely Im not the only person who thinks so. And surely there must be an answer []. Good comedy helps people know theyre not alone. Great comedy provides an answer. (123) Humor can and will surprise its readers and critics by providing them with socially collective results. As readers, we come to a text with a keen expectation of its influence over the audience, and there is no source more abundant with observable reader-reactions than the genre of humor. Literature oftentimes binds its revolutionary ideas to the confines of a page or readers mind; action is not always a direct result of reading. Humors success lies in its ability to meaningfully extract intended responses from its audiences by stimulating them physically as well as mentally.

5 The goal of this thesis, then, is to examine the genre of contemporary humorous fiction to discover how authors and readers must understand one another in order to create humor. Because this relationship depends on the circle(s) of society in which humor exists, it will be important to emphasize the precision an author must employ through literary choices in order to intentionally tease reader reactions. Humor does not happen by accident and therefore should be acknowledged as a legitimate and valuable literary discourse despite its funny or apparently non-serious tone. The following three chapters identify specific patterns and techniques of subgenre, structure, and linguistics that lead readers towards successful humorous reactions. Although Ive found that there are commonalities in humor that allow the identification of patterns across a broad survey of authors, my analysis does not aim to find a formula of comedy; in fact, a grave misconception would be to assume that adherence to these patterns would guarantee humor. Remember that comedy is an art form and, therefore, everything about it relies on the reader and the subjective mind. The categories are more for convenience and organization than for setting out humorous guidelines. More so, the appearance of patterns suggests that authors are applying variations to socially agreed upon objects of humor. That is to say that as members of a society, audiences are trained to expect humor from certain plot developments and funny titles or one-liners. The author is also a member of that society and uses that collective agreement for inspiration. The result is a text that uses techniques in a way that highlights the skill of the authors and the comprehension of the audience. In Chapter One, I examine the sub-genres of comedy. This thematic category is specifically concerned with how the events of a text create humor. Situations exist in ev-

6 ery aspect of life; it is up to the humorists to craft them into particularly funny situations. Three identifiable styles are Dark, Unfortunate, and Silly humor. Each sub-genre uses a different order of events to cause the reader to laugh in a way that differs from other subgenres. For example, Dark humor presents a conflict between comedy and tragedy that leaves the audience uncertain if laughter is an appropriate response; audiences laugh anyway but may feel guilty for doing so. Unfortunate humor, on the other hand, presents characters and stories that are undesirable, but essentially harmless. Audiences are not irresolute and they laugh freely at the unfortunate circumstances in the text. The final style, Silly humor, is the comedy with which most audiences are familiar. It uses absurdity, satire, and parody, among other techniques, in an effort to mock its subjects. Chapter Two identifies different structural patterns in humorous fiction. By structure I refer to literary elements like title, setting, order and narrator. Each of these supportive roles are examples of different administrative decisions an author can make to enhance the humor of a piece. For example, while a title doesnt usually affect a text, humorous fiction can use titles to introduce jokes and themes found within a text, thus providing the reader another source of humor. Likewise, the setting, order, and narrator can all independently contribute to an overall experience. Chapter Two will show that humorous fiction can be funny in ways that are not directly caused by a plot development or linguistically dependent jokes. Chapter Three examines specific incidents where language is the direct cause of humor. Because language is the most basic unit of literature, this chapter is the most straight-forward and easily identifiable of the three categories; its about jokes. Constructions such as puns, paraprosdokians and metaphors, along with choices in syntax and dic-

7 tion, are examined in order to show how ideas are expressed humorously. The words an author chooses have a direct correlation to the success of humorous fiction. This chapter explains the importance these choices have over all other patterns and techniques. Do not be surprised to encounter a textual example that exhibits more than one pattern. The humorous imagination of categories must not be inhibited by the logic of categorization. If these categories are separated too much the texts may loose their comic impact, for one category usually fosters the others. For example, a texts structure may be funny because it parodies an interior decorating publication. From there, humor can be derived from parody of the actual phrases and language associated with journalism of that sort. Accordingly, the plot may gain humor when it is mentioned that a mirrored toilet seat opens up a small bathroom space. In this example, the quote has a meaning that refers back to the theme of decorating, opens up a small bathroom space, and also creates certain humorous possibilities of a mirrored toilet seat. At the same time, in a linguistic sense, the quote literarily refers to opening the lid to a small space inside of the toilet. I urge you to take this toilet seat example as a microcosm of my thesis. Besides, if I get too hung up on semantics this wont be any fun. -- -- -As we begin this study of humor, let us first reflect on the origins of comedy. We can find out just how important comedy is to human civilization by examining the origins of comedy and tragedy as they evolved into identifiable forms in ancient Greece. In fact, tragedy and comedy shared a close affinity having both been tribal rites transformed into art. In the appendix to his work Comedy, Wylie Sypher documents the ancient progression of drama from ritual to art by citing theories by Aristotle, Socrates, and classical

8 scholar F. M. Cornford. Aristotle attributed the origins of drama to a kind of fertility rite a tribal sacrifice and feast and it is now widely accepted that art is born of rites and that the comic and tragic masks are themselves archetypical symbols for characters in a tribal semantics of ritual (216). These rites represent a death-and-resurrection ritual often practiced by primitive cultures to appease a higher power and expunge the sins of the community through a sacrificial scapegoat. From this ritual sprung a folk practice of comic and tragic poetry that followed, to some degree, the ancient myth of Athenian theatre, which was usually steeped in ceremonies of fertility. Generally these ceremonies followed a series of events that coincided with the changing of seasons: the death or sacrifice of a hero-god (the old year), the rebirth of a hero-god (the new year), and a purging of evil by driving out a scapegoat (who may be either god or devil, hero or villain) (217). The hero-gods fertility comes into question and leads to a revelation of new knowledge in the new hero-god. The reincarnation was followed by celebratory songs that were phallic in nature to reaffirm the previously questioned fertility. According to Cornford, the distinction between tragedy and comedy arose as tragedy gradually suppressed the sexuality of this original plot and refined its form to one that left only the portrayal of suffering and death of the hero, king, or god (218). By preserving the theme of sexuality, and hence the rebirth and representation of fertility, comedy preserved the ritualistic plot of sacrifice and feast. For this reason, Cornford suggests that comedys form is truer to its primitive ancestor while tragedy has succumbed to more and more artificial manipulations. To translate this into modern terms is to say that comedy ends in the celebratory stage of ancient drama while tragedy ends before the celebration can occur. The distinc-

9 tion that Sypher makes between the two genres evolutions allows for more variety and range in comedy than in tragedy. Consider that while the ceremonial circle of ancient artistic form is birth: struggle: death: resurrection, tragedy fulfills only birth: struggle: death (220), leaving less leniency than comedy to diversify its plot structure and still complete its ceremonial circle. Because tragedy has become more concerned with plot over the course of its evolution, it lends itself to fewer possibilities by constraining itself through a self-incurred standard of logic; the struggles almost always cause the deaths. To Sypher, tragedy has become a closed form that demands a law of necessity or destiny, and a finality that can be fained only by stressing a logic of plot or unified action with a beginning, middle, and end (218). Comedy, on the other hand, is concerned with plot only so much as a means to an end, which is to say, a path to Syphers celebratory stage. According to Sypher, comedy is a more complex form of drama than tragedy because of the disorderly rejoicing at the rebirth or resurrection of the god-hero [] and wholly incompatible meanings of sacrifice and feast []. Unlike tragedy, comedy does not have to guard itself by any logic of inevitability, or by academic rules. Comedy makes artistic all the unlikely possibilities that tragic probability must reject (218-20). The path required to achieve any form of resurrection is usually of little concern to comic theatre. The stages of struggle and death may take infinite and often illogical forms because, in comedy, rebirth is an inevitability that has the luxury of remaining an independent, and sometimes contradictory, solution to the previous stages. This structural difference explains why comedies usually have happy endings.

10 Aristotle said that the two genres evolved and separated from each other when tragedy gained magnitude by concerning itself with the lives and actions of nobility; comedy remained focused on the ignoble (215). The genres gradually found forms that are more recognizable to modern readers and, unfortunately, the genre of humor was devalued when compared to tragedy. For instance, notable genre-discrimination is seen as early as the fourteenth century in Dantes Divine Comedy. The entire work is undoubtedly a masterpiece, but The Inferno is, without question, the most popular and revered section of the epic work. It is no coincidence that it deals with elements glorified by tragedy: death, sin, and eternal suffering. And yet, the Divine Comedy is indeed titled a comedy because Dante finds salvation and is reborn after his ascent to The Paradiso. Similarly, Miltons seventeenth century Paradise Lost garners much more attention than Paradise Regained; mankinds fall from grace is more interesting than its redemption. Even the size differential between the two works is an adept, though superficial, indication to the fascination with tragedy over comedy. While these two works do not represent the type of laugh-inducing humor I am concerned with, they do illuminate the general receptions of comedy and tragedy as we reach the modern era. The comedy in this study will (hopefully) be a bit funnier. One reason why literature is drawn to tragedy may be explained through the success of comedy in performance rather than in writing. There are so many ways to make people laugh, be it physically or intellectually. Delivery, timing, and choreography are equally as intricate to the success of a joke as is the concept. Performing comedians have control over the physical elements of humor to ensure the audience receives the material as intended. In literature, however, an entire joke may be lost if the reader does not inter-

11 pret the natural timing a comic statement set out to convey. If nothing is lost intellectually, but the stresses and emphases fail to communicate, the joke may go unappreciated. An example from George Carlin will illustrate my point. During a performance he asks, When you drink grapefruit juice in the morning do you go like this [makes sour face]? (Jammin in New York). At this point, the sour face he makes to the crowd becomes the most important aspect of the joke; it is the punchline despite being unspoken. In only reading the example, there is much more pressure on the audience to assume they know what Carlin is referring to. We may be able to empathize with him through similar experiences, but surely some of the fun is left on stage. Literary critics seem intent on keeping comedy a second-class literary genre. Writer and film director Adam McKay suggests that comedy writers are not met with a great deal of legitimate literary respect because this genre of writing needs to provoke a bodily response: a laugh. As we all know, the body and all of its emissions (fluids, sounds, gases, the occasional kidney stone) have never officially made the domain of high art (Sacks viii). Yet, he also argues that writers of comedy understand and portray culture with just as much craft, if not more, than writers of the highest esteem. The history, evolution, and subject matter of the genre (even if it consists only of bodily emissions) should indicate to readers and critics that comedy is more complex than it is given credit for, and the transition from life to art is not as easy as it seems. -- -- -Not long after comedy evolved from a primitive rite into an art form, Greek philosophers began to investigate why human beings laugh. Though they devoted only minor attention to the origin of laughter, Plato and Aristotle initiated the western theories

12 of comedy in the fourth century B.C. However, there was a lack of substantial development paid to comic theory until philosophers like Thomas Hobbes, Rene Descartes, and Immanuel Kant rekindled the philosophical analysis in the seventeenth century. These Traditional philosophers, including Plato and Aristotle, were primarily concerned with the behavioral causations of laughter as they related to either morality or science. Then, in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, as Modernism emerged in Europe, George Meredith and Henri Bergson shifted the philosophical study of comedy from science to art. It proves helpful to divide these philosophers, and the application of their theories, into groups of Traditionalists and Modernists. Chronology plays a large role in differentiating groups of philosophers from others. But the primary reason for these groups is because of the types of theories each focuses on and how theyre applied. John Morrealls The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor identifies three Traditional theories of laughter: the Superiority Theory, the Incongruity Theory, and the Relief Theory. The Superiority Theory was articulated by Thomas Hobbes in the seventeenth century but he was not the first person to suggest this malicious cause of laughter. As Ive already noted, Plato and Aristotle both associated laughter with vice in the fourth century B.C. Plato was adamantly against laughter because he viewed it as malice that only came from the recognition of inferiority in others. For Plato, the moral man would refrain from this vice. Aristotle recognized the potential vice that came from laughter and he advised a certain display of tact when laughing so to not overextend the exploitation of others (Morreall 10, 14). Hobbes theory places human beings in a situation that Morreall calls a constant struggle with one another for power and what power can bring. In this struggle the failure

13 of our competitors is equivalent to our success. And so we are constantly watching for signs that we are better off than others, or, what counts as the same thing, that others are worse off than we are (19). Hobbes first links humor to mans struggle for power in Leviathan when he says Sudden glory, is the passion which makes those grimaces called laughter; and is caused either by some sudden act of their own, that pleases them; or by the apprehension of some deformed thing in another, by comparison whereof they suddenly applaud themselves (19). Hobbes theory tries to prove that human beings derive pleasure from seeing others fail. Hobbes biggest critic was Francis Hutcheson who argued against any essential connection between feeling superior and laughing, claiming that if Hobbes theory is true then there can be no laughter on any occasion where we make no comparison of ourselves to others, or of our present state to a worse state, or where we do not observe some superiority to ourselves above some other thing (27). Morreall links Hutchesons theory of comic genius to literary creations that have the ability to use somewhat inappropriate metaphors and similes to trigger ideas that clash with each other (26). Hutchesons Reflections Upon Laughter, published almost one hundred years after Hobbes Leviathan, foreshadowed the Incongruity Theory of laughter. The Incongruity Theory of laughter is best summarized by Cicero in his work On the Orator: The most common kind of joke is that in which we expect one thing and another is said; here our own disappointed expectation makes us laugh (18). In addition to Cicero, philosophers such as Francis Hutcheson, as mentioned above, and David Hartley also reference this kind of humor. But it was Immanuel Kant, in his eighteenth century work Critique of Judgment, who developed an association between the intellect

14 and the physical body that resulted from a sensory gratification based on feelings of well being (45). When listening to a joke, the mind develops certain expectations that vanish when the punch line is revealed. The intellectual surprise coincides with the internal organs and muscles which are signaled to produce a feeling of health (Morreall 45). The Incongruity Theory differs between philosophers. For example, Arthur Schopenhauer differs from Kant in that he recognizes incongruity as the intellectual mismatch between our sensory knowledge of things and our abstract knowledge of those same things (Morreall 51). This variation of the theory states that we perceive things in life with our senses and that each observation carries with it multiple characteristics. When we organize our perceptions under abstract ideas, like the abstract ideas proposed in jokes, our mind focuses on only a few characteristics and we are able to gather very different ideas together into one group. The stark contrast between the newly related concepts is funny because it is so uncommon. This theory helps to explain puns, wordplay and other comic techniques in later chapters. The final theory, the Relief Theory, is also linked to physical as well as mental relief, making it similar to the Incongruity Theory. Morreall informs us that the Relief Theory suggests energy is stored up in the body that, through certain triggers, is relieved in the form of laughter. For example, laughter will often follow the avoidance of death or harm. When the mind fabricates the illusion that danger is imminent and it proves false, the bodys response is to laugh out of relief. According to Morreall, Descartes was the first to link the physical act of laughter with the emotions (21). Kant also began to hint at the physical nature of laughter, but it was not until Herbert Spencer and Sigmund Freud that explicit explanations of Relief Theory are offered. The concept is strikingly similar to

15 the Incongruity Theory, but instead of focusing on faulty intellectual correlations, the Relief Theory focuses on relief from danger and anxiety. Spencer saw these stores of energy as nervous energy and, as you can imagine, Freud linked them with sexual repression (111). Go figure. In the first century B.C., Cicero distinguishes between someone who says funny things and someone who says things funny. He makes the important claim that there is more than one way to create humor in the following two statements: There are two kinds of jokes, one of which is based on things, the other on words, and Whatever is wittily expressed consists sometimes in an idea, sometimes only in the language used. But people are most delighted with a joke when the laugh is raised by the idea and the language together (17-18). Apparently these ideas were offered before their time because none of the Traditionalists heed their insight. Instead, the Traditionalists were determined to define the cause of laughter through one explanation and they all tried to definitively define humor. However, in the second half of the nineteenth century, the Modernists theorized that humor was something more flexible than an abstract definition (Bergson 61). The revolutionary idea proposed was that no one theory could encompass all the ways we laugh. Ciceros comments hinted at this dualistic distinction but it wasnt widely recognized or articulated until publications from the major figures of modern humor theory: George Meredith and Henri Bergson. The idea that humor need not be confined to one definition came about as the Modernists reevaluated comedy in terms of life and society. They were quick to point out the lifelike qualities that humor possessed, most notably, the ability to evolve and adapt. Bergson criticized theories that rely on superiority and incongruity alone, calling them in-

16 adequate to encapsulate a wide range of comedy by imprisoning the comic spirit within a definition. He urged that comedy be regarded as a living thing, suggesting that people should treat it with the respect due to life by watching it grow and expand (61). George Merediths major theoretical contribution to comic theory came in his 1877 publication An Essay on Comedy. He identified that comedy needs a social atmosphere in order to thrive. He was aware that comedy addressed the narrow enclosure of mans intellect, with reference to the social world upon their character []. To understand and value it, you must have a sober liking of your kind, and a sober estimate of our civilized qualities (46). In other words, Meredith saw that comedy could not survive without a society of cultivated intellects, whereas men and women could quickly perceive the advancements of the comedian (3). In order to achieve this society of cultivated intellects requires an open relationship between writer and audience. The writer must present the material with subtle delicacy while the audience needs a corresponding acuteness to welcome him (3). Meredith recognized that certain conventions of humor must be agreed upon in a society for humor to be successfully interpreted. Twenty-three years later, Henri Bergson published Laughter, furthering the notion that human social circles are the only environments in which comedy exists. To Bergson, the comic does not exist outside the pale of what is strictly human []. If any other animal, or some lifeless object, produces the same effect, it is always because of some resemblance to man, of the stamp he gives it or the use he puts it to (62-3). Bergson agrees that comedy relies on the intellects of everyone to remain in contact with one another otherwise the comedic concept will not communicate. To illustrate his point, Bergson points to comedys failed attempt to transcend culture and language barriers:

17 Laughter always implies a kind of secret freemasonry, or even complicity, with other laughers []. Many comic effects are incapable of translation from one language to another, because they refer to the customs and ideas of a particular social group! (64-5). The inability for comedy to transcend cultures suggests that there must be multiple ways to create humor through cultural references. Multiplicity, however, does not eliminate patterns in comedy; in fact, Bergson himself identifies three processes which might be called repetition, inversion, and reciprocal interference of series that are ingredients of varying importance in comedy (118). Repetition consists of transposing the natural expression of an idea into another key (140). The humor comes from repeating the same idea under fresh circumstances so as to recall the initial joke, but not to belabor it. Inversion is a method similar to the Incongruity Theory that creates humor from inverting the expectations normally associated with a scene, character, or logic. Character roles and linguistic constructions are reversed to interrupt the audiences viewing experience. And finally, reciprocal interference occurs when something belongs simultaneously to two altogether independent series of events and is capable of being interpreted in two entirely different meanings at the same time (123). In a linguistic sense, this is a fancy way of describing a pun or wordplay. These patterns are exaggerations and, according to Bergson, exaggerations are always comic when prolonged, and especially when systematic (141). Bergson and Meredith do not represent the end of comic philosophy. Contemporary comedians are still commenting on their craft, on and off the stage, in ways that build on theories mentioned above or develop new theories. But contemporary thinkers are left out of this discussion for two reasons. First, modern theories were avoided in an

18 effort to uphold my own original perception of patterns in contemporary humorous fiction. Secondly, the aim of this thesis is not to argue what is funny but to show how authors use humor in meaningful ways. In that sense, the philosophy of the Traditionalists and Modernists is enough to provide a theoretical foundation adequate to introduce the genre of humor. -- -- -As Bergson said, comedy is something that springs from human creation. Although it seems that much of what we encounter in humorous fiction is the result of surreal, implausible, or unlikely exaggerations on human life, it is critical we remember that those exaggerations rely on their original models from humanity in order to have any relevance to the readers and, basically, to contain any comic value. To say comedy is a manipulated version of experience does not make it hypo-human, it makes it hyper-human. Readers must be acutely aware of their existence so as to identify how it is being exaggerated. George Carlin once said, I believe you can joke about anything. It all depends on how you construct the joke; what the exaggeration isbecause every joke needs one exaggeration. Every joke needs one thing to be way out of proportion (Parental Advisory). If readers arent aware of a subjects normal appearance, they wont appreciate its exaggerated one. Accordingly, the authors and readers of humorous fiction are keen to issues concerning society, existence, and art. The patterns that Ive identified in the following three chapters will show that authors of humorous fiction are intentionally choosing to use literary elements in humorous ways. While each author has his own variation on sub-genre, structure, and language, the collective works are not so different that they cannot be categorized to show authors

19 reaching for the same comic effect. Humorous fiction is an original, artistic discourse on humanity, as well as a craft that deserves to be recognized as such.

Chapter One: Did you hear about the lady who backed into the fan? It was a Dis-ass-ter!

20 Within the broad genre of comedy there exist more precise sub-genres by which to classify the themes and plots of individual stories. Because each story can vary so much in its particular events, one way to identify patterns is by classifying stories in groups according to the types of events that occur. Within this survey are three identifiable sub-genres that control the events, themes, or tones of the stories: Dark humor, Unfortunate humor, and Silly humor1. Each of the selected texts fits into these three subgenres and, as you will see, some of them can be situated into more than one. Dark humor emphasizes the conflict between comedy and tragedy by attempting to balance one with the other through the events of the story. The relationship never appears equal, however, and the magnitude of tragedy draws more of the attention than does the humor (Sypher 215). But remember that comedy is based on a more complete and complex ceremonial circle. When the shorter circle of tragedy is interrupted and elongated by the celebratory stage of the comic circle, the audience is forced to do two things: tragically react to comedy and comically react to tragedy. What makes Dark humor funny, and quite unique, is the shaky coexistence between comedy and tragedy. These stories use tragic events which no doubt negatively affect the audiences mood. Dark humor is consumed by death, violence, rape, murder, and any other vice that might make the civilized reader uneasy. Then, just before the breaking point, a punchline is offered as compensation to relieve the anxiety. The Relief Theory of laughter explains how this reaction becomes possible to the reader, but it does little to alleviate the tension between the darkness and the comedy. As a story gets exponentially worse, readers begin

1 Be aware that these three are not the only possibilities in comedy, just the sub-genres that were present among my analyzed stories. With consideration to the existence of similar sub-genres prior to my own analysis, most notably Dark humor, these sub-genres adhere to definitions and requirements unique to my argument and analysis.

21 to anticipate, and even rely on, forthcoming punchlines to alleviate their trepidations and, in return, tolerate more and more tragedy. Authors can draw out the suffering so that the readers experience is similar to that of the character. To complicate things even more, Dark humor usually ends in tragedy. For example, in Downtrodden Marys Failed Campaign of Terror, George Saunders weaves together a strikingly despondent tale of a ninety-two-year-old womans experience working for minimum wage as a custodian at a museum, memories of her troubled marriage to a gangster, her campaign to sabotage her bosss only hope for a promotion, and her failed suicide. Although the events get worse, humorous interjections gradually adjust readers to the next horror while abandoning their reactions to the former situation. Even though the events seem bad, Saunders is able to produce humor from them so that the tragedy loses pungency in its balance with comedy. Marys day begins as eighty screaming kids run uncontrolled into the museum accompanied by one inattentive adult supervisor with a magazine. One of the children steals Marys wing harness, forcing her to confront her boss, Mr. Spencer, and ask for a timedeferred payroll deduction because the small cost of a replacement wing harness is extremely taxing on her tight budget (79). While speaking to Mr. Spencer, the Cleaning Coordinator, Mary is forced to listen to his jubilation over the survival of the see-through cow while he was on vacation. The cow, which comes into the story later, is seen as Mr. Spencers opportunity to stop cleaning the museums and begin curating them. Immediately after the conversation, Mary is instructed to go clean up vomit near the Pickled Babies exhibit. This exhibit is exactly what its euphemistic title makes it sound like: stillborn babies, ranging in age from two weeks to full term, kept in jars of green formaldehyde. The

22 concept of displaying stillborn babies is terribly disturbing, and Mary makes it even worse when she begs not to have to start her day near the Pickled Babies, having borne three stillborns in her life. But Mr. Spencer cheerfully recites the Employee Loyalty Oath and tells her to shake a leg for Christs sake (80). Thus, the problems of Marys day, and life, become quite clear. However, before readers sympathy can build for Mary, Saunders has Mr. Spencer interrupt with his managerial clichs and professionally driven inconsideration, diverting the story towards a comic tone. On her way to the Pickled Babies, Mary encounters a group of teenagers casting mean looks towards her. She curses them silently, disputing the way kids stereotypically view the elderly as dense and having corny moral values (81). Mary is anything but innocent and, as it turns out, her past is filled with tragedy more unspeakable than her unsettling custodial duties. Mary moved to the city and married her gangster husband, Bud, after her brother was castrated and hung from a bridge. When the body was returned home without its penis and with such a horrible rope burn on the neck, Marys mother went insane and the family were continually finding dead chicks about the house (82). In this instance, the grisly death of the brother is skewed slightly out of the audiences immediate attention by the peculiar reaction of the mother. Leaving dead chicks about the house is a reaction just weird enough to maintain the macabre events while incorporating a bit of sneering mockery. On their wedding night, Bud violated Mary with a zucchini, insisting that it would make them closer. Despite the terrible nature of these events, both are followed by comic statements that, at least partly, draw attention back towards comedy. After the zucchini incident Mary says, Imagine the humiliation of being just eighteen and having to go to

23 your family doctor with an infection difficult to explain. Finally he found it in a plant book (82). Of course Marys rape is not redeemed by this comment, but the tragedy of it is brought more towards equilibrium with humor. The sexual abuse is lightened by the method and location in which the remedy is found and the relationship between comedy and tragedy is closer to equal, especially considering that the comment comes from the victim herself. Both of these events should not be laughed at, and yet the comic tone surrounding them is undeniable, thus giving readers the space to laugh and pushing them to identify comedy within tragedy. After humiliation upon humiliation, we learn of Marys little secret: she finds joy in killing the see-through cows with rat poison. The see-through cow is a living exhibit that has been fitted with a Plexiglas window on its flank to display the digestive system. Mary has killed six cows up to this point and does so to exact revenge upon Mr. Spencer by preventing his promotion. While the killings are initially shocking, they are softened by casual statements from Mary such as, It feels good to finally be asserting oneself, and They must put artificial flavoring in the rat poison because every cow so far has gulped it down like candy (85). These statements create the conflict between tragedy and comedy by extracting two different reactions simultaneously. Our natural instinct is to discourage murder, but Mary relates it to acts of self-worth and a childs love of candy. In the end she makes us proud of her for murdering the cows and the moral values that we probably took into the story are completely rearranged; we find ourselves laughing at exactly what we normally wouldnt. Moving to a lighter shade of Dark humor, Jake Swearingens piece, How Important Moments in My Life Would Have Been Different If I Was Shot Twice in the Stomach

24 at Close Range, keeps all of the death and violence expected in Dark humor and places them in normal situations to which all readers can relate. Though the premise of the piece is completely ridiculous, the scenes are eerily identifiable. As the scenes become realistic, Swearingen pulls the trigger (twice) and the speaker falls and dies. The audience is forced to react to a familiar event suddenly recreated in an unfamiliar way unless, of course, you were shot in the stomach on your first day of school. The unique experience of this piece derives from the audiences ability to recognize humor amid such violence. The beginnings of the scenarios are typical of everybodys lives and then the scenarios are completely stripped of normalcy. Swearingen offers seven vignettes including: birth, walking for the first time, first day of school, first kiss, graduation, first day of college, and getting shot in the stomach at close range. Each situation is established in normal circumstances and then BAM, the realization of getting shot takes over the situation. Here are a few examples: Birth: The doctor tells my mother to push while she also tells the nurse to get my father. My mother has been in labor for nearly forty hours. My father rushes into the room, his face a mix of pure terror and pure joy. I come out, nearly dead from blood loss. I appear on both Oprah and Phil Donahue, being the only person ever shot twice in the stomach while still in the womb. Walking for the first time: I stand up on shaky, little-boy legs, and then promptly fall over, a pool of my own blood spreading out from underneath me.

25 First kiss: I lean forward, and my breath is coming in shaky little gasps. Our lips touch, and then I cough twice, blood slowly leaking from my mouth. I ask her to call an ambulance, goddamnit, Ive been fucking shot. I sob quietly that I dont want to die here. Graduation: I walk across the stage and shake the principals hand while he hands me my diploma. I collapse a few steps after, and the entire auditorium where graduation is being held goes deadly quiet. All you can hear is my girlish whimpering in pain and begging for someone to just put me out of my misery, for the love of Christ. Getting shot in the stomach at close range: This is actually pretty much the same. (235-36) These hypothetical situations draw on multiple emotional responses simultaneously. The innocence that begins Birth and Walking for the first time is violently destroyed by the pure brutality of getting shot twice. The moments of intimacy and vulnerability in First Kiss and Graduation are overpowered by the intensity and fear that we feel over death. Readers will of course identify with the realistic portrayals of milestones similar enough to everybodys life. Those feelings are then conflicted with the variable of getting shot while at the full climax of the emotional experience, and the terror seizes the comedy. The redundancy of the final scene, Getting shot twice in the stomach at close range, assures the audience that what has come before is all in fun and that it is okay to laugh, and yet it still is one of the [] Important Moments in His Life [...] that the title alludes to and therefore insinuates that the speaker will be shot and killed at some

26 time in his life. The sad, the funny, the violent, and the real work hand in hand to elicit contradictory reactions and, in the end, the reader has to laugh. The pinnacle example of Dark humor is in Saunders CivilWarLand in Bad Decline. When a failing theme park is overrun by youth gangs, the owner, Mr. Alsuga, and his Special Assistant, the unnamed narrator, attempt to combat the problem by devising a plan to fight fire with fire (5). They search for an employee who would be willing to lead the Desperate Patrol, a Civil War period acting group armed with live ammunition and the intent to scare the gangs. The first man put in charge of this duty is Ned Quinn, an Adjunct Thespian and a world-class worry wart (6). This proves to be futile because on the first night of patrol Quinn is found tied to a cannon with pants removed and notches carved into his penis. Instead of feeling sorry for an actor thrust into the role of mercenary, Saunders mockingly exploits his grotesque suffering in the next scene when the gang paints the image of his wound on the side of a building. One cant help but laugh as this incident is cast aside nonchalantly among the growing list of offenses against the park. The solution is thought to be found in a mysterious man by the name of Samuel, a military man who was ironically kicked out of Vietnam for participating in a bloodbath (14). Soon after Sam is hired, there is an incident at the Foley family baptism held at the park. A gang interrupts the service and forces one of the nieces into the woods. As the narrator runs for help, he hears six shots from the woods and instantly fears the worst. Upon returning, however, he finds six gang corpses and Samuel having a glass of punch with the family whereas the nieces dad is hanging all over Sam trying to confirm his daughters virginity (17). Somehow a possible gang rape has transformed back into a

27 joyous occasion, even overshadowing the original celebration, and Sam, the benevolent killer, is offered the nieces innocence, the same innocence that was in danger only moments before. The seamless transition from joy to horror and back to joy again causes humor that is triggered in two ways: first is the relief from the prevention of a really bad event; second is the inappropriate celebration over the pile of gang corpses. During the story, the narrator is in contact with the ghosts of a family, the McKinnons, who once lived on a farm where the park now resides. From the very beginning the narrator suspects that something bad must have happened to them because their spirits are always wandering around at night looking dismayed (12). At the end of the story, the McKinnons inadvertently wander too close to the location of their deaths and begin acting out their final moments. Mr. McKinnon, whod spent time in the Civil War, hacks away at his daughters with an imaginary scythe while Mrs. McKinnon lies belly-up with one arm flailing. When hes finished, Mr. McKinnon bemoans his misery in what used to be his field and shoots himself in the head with an imaginary shotgun. The entire scene is acted out five times. When they are finished the McKinnons flee in to the woods and Mr. McKinnon runs after them asking for forgiveness, claiming that the war made him crazy. At the bottom of the hill, the family passes through a retaining wall while the narrator crashes into it and is knocked unconscious. He is awoken by the image of one of Sams victims who telepathically explains to the narrator the error of his ways. But before the narrator can seek salvation, Samuel charges down the hill with a hunting knife and kills the narrator to ensure his own crimes are kept secret. The story ends in tragedy on all aspects: the park is closed and burned to the ground, the narrators wife has left him for endangering their

28 children, and the narrator realizes his sins but is killed before he can do anything to redeem himself. This is a stunning example of how the balance between comedy and tragedy affect the response we have to a text. Were it not for the comic scenes sprinkled around, this story would have appeared in another thesis. The tragedy outweighs comedy in this piece, but not so much that the readers are left completely devastated. The final image is solemn but the readers remember the humor and must somehow incorporate it into their analysis. That balance is the defining characteristic of Dark humor, and its what leads to the laughter. After all, who wouldnt choose laughter over violence, pain, and death? These three examples of Dark humor have important aspects in common with each other: they are violent, they revolve around the killing of something or someone, and the characters are doomed to die (or fail to die, which is worse, in Marys case). Dark humor, then, disrupts the audience with its violence and tragedy and then mixes in comedy that seems entirely inappropriate for the situation. The result is a comedy sub-genre that makes readers laugh while questioning if it was indeed appropriate to do so. Unfortunate humor, like Dark humor, relies on the downfall of its characters and events in order to create humorous responses. However, Unfortunate humor differs because the subject matter is a lot more playful and lighthearted, even when the failures occur. The characters are depicted as sympathetic, even apathetic, giving readers permission to laugh at their misfortunes. By the ends of the stories audiences feel bad for having so much fun at the characters expenses, but not to a point of guilt and certainly not to a point that constrains laughter. The misfortune and bad luck in the stories produces humor because the mishaps are usually ironic and self-inflicted. The laughter caused is perfectly

29 embodied in the Superiority Theory: the audience recognizes imperfection in the situation and is satisfied that they are not the victims. Bill Franzens Mom and Pop Biz is a good example of Unfortunate humor. Having recently retired, the narrators parents decide to publish their own magazine after hearing of the narrators failures in his free-lance writing career. They ask him for submissions but find new reasons to reject each of his pieces. The first submission is titled Retired? SureBut Busier Than All Get Out. Unfortunately, Mom and Pop had earlier explained to the narrator that it would be a mistake to tailor a piece specifically for us (52). As nicely as they can, Mom and Pop assume that he didnt mean to write such a tailored piece despite their instructions. Pop asks, Didnt you feel like you were dangling your worm in some pretty heavily fished waters when you wrote it? Sorry, but it gets a great big NO from me (52). The only words of encouragement are from the narrators sister, Margie, who has recently moved home after a divorce. Her praise has little influence over Mom and Pops decision and the first piece is rejected. What is supposed to be an exercise in pity turns out to be a confidence-shattering publishing experience. Ironically, the narrator is rejected by his own parents after they start a magazine for the sole purpose of alleviating his writing woes. The next submission is titled The Divorce Experience: Mixer-Upper of PutterBack-Togetherer? Needless to say, the recently divorced Margie doesnt appreciate the piece. Mom is more encouraging this time around and replied, Its a one-idea piece, but its such an interesting idea. Dad is just as passive-aggressive with his comment that the piece is Not you at the top of your form []. But with some careful editingwhy not? (53). From nowhere, another critic chimes in, the narrators Uncle Foster, whos camping

30 out in the yard until the weather gets warmer. His critique is that the idea has been played out rather much as of late. Uncle Foster assures the narrator that the whole family is sure he can do better, but for now the piece must be rejected, as it is not up to first-issue standards. Just as the narrator gains some of his parents support, his sister and uncle destroy all his momentum. But we cannot blame his critics too much because the narrator is writing topical articles that are suggestive and offensive. In other words, we can laugh at these rejections because the narrator is inflicting them upon himself. Worried that he may be left out of his parents first issue, the narrator resolves to write a comic piece about his recent time spent in jury duty, entitled I, the Juror. He gains the support of his parents and his uncle. Mom writes that the piece is The funniest thing Ive read in I dont know how long, while Pop says of it, Simple, but so well done, it stays funny for me (54). Uncle Foster admires the piece for being So topical and original [] that Im proud to able to call you my nephew (55). However, not everyone is pleased with the submission. Margie and her husband Norv, with whom shes recently reconciled, agree that the piece is thin and shallow, showing no hint of control, confidence, or knowledge of the inner workings of our court system (55). If that isnt bad enough, Norvs best friend Cort, whom the narrator has never met, assumes that Margie and Norvs criticisms are being kind. Cort says that Mom and Pop have asked him to reject the piece on behalf of them, stating that they cant publish anything getting this kind of three forthree against vote (56). The magazine start-up offer made by Mom and Pop proves to be nothing more than unconditional support typical of parents towards their children. Whats unfortunate is that the support is shown to be transparent when the submissions keep getting rejected.

31 Even as the narrator gains support, more readers are introduced and their new opinion sways the scales out of the narrators favor. In the final submission, the narrators parents finally show approval before their enthusiasm is countered by the opinions of two irrelevant critics in Norv and Cort. This entire situation is an example of bad luck and self-inflicted misfortune happening at the same time. Readers can laugh at the narrator because they know that such a mom-and-pop magazine is a nonsense publication and yet the narrator tries to publish in it over and over again. The narrator realizes the futility of his efforts to get published by his parents, but not before the audience recognizes him as an unfortunate character. Another example of Unfortunate humor occurs in Woody Allens The Rejection. In this story, Boris and Anna Ivanovich receive the heartbreaking news that their son, Misca, has been rejected from the best nursery school in Manhattan. Because this kind of rejection wouldnt normally be humorous or educationally detrimental, the humor is created by the exaggerated first-world problems for social elite like Boris and Anna. They worry so much that they send themselves into a downward spiral of insane proportions, ending up in a homeless refuge with other white-collar derelicts. The Ivanovichs are unfortunate because they inflict adversity upon themselves in a situation that does not call for panic. When Boris discovers the rejection, he worries about the discrimination he will receive from his colleagues in light of the news. And although he is able to cast his own uncertainties aside, he arrives to work the next day to find a dead hare lying on his desk. Boris coworkers already know of the rejection and one tells him of another child from an affluent family who was rejected from a prestigious kindergarten and forced to attend

32 public school. The child was rejected from every college but barber school, took to alcoholism, theft, murder, and was eventually hanged. Boris responds, Then there is no God at the thought of this scenario (94). The proposed possibility, however, is undoubtedly ludicrous and the reader can only be amused at the gullibility of Boris. Boris has nightmares about Miscas inability to identify things in interviews that he would be expected to have a deep understanding of like animals, shapes, or the lyrics to Do You Know the Muffin Man? (95). All of these fears are ridiculous and, thus, funny. Boris self-inflicted obsession with what is obviously ridiculous also leads to humor. The Ivanovichs only hope is to sell their country house to finance a bribe in return for a second interview. Fortune seems to be against them because on the morning of the second interview Miscas pet fish dies suddenly and without warning of illness. Misca is left feeling disconsolate and refuses to touch his Legos or Lite Brite at the interview and calls the interviewer lard bucket (98). His foul attitude leads to another rejection and the Ivanovichs seek refuge in a homeless shelter. In the shelter they meet other souls even less fortunate than themselves, simple folk who had been turned down by co-op boards for not having sufficient net worth (98). Because the Ivanovichs upperclass problems are ridiculously exaggerated, the audience does not feel bad; on the contrary, the audience delights in the Ivanovichs degradation because they know such a social peril doesnt exist. The characters, then, in Mom and Pop Biz and The Rejection are subject to some type of personal misfortune or humiliation. But because their problems are irrationally dealt with and self-inflicted, the audience can dismiss any association they have with tragedy and focus primarily on the comic element of the situation. The characters are

33 unfortunate for accepting and magnifying their misfortunes in the ways that they do. The audience is consequently delighted for identifying the faults of the characters and, further, avoiding those faults themselves. Unlike Dark humor, Unfortunate humor does not create a conflict between tragedy and comedy. The audience is fully aware that the tragic events are insignificant and dismissible in favor of comedy. The final sub-genre, Silly humor, is precisely what it sounds like, silly. It is the weirdness, the goofiness, the coincidences, and the cleverness that makes fun of life. It usually uses a series of exaggerations, analogies, or metaphors to make fun of everyday living. Silly humor is especially effective in the way it captivates an audience through the reality of a subject, only to ask the readers to put their understanding of reality on hold to appease the exaggeration in the story. In some Silly pieces the exaggeration is the fundamental element of the text that is completely out of proportion and subsequently affects all other elements. Other times, two completely unrelated topics are combined or compared and the product becomes a nearly implausible amalgamation that excites our imaginations in a hybrid formation. The subject matter in this sub-genre is almost entirely positive and contains little or no tragedy. If there is violence, it is good-natured, vaguely discussed and kept at distance from the main action and characters, and definitely nonlethal. The most important distinguishing characteristic of Silly humor is that the exaggerations influence the rest of the material. Silly humor is the broadest sub-genre of the three offered in this chapter. In the same way that stories can fall under multiple sub-genres, Silly humor can creep its way into stories that are predominately defined by other sub-genres. The premises of The Rejection and How Important Moments in My Life Would Have Been Different If I Was

34 Shot Twice in the Stomach at Close Range are exaggerations that dictate how the events unfold. Similarly, Saunders pieces CivilWarLand in Bad Decline and Downtrodden Marys Failed Campaign of Terror contain humorous exaggerations that help us look past the tragic elements enough to identify them as humorous. But the exaggerations are not always the most prolific elements to these pieces and so they are not always considered Silly humor. Let the following examples show how silliness can dominate a plot instead of just contributing to a storys events. Ian Fraziers Lamentations of the Father presents everyday familial arguments, rules, and clichs in a Biblical fashion in order to elevate them to a status similar to that of the Ten Commandments. The humor is derived from the hybrid of Biblical dogma and parental authority. Of the nine lamentations, four of them address food, the proper place to eat, the proper way to eat, and when desserts will be handed out. The first lamentation begins, Of the beast of the field, and of the fishes of the sea, and of all foods that are acceptable in my sight you may eat, but not in the living room. Of the hoofed animals, broiled or ground into burgers, you may eat, but not in the living room (49). These kinds of rules are heard in almost every household and their familiarity creates an association between the audience and the text that can then be exaggerated into humor. At the conclusion of the first lamentation, which is equally as clichd, is an amendment that reads, But if you are sick, and are lying down and watching something, then you may eat in the living room (49). Some other lamentations pertaining to food include: And though your stick of carrot does indeed resemble a marker, draw not with it upon the table, even in pretend, for we do not do that, that is why (50), For we judge between the plate that is unclean

35 and the plate that is clean, saying first, if the plate is clean, then you shall have dessert (50), and For even now I have made fish as it should be; behold, I eat of it myself, yet do not die (51). Readers will be able to identify with these kinds of rules either as the child hearing them or the parent reciting them. They are stereotypical enough to be recognizable to a wide audience. But of course, they are never spoken like this; the syntax is part of the fun. The decision to structure the sentences in a biblical fashion opens the piece up to an entirely different interpretation. Suddenly, because of the syntax, the story takes on the magnitude of the Bible while remaining playfully innocent. The Biblical style resonates with readers even if they are not religious or have never studied the Bible because it is culturally stereotyped to a degree that nears universal recognition. When the two stereotypes are combined, the humor comes from the familiarity and the exaggeration at the same time. A similar effect is created in Steve Martins Mars Probe Finds Kittens. The premise of this piece is pretty well explained by the title: it is a parody of a newspaper article explaining that a recent expedition to Mars has returned irrefutable evidence that the red planet is populated with approximately twenty-seven three-month-old kittens (22). The familiar behaviors of kittens are scientifically analyzed and presented and create a comic publication. Researchers are interviewed about the discovery and quoted saying things like we see evidence of kitten existence, but measuring their behavior is another matter. Just when scientists point their instruments in a kittens direction, it is gone, only to be found later in another place, perhaps at the top of drapes (23), or any universe where round things exist, from theoretical spheres to Ping-Pong balls, necessarily implies the existence of a Mover Kitten (23-4). The latter statement is a ridiculous con-

36 clusion inferred from philosophical and maybe even theological logic, while the former statement is ridiculous in the way that scientific research is so easily disrupted by the playful, natural behavior of kittens. As in legitimate articles, the author provides talking points about Martian kitten life in order to incite discussion and thinking. Some topics include the effect that Martian gravity while have on higher jumping, easier climbing of carpet posts, and the realization that balls with bells attached to them will roll three times farther. The articles conclusion reminds people that when they look at the stars and to Mars, there are tiny creatures whose wee voices are about to be thunderously heard on this planet, a meow of intergalactic proportions (25). There is no denying the utter silliness of this piece. Instead of casting it aside as pure absurdity, though, notice that the reason it causes laughter is the way that it draws on the real behaviors of cats and mixes them with the scientific discoveries that have been made about the possibilities of life on Mars. Martin keenly follows the typical format journalists follow when reporting a story, and then adds an exaggeration that combines two real concepts. The former two stories are examples of hybrids, in which the combination of two unrelated ideas or scenarios create a comic effect; the next few stories highlight the use of a single, fundamental exaggeration, or twist, which influences the rest of the text. The twist becomes a running joke throughout these pieces and, in most cases, the events and situations are funny only because of the twist. Woody Allens The Whore of Mensa is a noir detective story about a man being extorted by a prostitution service. While the detective genre isnt necessarily humorous, the twist applied to prostitution makes the following investigation funny. As it turns out,

37 the client is being black-mailed by a prostitution service that provides intellectual, and not sexual, stimulation. The client explains My wife is great, dont get me wrong. But she wont discuss Pound with me. Or Eliot. I didnt know that when I married her. See, I need a woman whos mentally stimulating, Kaiser. And Im willing to pay for it. I dont want an involvementI want a quick intellectual experience, then I want the girl to leave (52). The normal understanding of prostitution is contorted to the new exaggeration so that sex is replaced with intellectual discussion. The humorous elements in the plot owe their existence to this twist on prostitution. My Amendment, by George Saunders, is written in the guise of a newspaper opinion piece. The twist is applied through the writers opinion advocating a constitutional amendment outlawing Samish-Sex Marriage. Whereas in reality there are people who see Same-Sex Marriage as an abomination of God, family and law, in this piece the narrator thinks that feminine men marrying masculine women is just as wrong and deserves its own constitutional ban (67). He suggests that men with characteristics such as ponytails, small penises, and no automotive knowledge who marry women with short haircuts, deep booming voices, and the desire to fix cars are subconsciously revealing an attraction they have to men and are one small step from being happily married to another man, perhaps a car mechanic (67). The examples given by the speaker are derived from gender stereotypes and the humor is produced when gender roles are inverted and the expectations of masculinity and femininity are over-exaggerated. Interpretations that fail to acknowledge the satirical tone in the piece will understand the speakers argument literally and the preposterous notion becomes a prejudicial proclamation. The exaggeration, then, becomes an important factor in creating Silly humor.

38 Allens The Gossage-Vardebedian Papers is another example of a text that is constructed around a centralized twist. The story is about two intellectuals playing a game of chess and the twist is that they are playing through the mail. Due to the method of play, the game quickly becomes the victim of error, cheating, and stubbornness. When a letter is lost in the mail, Gossage and Vardebedian begin playing two different games. To add to the confusion, neither player is willing to listen to the others solutions or moves and by the end of the game each player is claiming checkmate. Not only does the method of communication destroy the organization of the game, it also slows the argument between the two men to a trickle. Humorously, the intensity of each player never wanes and personally insulting attacks are exchanged as the game continues. The piece is funny because chess is not normally played though the mail, and if it were, one might expect a higher level of organization. Silly humor, like Unfortunate and Dark humor, require certain interpretations for the comedy to be successful. If we read stories like Lamentations of the Father and Mars Probe Finds Kittens too literarily, the humor is capable of disappearing and the texts become inaccurate and meaningless. In purely Silly texts, readers need to suspend their understanding of reality so they can participate in the unreality of the text. That feeling of liberalization is what makes Silly humor believable, and thus funny. On the other hand, if we read stories like Downtrodden Marys Failed Campaign of Terror and How Important Moments in My Life Would Have Been Different If I Was Shot Twice in the Stomach at Close Range too seriously, we run the risk of overshadowing comedy with tragedy. Because of this, authors must carefully choose how to combine their plots with other elements in order to make the reader aware that they are dealing with comedy.

39 Sub-genres produce humor through the events of a text. The sequence of events, then, is a fundamental characteristic that separates the different sub-genres. For example, Dark humor is successful when the comedy that tries to reverse the effects of tragedy is subverted by more tragedy. The back-and-forth balancing act in Dark humor creates a unique reading experience of shock and ha. Conversely, Unfortunate humor gains momentum by embracing misfortune. The situations never get any better in Mom and Pop Biz or The Rejection, yet readers are not negatively affected like the way they are in Dark humor. Because the calamities are minimal in comparison to those of Dark humor, the Unfortunate sub-genre does not need to counteract bold tragedy with bold comedy. Instead, the light misfortunes are acceptable and entertaining and allowed to run their course unimpeded. With Silly humor, the events discard most logic, and tragedy for that matter, and produce humor through their absurdity. Dark, Unfortunate, and Silly humor perfectly embody the Relief, Superiority, and Incongruity Theories of laughter, respectively. In doing so, each sub-genre intently organizes the events of a text in order to be funny.

Chapter Two: I wasnt raised in San Francisco, but I was reared there. Narrative structure consists of the different structural elements employed by authors to create an atmosphere in which a story can be told. In humorous fiction, common

40 literary elements such as title, setting, order, and narrator are integrated throughout the text in comic ways. Consider that the typical structure of a narrative is like the spokes of a bicycle wheel: though the spokes are clearly visible and we are aware of their existence, the tire and the rim are generally acknowledged for doing all the work and providing the rider with support. Similarly, literary elements are undeniably present in a text, and yet the plot often attracts all of the readers attention. One of the most momentous aspects of the humorous genre is its ability to apply humorous concepts to traditional literary elements and incorporate them into the readers experience. Each element contributes its own humorous concept independently from other devices with the ambition to construct a network of coherent elements that enhance each other while respecting their individuality. That is to say, a title or setting does not rely on the order or narrator to be funny; instead, they often work in conjunction to create multiple layers of humor. This concept can be applied to my analysis on a larger scale so that the elements of narrative structure also cooperate with the sub-genre and language of a story to give readers a more complete experience and provide more than one source of humor. Structural devices are important to identify because they illustrate patterns between multiple texts and authors. Patterns in structure suggest that authors share the common intention to solicit laughter from the audience through comic applications of titles, settings, order, and types of narrators. The categories display how multiple examples by multiple authors can relate to each other while maintaining an individual creative integrity. The successful application of a creative, intentional structural element is proof that a certain amount of literary craft is required to write humorous fiction.

41 The first notable structural device that readers encounter is the title. Ive found three ways in which titles interact with humorous texts and the resulting classification creates a three tier hierarchy of compatibility between texts and titles. In the first, more complex tier, titles are multi-functioning. Before their texts are engaged, these titles introduce the humorous ideas on which the texts are based. Additionally, after the reading process audiences can return to these titles to reinforce the comical concepts of the pieces. The second tier consists of titles that are initially enigmatic and non-humorous. It is only after reading the texts that these titles take on humorous and referential qualities. These titles become more fulfilling only after a text has been read. The third tier of the hierarchy are the titles that have no humorous value before or after a text is read. These titles almost always refer to some aspect of a text like a character or setting. Think of each tier as different types of automobile traffic-flow: the first level is a two-way street where traffic (humorous ideas) can travel both ways (title enriches text, text reinforces title); the second level is a one-way street where traffic can only travel in one direction (text enriches title); and the final level is a dead-end and traffic has nowhere to travel (title refers to text). On the first level, the title equals the premise of the piece almost perfectly. These titles help prepare the reader for the text because they are so literal and, often times, embody the joke that the text revolves around. These titles do the most work and as a result are well-rounded in the way they interact with their texts before and after the reading process. The following titles are examples of multi-functioning titles: Mars Probe Finds Kittens, Times Roman Font Announces Shortage of Periods, If the Impressionists Had Been Dentists, Park Avenue Social Review Visits the Drought Dinner in Eagle

42 Grove, Iowa, and How Important Moments in My Life Would Have Been Different If I Was Shot Twice in the Stomach at Close Range. In many cases, these titles are jokes in and of themselves. They are often illogical, but descriptive, statements or concepts that induce laughter without any other material. Because of this, the titles calibrate a readers mind towards a humorous intent. They become precursors to the texts and influence the readers interpretation before the stories begin; it is the opposite of the old adage that claims you cannot read a book by its cover. These titles are enough to inspire the readers imagination and enable them to create their own version of the story. Some of these titles, as you can see, are quite long and extremely particular. Park Avenue [] and [] Shot Twice in the Stomach [] leave little room for the piece to deviate from the central theme. The latter example was shown in Chapter One to be a series of vignettes that establishes typical events in every readers life such as a first kiss or first day of school, and then literally alters it with two gunshots. The story does little else than show how important moments are changed by two gunshots to the stomach at close range, which is exactly what the title foreshadows. In the former example, Park Avenue [], the piece is designed to be a fashion review of a dinner in Iowa attended by farmers, plumbers, and blue collar couples concerned about a recent drought. The title combines the superficial concerns of upper-class socialites with the agricultural concerns of heartland farmers. The mash-up is a good example of Bergsons concept of inversion because the upper-class, which would normally be featured in a Park Avenue Social Review, is replaced by middle and low class laborers. In this example, the publication is concerned with fashion, culinary choices, and notable attendees of a community who have gathered at probably the only restaurant in the county, wearing their work overalls.

43 The title readies the audience for this type of backwards scene and the humor can begin with early lines like Spotted in Saturdays super socialite crowd were the likes of Mack Hanson, the electric-pump-repair tycoon; the Olaf Olsens, who have that fantastic Apache fold-down camper with zip-on screen house canopy [] (63) and so on. By the end of the piece, the funny suggestion alluded to in the title is made more complete through textual examples, and the comedic relationship between text and title is mutually beneficial. The second level of titles, the ones that gain their humor from the texts, are a little less instructive and much more clever. The reader doesnt automatically know from the title what the story is going to be about and, consequently, must return to the title after reading the text to see the correlation. Humorous titles need to be explained by the texts for one of two reasons: either the title word or phrase already has a commonly understood definition that must be humorously amended by the text, or the title word or phrase is meaningless, as well as humorless, without a context. Once readers return to the title, however, it usually takes on more significance and, in some cases, becomes a joke, pun, or play on words. These titles include Around the Horne, Lamentations of the Father, What Id Say to the Martians, Come Stay With Us, The Whore of Mensa, Closure, Drivel, Public Apology, CivilWarLand in Bad Decline, and Downtrodden Marys Failed Campaign of Terror. Steve Martins Closure and Drivel are are examples of titles consisting of words with commonly understood, unfunny definitions that assume comic definitions from the story. Closure is about a narrator who is never satisfied unless he can get resolution in everything. When he is unable to get such satisfaction, other aspects of his life are negatively affected. The narrator finds himself in a position where he cannot give his

44 wife sexual closure because of the lack of closure in his other personal relationships. He says, I tried to make love to her, but couldnt. Too many loose ends. But she wanted closure. I explained that because so many people in my life werent taking responsibility, it became impossible for me to accept my own responsibility. She understood. But she still wanted closure (107). Once the narrator receives closure, like being apologized to by the taxi company for dropping him off ten blocks short of his destination, he is able to satisfy his wife. His search for closure is so literal that he ends the story thinking, I look at the bedroom door. Its ajar. I know what I need (108). So the titles humor comes when the text replaces the common definition of closure with an exaggerated one. Along those same lines, Drivel is a title that brings to the story its own established definition. Once the story is read, however, the titles meaning is humorously transformed to align with the texts central exaggeration. In Drivel, the narrator is the editor of the American Drivel Review whose new love interest inspires him to write and publish his own drivel. Martin deliberately inserts non-sensical, infantile statements such as, I wanted to run, run after her into the night, even though it was day, for my pain was bursting out of me, like a sack filled with one too many bocce balls (89). In both cases, the texts give the titles more significance after the stories are read. Thus, the structural device of titles can enhance the humor of a text. Titles like Around the Horne and The Whore of Mensa are examples where the text creates a joke out of a phrase that is otherwise meaningless. Unlike the previous examples which make sense without being funny, these titles have no commonly known definition and rely on the text not only for their humor but also for their meaning. Recall that The Whore of Mensa is a detective story about intellectual prostitution. The title

45 gains humor after the fundamental concept is understood and when the reader knows that Mensa is an organization made up of people who score in the top ninety-eighth percentile in standard IQ tests. A secondary humorous by-product is the the titles play on words with its reference to the allegorical figure the Whore of Babylon. Around the Horne needs a similar atmosphere of context from the story for the humor in the title to be understood by the reader. The story is a sports article parody about a minor league baseball team hailing from Keillors fictionalized Lake Wobegon, Minnesota. Unless a fan or player of baseball, readers may not know that the phrase around the horn is a baseball colloquialism associated with throwing the ball from home plate, around the bases, and back home again. Additionally, the abnormal spelling comes from the author of the fictional sports column, Bill Horne. In the parody, Horne is absent from this publication, and the appearance by substitute writer Ed Farr is figuratively going around Hornes normal territory. The baseball term, the abnormal spelling, and the substitute author all combine to make the title a play on words in multiple ways. But this joke does not have meaning until the reader finds out that the article is about baseball, that the author is Bill Horne, and that there was a substitute. Once all of this is understood, the title itself produces humor. The final category of titles, the titles that are referential words or phrases, are mostly lacking in any humor. This marks a rare instance in this thesis where a technique or pattern will be pointed out for not creating humor, but it must be noted that some titles are just titles and dont contain anything joke-worthy. Titles like My Amendment, I CAN SPEAK, The Rejection, The Gossage-Vardebedian Papers, Mom and Pop Biz, and The Volunteer Organist, to name a few, primarily reference some topic, ob-

46 ject, or character in the story. For example, My Amendment suggests that a constitutional amendment be added outlawing the marriage between Samish-Sex couples. The title does not allude to some humorous aspect before reading the story, and afterwards the title does not assume any new meaning or humorous connotation. The best scenario is that these titles are able to remind the reader of funny moments in a story through key words and phrases that are central to the humor. The second device of narrative structure that can produce humor is setting. When a story has a humorous setting, it acts as a constant reminder to the audience that humorous fiction exists in a literary world that is slightly askew from reality. These altered places are not exaggerated so much that they lose all association with reality. The alterations are slight enough to catch the reader off-guard and tease reactions. Though settings have varied roles or significance within the larger frame of the stories, one thing that is common among all settings is that they combine realistic and exaggerated aspects. That relationship between real and exaggerated is what produces the humor. Movie producer Michael Shamberg says, Comedy works two ways. Either you have a normal person in an extraordinary situation or an extraordinary person in a normal situation (Sacks 42). While this quote refers to characters, it is analogous to setting: either there is a normal setting within an extraordinary situation or an extraordinary setting within a normal situation. Two examples of ordinary settings placed under extraordinary circumstances are Martins Public Apology and Franzens The Volunteer Organist. In Martins piece, a politician is making apologies for various offenses as he prepares to begin a campaign for reelection, but hes making them from prison. Normally, a prison does not make for a hu-

47 morous setting. But in this case, the prison is a realistic setting that becomes an unusual and inappropriate location from which to apologize and run for office. Readers identify the irony in apologizing while incarcerated and also notice that the offenses are quite ridiculous in that they dont merit incarceration. Some of the apologies include winning a sweepstakes at a grocery store where his cousin was employed, committing multiple acts of adultery with interns and once with a one hundred year old male turtle, and calling members of the NAACP colored people (4). The normal, yet ironic state, of the setting combines with the outrageous offenses to create an satirical comment on modern politicians. The Volunteer Organist is about a narrators experience in church when a homeless man volunteers to play the final hymn in the absence of the normal organist. The normal setting of church becomes the backdrop for an inappropriate morning of daydreaming and instigating by the narrator. He admits things like Im not snoozingSwear to Godbut 90 percent of the old gray matter is just drifting off to whatever it wants to (59-8) and To me, of course, most of church is a lot of mumbo jumbo, no offense (60). When the reverend tries to remove the bum from the organ for playing the seventh-inning stretch instead of the scheduled hymn, the narrator shouts out, LET THE MAN PLAY! (61). These events would probably never be seen as inappropriate or funny on their own. But because they happen in church, a place youre not supposed to laugh, shout or daydream, they become funny. George Carlin once suggested that suppressed laughter [] is the easiest to get and the most fun, you know like when youre kneeling in front of the casket? (Class Clown). The humor in this piece, in Public Apology, and in every

48 other text with a normal setting placed under extraordinary circumstances, is specifically created because the events become more funny in contrast to the unfunny setting. In the opposite construction, when extraordinary settings are placed in normal situations, the setting is a direct cause of humor. For example, George Saunders title Sea Oak refers to the apartment complex in which the narrator and his family live and experience a surreal and humorously abusive resurrection of their deceased aunt. However, it is the secondary setting, the narrators place of employment, that is a complete exaggeration. The narrator works at an aeronautically themed restaurant/soft-core male strip-club called Joysticks. The word joysticks works as a fantastic double entendre for a pilots steering device and, well, uhh, you know...a male strippers steering device. Not only does the establishment have a funny name, but the amalgamation of a theme restaurant and a theme strip-club is funny as well. That the aeronautical theme is applied to a restaurant, or strip club for that matter, is an absurd satire on over-commercialized chain restaurants like a T.G.I. Fridays, or Ruby Tuesday2. Also, the idea of a strip-club serving food, and the kinds of patrons who long to satiate both carnal desires simultaneously, conjures up an atmosphere that is less than appetizing or erotic. Whats more, the strippers cant actually strip for the guests, or at least they arent supposed to. The narrator explains that they are forbidden from kissing the customers or showing their penises. He does say that As for our Penile Simulators, yes, we can show them, we can let them stick out the top of our pants, we can even periodically dampen our tight pants with spray bottles so our Simulators really contour, but our real penises, no those have to stay inside our hot uncomfortable oversized Simulators (96). Although this setting plays a minor role in the

2 Interesting fact: similar to T(thank).G(GOD).I(its). Fridays, Ruby Tuesday treats everyday like its Tuesday; theyre just not as excited about it.

49 overall story, it adds a humorous twist on the rest of the reality with its stick-over-the-topof-our-pants gimmicks. Another example is the museum from Downtrodden Marys Failed Campaign of Terror. With exhibits like Riches from the Bowels of the Earth, The Wonder that is Our Body, Photos to Bring Back Memories of a Lifetime, The Louis Pasteur Memorial Break Room, and the Pickled Babies, the museum is unlike any found in reality. The names vary so much that it is difficult to create a coherent understanding of the kind of museum it is. In the story, Mary spends some time explaining that the Pickled Babies exhibit is essentially a room containing unborn babies in jars of formaldehyde. The exhibit is so extreme that it desensitizes the audience to normal feelings of uneasiness connected with aborted fetuses and the story moves along unimpeded. Although many of these exhibits are only referenced briefly, because they are so extraordinary they create a lasting humorous museum experience. Title and setting are the two devices that take up the least amount of textual space. After all, titles exist outside of texts and settings are usually established early, then only referenced afterwards, if they are even mentioned again. On the other hand, order and narration are two devices that require the entire text to develop and be appreciated. Order is a strategic device that is as important to a writer of comedy as timing is to a performer. Order, like timing, can have effects on a text that either make or destroy humor. Timing is much more isolated, having most of its influence in just one line or joke. Order needs the entirety of the text before readers can appreciate its effect. Texts are composed in such a way that humor crescendoes and the climax binds events, concepts, structural devices into a capstone moment or joke. It is not enough to present information or events in the

50 order they actually happen. An author must choose the appropriate moment to reveal specific information in accordance with isolated punchlines and enveloping themes. For instance, the chronological development in the seven vignettes of []Shot Twice in the Stomach[] allows the scene to build realistically before its absurdity is revealed. Swearingen first establishes a scene that represents the respected topic before the gunshots alter the scene. Each scenario extends the moments before the narrator is shot for as long as it can and, in doing so, the humor is enhanced through the audiences anticipation, especially once they catch on to the pattern. As the title points out, there is no surprise as to what will happen in the story. Drawing out the inevitable gun wound creates a stressful situation that is pleasantly relieved once the narrator is shot. Consequently, each vignette builds onto the suspense-release effect created in the one before and composes the desired crescendo over and over until the final vignette, Getting Shot in the Stomach at Close Range: This is actually pretty much the same, completes the circle of expectations. Lamentations of the Father is an example that is less about repetition or expectation and more about creating a compilation of complaints and grievances. The story progresses from specific complaints parents have about their childrens behavior into an all-encompassing remark on the difficulties of parenting. The first five lamentations challenge the misbehavior of eating and table manners, while the next three discuss screaming, washing the hands and the face, and leaving the cat alone because for what has the cat done, that you should so afflict it with tape? (52). These first eight topics presuppose the ninth, all-encompassing complaint, with their attention to detail. As a cohesive unit, the first eight lamentations build to the ninth in a progression that follows the organiza-

51 tion of topics, importance and level of annoyance. They culminate in the ninth complaint which reads: O my children, you are so disobedient. For when I tell you what you must do, you argue and dispute hotly even to the littlest detail []. Guess not at what rage is in my mind, for surely you cannot know []. And you shall remember that I am that I am: before, after, and until you are twenty-one. Hear me then, and avoid me in my wrath, O children of me (52-3). This final complaint would not be as funny had it not been for the previous eight. And, had it appeared in the beginning of the text, it would not have the same impact that it does as the closing section. Both of these examples, then, showcase how order is just as important to written humor as timing is to performed humor. This is a case where the order of the events is responsible for humor. Chapter Three will discuss how word order, namely syntax, leads to humor on a linguistic level. The predominant element of narrative structure that forms patterns in humorous fiction is narration. Before the different narrators are analyzed, though, it is important to identify two common styles of humorous fiction: the sketch and the narrative. The sketch is a text that is designed to present an idea and a discussion without relying on a plot. These types of texts usually include parodies of letters, newspaper articles, and scientific studies. Even though sketches are fragmented pieces with underdeveloped narratives, they are not incomplete or flawed pieces. Rather, they lack a definitive beginning-middleend style narration. On the other hand, narratives are more traditional examples of stories. They are intended to describe a series of events specifically through the use of a narrator. The two styles are mentioned to acknowledge two different platforms from which narrators speak. In examining these styles and their reoccurring patterns, Ive found that the

52 actual style does not contribute to the humor; instead, the comic effect is created by what the narrator does inside of that style. The determining factor of a narrators ability to be funny is directly affected by the behaviors and tendencies of their personality. The narrators have their own personalities yet they still share behaviors that reappear in a number of stories and again reinforce the idea that patterns are essential to humor. Three behavioral patterns that are found in my survey are insightfulness, irrationality, and gullibility. Insightful narrators are unique in the way that they remove themselves from the act of storytelling to engage the audience directly. These addresses, for the most part, dont further the plot any. Instead, they are designed to serve as the narrators commentary on the characters or events in the story, known only to the audience. These comments are usually sarcastic or cynical and make judgments about other characters and events. Because they reveal the narrators true feelings, they establish a relationship between narrator and audience that feels intimate and privileged. But the most important aspect of insightful narrators is how their comments disrupt the narrative in order to engage the audience. In doing so, such a narrator lets the audience know that they are aware of their role as storyteller. Through their recognition, narrators show that they understand where the humor is drawn from and are able to avoid being the subject of ridicule. This situational awareness will prove to distinguish insightful narrators from gullible and irrational ones. For example, Mary, from Downtrodden Marys Failed Campaign of Terror, is forced to listen to her boss, a man whom she thoroughly despises, drone on and on about his coveted see-through-cow. Mr. Spencer calls Mary into his office and asks if she wants to know why he is so happy. She tells the audience, I dont but I say I do (79). When

53 Mr. Spencer begins by telling some bland jokes Mary says He throws in a few cow oneliners that are not effective (80). At the end of the story when Mary is poisoning the cows she says, It feels good to finally be asserting oneself (85). In each of these examples Mary doesnt speak to Mr. Spencer or anyone else in the story, she speaks directly to the audience because the comments she makes are the kind that would get her fired. The relationship between Mary and the audience is open, then, because Mary is able to speak unrestricted and the audience enjoys funny comments that couldnt exist in the plot. Another insightful narrator is the unnamed narrator of CivilWarLand in Bad Decline. As the narrator and his researcher assistant, Sylvia, search for a solution to the theme parks gang problem, they come across Sam looking so completely Civil War they immediately hire him. The narrator tells the audience, Sylvia runs her routine check on him and calls me at home that night and says boy do we have a hot prospect on our hands if fucking with the gangs is still on our agenda. She talks like that. Ive got her on speakerphone in the rec room and Marcus starts running around the room saying fuck (14). The first and last sentences are funny because theyre informative and they further the story with funny action. The middle statement, She talks like that, stands out for two reasons: first, because it is a statement that wouldnt be said to Sylvia because its about Sylvia; and second, because it implies that the author might be offended by Sylvias language, or thinks that the audience is offended, but is required by his duty as narrator to share everything as it happens, even the bad stuff. The narrator copes with his shame by addressing the audience as if to say, I understand, I dont care for that sort of talk either. But it happened and I gotta say it.

54 Likewise, earlier in the story, the narrator explains that he has been attending extra-curricular work seminars to impress his boss. On one occasion, he returns with a whittled duck that he is mildly proud of. The narrator says of his wife, She threw it away the next day because she said she thought it was an acorn. It looked nothing like an acorn. As fas Im concerned she threw it away out of spite. It made me livid and twice that night I had to step into a closet and perform my Hatred Abatement Breathing (5). Again, the middle passages offer an outlet to the narrators opinions. He knows that the duck was thrown away, but he does not know whether spite influenced the decision. The narrators wife is a mean person and he doesnt want to make her mad. That is why the comment is made to the audience and not her. Mary and the narrator of CivilWarLand in Bad Decline are in control of what they say and to whom they say it. They are afraid to speak out against their boss or wife and so they turn to the audience. The comments are critical enough that the narrator cannot share them with anyone from the story, so the narrator confides in the audience. Insightful narrators, then, share a relationship with the audience that other narrators cannot. Because the comments create intimacy, the moments between narrator and audience exist independently of the story during the telling process. The effect is an inside-joke between narrator and reader. Interestingly, both Mary and the unnamed narrator are subject to tragic endings. Each narrator emanates control over their storytelling process knowing what is happening and how they feel about it, despite not being able to change it. Insightful narrators are the only group who display logical situational awareness. Irrational narrators try to display control but it only translates into manipulation or delusion. They are single-minded and intent on forwarding an opinion, argument, or situation

55 that is usually inappropriate. They gain humor from their unwavering devotion to their beliefs. But their goal of persuading the audience to agree with them is contrasted by the absolute ridiculousness of their situations. Even though irrational narrators dont usually acknowledge the audience, it is amusing how each narrator has the irrational assumption that someone would be willing to listen to, and possibly agree with, their addled logic. For example, in What Id Say to the Martians, Jack Handey writes of a narrator who is being held hostage by Martians. The narrator is pandering for his own release by appealing to the sympathy of a Martian audience; he does not address the real audience, only an audience that exists within the text. His methods of persuasion, however, are continuously undermined by his aggression towards the Martians. Early in the piece he says, You say your civilization is more advanced than ours. But who is really the more civilized one? You, standing there watching this cage? Or me, with my pants down, trying to urinate on you? (83), and then later says, You say you will release me only if I sign a statement saying I will not attack you. And I have agreed, the only condition being that I can sign with a long, sharp pen. And still you keep me locked up (85). These statements are funny because the narrator continuously reaches out for sympathy and then instantly ruins his chances. His devotion to his freedom overshadows his ability to reason. He becomes predictably self-destructive because readers know that he cannot comprehend the ramifications of his behavior. Readers delight in finding out what the narrators next peace offering will be and how he will screw it up. The Gossage-Vardebedian Papers, by Woody Allen, provokes another example of the irrational narrator. In fact, this piece has two irrational narrators attempting to play a game of chess through the mail. Despite the mistake in the game, both men refuse to

56 concede to the others logic towards ameliorating the situation and completely disregard each others moves. After Gossage realizes that one of his letters was lost, he suggests a move that would satisfy the mistake. Vardebedian, however, denies the new move, saying it has become apparent to me that for the past six weeks we have been playing two completely different gamesmyself according to our correspondence, you more in keeping with the world as you would have it. The knight move which allegedly got lost in the mail [] would have brought it to rest on the coffee table, next to the board (218). By the end, nothing is solved and both men claim checkmate multiple times in complete disregard to the rules of the game or claims by the other player. Both narrators are so irrational that they are not even aware of whats happening to them within the story, let alone that they are offering material for a funny story. Gullible narrators are unquestioningly devoted to the absurd ideas in their stories and show no signs of ever changing. They differ from the irrational narrators mainly in intensity. Both irrational and gullible narrators are devoted to an absurd notion. But whereas irrational narrators are selfish and aggressive and usually motivated by some reward, gullible narrators dont even seem to be aware of whats going on. Even if they were, readers get the impression that they wouldnt do anything to avoid the embarrassment. For this reason, they seem well-meaning but hopeless, naive, and, well, gullible. Martins Times Roman Font Announces Shortage of Periods is a stunning example of a journalism parody in which the professional narrator is unwavering in his devotion to the illogical premise. The crisis is given legitimate attention like that of a breaking news story and information is gathered from representatives of the font manufacturers and writers affected by the crisis. One writer is quoted as saying, I have a sentence that

57 has just got to be stopped; its currently sixteen pages long and is edging out the front door and is now so lumbering Im starting to worry that one period alone wont be enough (31). The quote never officially ends, it just fades out on ellipses. That is characteristic of all the sentence punctuation; not one period is used by the narrator; that is how devoted he is to the shortage. The narrator legitimizes the crisis by adhering to the topic of strict shortage of periods. In other words, the narrators commitment to the premise reveals his own gullibility and thus produces the humor. This kind of narration can also be found in Martins Mars Probe Finds Kittens and Franzens The Park Avenue Social Review Visits the Drought Dinner in Eagle Grove, Iowa. All three sketches have narrators who remain committed to their absurd premises. In the narrative Mom and Pop Biz, the narrators style is much more personal than in Mars Probe Finds Kittens and, as such, informally exposes his own stupidity by telling the audience his embarrassing story. It is not so much his devotion to an absurd concept that is funny, but his devotion to telling a self-embarrassing story with no concern for his own appearance. Recall the summary in Chapter One: the narrator is a writer who is rejected three times by his parents. Because the story is told in past tense, the narrator already knows the outcome, yet he reveals his embarrassing experience without any excuses or shame. Of course, telling the story in this manner makes the narrator seem oblivious to what he should know, thus allowing the audience to laugh at him and his inability to gain our sympathy by telling the humiliating story in hindsight. In fact, the narrator does the exact opposite by pointing out his own stupidity. Despite getting specific requirements from his parents not to tailor a piece for them, the narrator admits, Right off the bat, though, I totally ignored Dads advice. Really, because if my first submission

58 to theman article I titled Retired? SureBut Busier Than All Get Outhad been any more tailored for them, I might as well have attached cleaning instructions. So I guess I shouldnt have been surprised to get it right back (52). The narrator makes it difficult not to laugh at him in light of comments like this. Not only does he blatantly cause his problems, but he presents them to the audience so nonchalantly that it seems like he still doesnt understand why he was rejected. Despite their differences, each of the three types of narrators shares the same quality: unreliability. The irrational narrators make their own case for unreliability by doing things like threatening Martian captors using reverse psychology like its magic. Or consider that Gossage and Vardebedian spend their time arguing over the moves of a chess game, when they should be asking themselves, why are we playing chess through the mail? Then of course you have the gullible narrators; those speakers who make it difficult to take their story-telling style seriously. Why would you believe someone who unknowingly ridicules themselves? Why would you believe a narrator who knowingly tells of their demise? The narrators influence on the text, then, works with elements of title, order, setting, and even the sub-genre, to create an atmosphere of humor that touches all aspects. As part of my larger argument, these four elements explain why there is no perfect formula or limited amount of compilations in humor. Hopefully, the successive arguments of Chapters One and Two did not suggest that each story must first choose a sub-genre with a correlating set of events, and then choose a title that is appropriately witty, and a strange setting, etc. The logic behind recognizing patterns suggests that intention is in action. But that doesnt mean that originality and creativity are stifled by longstanding tra-

59 ditions. Rather, it means that authors are forging new ways around existing models as if theyre creating innovations upon earlier designs. Every piece has a title; thats nothing new. Authors of humor take those normal literary structures, those titles and settings and narrators, and they try to present them in a way thats funny. Thus, although there are patterns all throughout humorous fiction, from similar stories to similar sounding jokes, the genre remains diverse and continuously refreshing.

Chapter 3: Rectum? Damn near killed em! In some ways, it seems strange that the discussion is only now being turned towards language. Obviously, this thesis and the examined works would not exist if not for language. In the earlier chapters, situational trends conveyed through language were ex-

60 amined to identify the contrast between tragic and comic events in Dark humor or to suspend our disbelief in the ridiculousness of Silly humor. Without language, there would be no clever titles and speakers would have no words with which to convey their stories, there would be no description of how it feels to get shot twice as you take your first steps, and kittens, most definitely, would not have been found on Mars. In an extremely literal sense, language is the only thing that has been analyzed in this thesis. Until now, however, the direct impact of language has gone unsung in favor of showcasing funny ideas or structural strategies over funny linguistic constructions. It did not serve the earlier argument to brood over every aspect language affected given the fundamental relationship between language, communication, and most of all, literature. Sub-genre and structure were given their own chapters to identify and develop patterns in humor through sources that were not specifically a result of linguistic constructions. Designing the first two chapters in this way allows the third chapter to give its full attention to identifying different linguistic patterns that help create humor on the most basic sentence-level, namely jokes. Jokes are interesting entities in that the audience member does not always need to analyze a jokes construction in order to appreciate the humor. At a minimum, audiences must pay attention to the subject matter being joked about and be aware that something is being exaggerated, mocked, or satirized in some way without having to recognizing the precise way language is crafted to cause their reaction. Television writer and co-creator of The Office, Stephen Merchant, aptly points out that the average viewer doesnt sit around thinking about how jokes work. Its just not something thats important to them. They just want the joke to be funny (Sacks 31). This is an interesting phenomenon in humor whereas the means of a joke are not necessitated to justify the ends. How many

61 times have you laughed at a joke you didnt understand or contagiously laughed in chorus with another person simply because he or she was already laughing? In the former example, laughter is something of a predestined social expectation attached to the give-andtake relationship of joke telling and listening; in the latter, laughter reverts to an uncontrollable primal urge. In either scenario, laughter appears to come from nothing. In reality, the laughter is really just engaged in liberally because people desperately want to participate in the social circle of laughter and appear as though they belong. One explanation for this kind of laughter comes from the difference between performance and written composition. In the oral performance of a joke, much of the humor comes from timing and choreography. When a joke is performed, the speaker can use tempo, emphasis, gestures and vocal characterizations to go beyond the language and concepts and create a more organic experience for the listener. These performance perks distract listeners from the foundational written constructions and engage humor purely for its entertainment value. Though performances can avert attention away from the inner-workings of a joke and create a burst of laughter that seems artificially gratuitous at times, this does not negate the existence of a complex network of linguistic patterns. In fact, this seemingly unjustified laughter suggests that linguistic patterns are so common in humor that listeners do not even need to be aware of what pattern is being used in order to appreciate its humorous value. That is why Merchant said what he said, and why he is correct. Written compositions present jokes very differently than performance pieces. Because performance perks are absent from humor on the page, reading funny writing is an experience that requires much more mental commitment than simply hearing performed

62 jokes. The audience must be aware of a jokes relevance to the material that surrounds it, regardless of whether that material consists of the other words in the sentence or the entire text, because one supports the other. In other words, humorous fiction usually constructs its jokes in collusion with a theme through the use of set-up lines and punchlines. If you examine a complete composition, punchlines found in the middle of a text, for example, might refer to set-up lines and other jokes found much earlier to form new or continue previously running jokes. These jokes can then contribute to the complete work by setting up even more jokes afterwards. Each sentence works in participation with the ones before and after to produce an overall humorous work. The result is a system of set-up lines and punchlines that rely on each other as reference points to initiate humorous ideas and perpetuate the composition's overall theme. Thus, readers must maintain a more concentrated attention span and retain more information over a longer period of time. Each statement, however, does not necessarily influence every joke, and there are many examples of jokes being funny on their own. However, even individual jokes need to establish a relationship between the material within their own structure. In that way, the audience needs to be aware of the relevancy that the joke has to its internal material in the same way that they have to be aware of a jokes relevancy to the entire text. That means that any given word or phrase or collection of sentences can initiate humor in one of two ways: of its own volition; or with the help of other material. At the sentence-level, then, both of these kinds of laughter can be produced by the use of linguistic constructions such as syntax and diction, proper nouns, wordplay, and metaphors. Each one humorously engages and challenges the different standards of language.

63 Syntax is the study of the accepted rules that govern sentence structure in any given language. I have identified two basic ways that syntax can be the means to humorous ends. In the first application, the rules of sentence structure are intentionally manipulated or inappropriately used in an effort to be funny. For example, in Lamentations of the Father, Ian Frazier intentionally uses biblical syntax to recreate an out-of-date sentence style that is then applied to a modern context. Consider the following passage: Cast your countenance upward to the light, and lift your eyes to the hills, that I may more easily wash you off. For the stains are upon you; even to the very back of your head, there is rice thereon [...]. Only hold yourself still; hold still, I say. Give each finger in its turn for my examination thereof, and also each thumb. Lo, how iniquitous they appear. What I do is as it must be; and you shall not go hence until I have done. (51-2) The linguistic humor does not come from the hybrid formation, as it did for sub-genre, but from the diction and the syntax. Phrases like Cast your countenance, that I may more easily, For the stains are upon you, Give each finger in its turn, or you shall not go hence are not used in modern syntax, yet the reader has no trouble identifying the linguistic exaggeration. Had this statement been written in a contemporary fashion it might read: Look up so I can wash your face off. There are stains all over your face and even on the back of your head. Hold still. Hold Still! Give me your fingers so I can wash them...your thumbs too, smart guy. I have to do this and you cant stay dirty, so sit still until Im done.

64 Notice how different this statement sounds while communicating the exact same information. The modern version is funny, but only because parents and children alike can relate to the situation. When the experience is coupled with Biblical syntax it becomes funny because of the language and not just the idea. Biblical diction also adds to the humor. Words such as countenance, thereon, thereof, Lo, and hence come from an earlier time in language and their use is funny because they add a historical, biblical ring to a common contemporary parenting experience. Because of the syntax and the diction, this story makes an obvious reference to older texts like the Bible without having to mention it, and thats exactly what makes it funny. If Fraziers Lamentations of the Father is an example of syntactical style causing humor, then Steve Martins Times Roman Font Announces Shortage of Periods plays with the rules that are usually applied to grammar. In this story, as previously mentioned, there is a grammatical-crisis that is literally described in the title. The idea that there could be a shortage of periods is funny, of course, in terms of subject matter, as was pointed out by Chapters One and Two. Now, on a sentence level, Martins narrator is literally forced to compose an article without periods; the ways in which periods are replaced, or avoided, also produces laughter. Martin explores strange grammatical limitations by ending sentences in question marks, exclamation marks, and even engages in an explanation of why a sentence would need two out of three dots from an ellipses in order to end. The narrator quotes a telegram that is used to convey the sense of dismay that the crisis is causing throughout the linguistic world. Because telegrams use the word stop to signal a period, the message is confused through unintelligible diction: Period shortage mustnt continue stop

65 Stop-stoppage must come to a full stop stop We must resolve it and stop stop-stoppage stop (32) The lack of diversity in word choice results in a message that sounds nonsensical and redundant. By using stop to replace the word period, the telegram composer actually combats the effects of the shortage by over-using the new sign for periods. The result is an ironic case where period usage returns to the high level that conceivably caused the fictitious shortage in the first place. At another point in the mock-article,International Hebrew magazine announces a surplus in backward periods that might alleviate the problem. The narrator responds: .period backward the in slip you while moment a for way other the look to sentence the getting is trick only The (31). Of course, the sentence is syntactically backwards. Not only do the words appear in backwards order, but the period is at the beginning and the final word is capitalized. The construction is funny because although an illogical and incorrect syntax is used, the narrator has the presence of mind to respect the other rules of grammar, like punctuation and capitalization. Both word order and grammar come to be affected in this statement. The crisis comes to a climax when the narrator accepts the situation and resolves that the ordeal has made at least this author appreciate and value his one spare period, and it is with great respect that I use it now(.) (33). Both the Martin and Frazier examples highlight how syntax and diction are manipulated to create humor. The important aspect of sentence-level humor is when it is used correctly and efficiently. Most of the remaining categories will display choices of syntax and diction that are carefully crafted in order to achieve comedic aspirations. But

66 the deciding factor of the remaining sentence-level examples will return to whether the example is independently funny or reliant on the text to create a humorous context. For this thesis, the term proper noun refers to irregular and funny names or labels that are attached to people, places, and things. Proper nouns often rely entirely on a highly-charged vocabulary that is relevant to the situation. In this way, proper nouns share humorous properties with the titles discussed in Chapter Two. The fundamental similarity between these two categories is the way they use key words or phrases to assign funny concepts to a character, place, or event. The reason titles are identified with structural categories and not language is because of the way they act as the external figurehead for the stories. Yet, both proper nouns and titles consist of succinct vocabulary with the intention of humorously commenting on the story. Titles usually make broad comments about the entire piece while proper nouns focus their ridicule on the person or object they signify within the piece. For example, the theme in Garrison Keillors piece Around the Horne is baseball. If you recall the earlier analysis, the title is a broad reference and pun on a baseball drill and the absence of the usual author Bill Horne. An example of a proper name would be the much more specific Hay Stadium (110), the name of the home teams ballpark. This proper name, while maintaining a relevancy to baseball, alludes to the parks pastural origin and also parodies the New York Mets Shay Stadium. Though the proper name is only a small two-word construction, it references multiple aspects of the minor-league baseball team that are brought up elsewhere in the article. All of these ideas are combined in the use of the proper noun, making it funny to readers. Proper nouns are usually puns, euphemisms, or parodies. Their value lies in their ability to maintain a storys authenticity, or in the least to create the illusion of authentici-

67 ty, while criticizing it at the same time. They can be divided into the sub-categories place names, professional titles, and text-relevant groups. Hay Stadium is an example of a place name. Some others include the title location and civil war theme park CivilWarLand which, because of the uppercase letters and absence of spaces, looks like three words smashed together. The huddled appearance makes the word appear to be in a hurry to be pronounced and, in some way, its fabricated presentation transparently comments on the experience offered by the theme park. Of course, there was the aeronautically themed male strip-club/restaurant Joysticks mentioned in Chapter Two, which gets its linguistic humor from the double entendre. And finally there is the Louis Pasteur Memorial Break Room from Downtrodden Marys Failed Campaign of Terror. Surely the audience is aware that a name like Louis Pasteur should be on the front of a science building and not a room where cold coffee and stale doughnuts are consumed. Professional titles are typically euphemistic phrases that try to glorify an otherwise inglorious occupation. Lets use the profession of telephone operator as a random example. In a real-life, professional setting these employees might be referred to as communication agents. This jargon obscures our understanding of the position by not mentioning what the job really is, a telephone operator. Similarly, in CivilWarLand in Bad Decline the narrator is officially known as the Special Assistant (12). This is a really nice way of calling the narrator an assistant. The extra word tries to attach an admirable characteristic to a job that, as the story clearly shows, pays poorly and causes great pain and humiliation. When these titles are in the workplace, they both uphold the imaginary importance assigned to them and point out the absurdity in them. A humorous story like The Park Avenue Social Review Visits the Drought Dinner in Eagle Grove, Iowa has

68 the consciousness to ridicule self-important titles with such fictional professional titles as electric-pump-repair tycoon, noted home-canning wiz, and suave South Dakota beef feeder (Franzen 63-4). All of these titles attempt to glorify a job that is probably undesirable to the average reader. Or, at the very least, over-glamorize an everyday, ordinary, unglamorous job. The final style of proper nouns are text-relevant groups. These groups are usually different approaches to the same joke. For example, in Times New Roman Announces Period Shortage, various other fonts are recommended to replace Times New Roman during the period shortage, such as Goofy Deluxe, Namby-Pamby Extra Narrow, or Gone Fishin (32). Similarly, George Saunders Downtrodden Marys Failed Campaign of Terror lists multiple exhibit titles from the museum. With the exception of a few exhibits that serve as setting to the events of the story, each exhibit title contributes only a minor portion to an overall description of the museum. Exhibits like the Iliana Evermore Fairy Castle (78), Audio Enhancement Module (79), Pickled Babies (80), Nutrition Evaluation Module (81), The Wonder That Is Our Body (83), Our Nations Bounty (84), Riches from the Bowels of the Earth (84), Photos to Bring Back Memories of a Lifetime (86), and Gallery of Astounding Communications (86) create a collective impression of what the museum is like or, in this case, how unusual it is compared to real museums. In the case of stories like Downtrodden Marys Failed Campaign of Terror, proper nouns help to remind readers that the potentially tragic moments are taking place in a humorous world of nonsense. Like place names and professional names, each of these text-relevant group items adds to the overall ambiance of a text. When you gather

69 them together, they enrich the physical or conceptual setting in which a story takes place by filling in the small gaps that are in between the larger themes and events. Wordplay offers some of the more familiar joke constructions identifiable to audiences. Puns and paraprosdokians are two commonly used wordplay constructions. Puns create jokes by exploiting the different meanings of homophones. Bergson defines a pun as a sentence or exchange in which two different sets of ideas are expressed, and we are confronted with only one series of words (138). The association between the two meanings can either delight or disgust a reader, depending on the person, but nevertheless points out the variations within language. We find puns funny because of the way that they force us into thinking two ways about a word and trace their humorous roots to the Incongruity Theory of laughter. It was Cicero who said, The most common kind of joke is that in which we expect one thing and another is said; here our own disappointed expectation makes us laugh (18). While it is uncertain if he was referring to a pun or not, the quote identifies the capability of puns to guide the readers expectation in one direction with the intention to abruptly turn in the opposite direction. For example, Martins piece Closure shows the different interpretations of the word closure. His failure to receive closure subsequently affects his ability to give closure and the multiple meanings of the word closure begin to pile up. The narrator explains, I tried to make love to her, but couldnt. Too many loose ends. But she wanted closure. I explained that because so many people in my life werent taking responsibility, it became impossible for me to accept my own responsibility. She understood. But she still wanted closure (107). In this example, the humorous interpretation of closure is equal to an orgasm, or sexual closure. But the expression only relates to orgasm when the context is

70 turned towards making love. Closure does not always refer to sexual closure. Instead, the first connection between orgasm and closure is readying the readers mind for the final sentence that recalls this meaning and creates the pun. In between the two sexual references is the more traditional understanding of closure, or resolution, which is introduced when the narrator explains why he cannot perform. This reference to resolution, and not orgasm, is verified by the statement She understood. This literally means that she understood the narrators explanation. But once the narrator tells us that she still wanted closure, we know from the inclusion of the word still that the only closure she has yet to receive is sexual. Martin carefully guides us through two of the meanings of closure and we laugh at the duality of the word. We laugh because the second-to-last sentence signifies that intellectual resolution has been achieved and the last sentence signifies that sexual resolution has not. It is not one statement or another that makes us laugh, but the interaction between all the statements and the multiple meanings found in one word. Another wordplay construction is the paraprosdokian. Although the term looks and sounds unfamiliar, it is actually an extremely common comedic technique. A paraprosdokian is a two-part construction in which the latter part causes the reader to reengage the former part in order to create a meaning for the complete construction. Here is an example from comedian Zach Galifianakis: When I was a child I had dyslexia. I would write about it in my dairy (Live at the Purple Onion). In this example, the latter sentence is funny only because of the former sentence. The listener must recall the set-up about dyslexia so that they can apply it to the punchline and recognize the misuse of dairy instead of diary.

71 An example from Woody Allens The Rejection achieves a similar effect. If you recall, in the story the Ivanovichs son is rejected from the top preschool in Manhattan. The rejection hurls Boris and Anna into a psychotic self-induced downward spiral that results in the family loosing their home and finding refuge in a homeless shelter occupied by former members of the upper-class. During the crisis, Mrs. Ivanovich lets the educational catastrophe get the best of her nerves and her imagination, [...] and when Armani canceled her charge account for no apparent reason, she took to her bedroom and began having an affair. This was hard to conceal from Boris Ivanovich, since he shared the same bedroom and asked repeatedly who the man next to them was (96). The first sentence and the first clause of the second sentence, as paraprosdokians should do, set-up the context that will be altered by the final statement. Though the reason for the affair is not really reasonable, it is acceptable in terms of the Ivanovichs reaction. Within the storys context, the statement about having an affair and it being difficult to conceal are true. When the final statement is made, the paraprosdokian goes to work and the audience is forced to adjust their understanding of a marital affair. Puns and paraprosdokians, along with other wordplay constructions that can be found in the genre of comedy like double entendres, malapropisms, and spoonerisms, pay close attention to word meanings and their different applications. The humor comes from the different ways in which they exploit the ambiguities of language. To a small degree, this is a form of Superiority Theory and Incongruity Theory working together. On the one hand, we laugh because of the multiplicity in language suggests imperfection, and, on the other, we laugh at the confusing and surprising coincidences and relationships that exist between two different concepts that share similar, if not identical, signifiers.

72 Wordplay is not always used in isolation; it can be paired with other techniques like proper nouns and metaphors. Mom and Pop Biz has an extended metaphor that is supported by puns. After submitting his third essay to his parents do-it-yourself printing company, the narrator is rejected one more time. This time his sisters husband Norv, the river-guide, is doing the rejecting. Norv writes, Well, once upon a time, I wrote for an outboard-motor magazine. And as a professional, I couldnt help finding your jury-duty piece thin and shallow. Nothing youd need an electronic depth-finder to get. (Ha) Also, the whole business where you jurors are split as to what you want on the pizza never really panned out for me. (Ha ha) (Franzen 55). Not only do the puns bring their own brand of humor to the selection, but they are also the comparative words and phrases that extend the metaphor. The phrase thin and shallow does not necessarily trigger Norvs river-guide, outboard-motor aficionado personality. In hindsight, though, they can take on references to rivers or waterways. Next, the depth-finder comparison helps situate the previous sentence and is rounded out by the pun get, which could be understood as landing a fish with the depth-finder or understanding the submission intellectually. The final sentence puns off the word panned. Because the reference to pizza puts food on the mind, and fish are not too far from the focus, it is conceivable that the aquatic sportsman metaphor continues with a reference to pan-frying fish during expeditions. Either way, the metaphors extensions are made possible by the puns, and inversely, the puns are possible because of the metaphor. And in case the audience didnt understand the joke, Norv indicates when hes intended to create a pun from his metaphor by adding (Ha) and (Ha ha) after the constructions.

73 Some metaphors are not as cooperative with puns and gain their strength through syntactical strategies. Drivel was one of the title examples from Chapter Two in which the piece lives up to the definition of the title word. In this case, much of the story is blathering, nonsensical drivel like this next metaphor: The snap of the condom going on echoed through the apartment like Lawrence of Arabias spear sticking in an Arab shield (Martin 87). Metaphorically speaking, the comparison is weak because of how much its exaggerated. But the off-kilter analogy is settled by the longwinded image of the spear strike. The metaphor could be simple and just say like a spear sticking into a shield. By adding another level of context, the description of the image is elongated (phallic pun intended) and the material takes on its drivel characteristics. Once the metaphor obtains drivel status, its dual function raises its humor production level and the absurdity of the analogy is not only pardoned, but also given credit for generating an atmosphere for drivel (similar to the atmosphere of this explanation). Finally, the pinnacle linguistic example, not just in metaphors but in all the categories, comes from the opening scene of George Saunders morose tale Winky. The story is essentially about a loser, Neil, who lives with his sister, Winky, who is even more pathetic than he is. Neil goes to a self-motivation seminar to gain the confidence to take control of his life and kick his sister out of his apartment. The seminar begins with a skit in which an actor wanders on stage looking lost and wearing a sign around his neck that says You. You sees Inner Peace across stage and is waved over to meet her. On his way, You is ambushed by Whiny, Self-Absorbed, Blames Her Fat on Others, Disappointed, Too High Strung to Function, and Insecure (70). The first indicator of proper nouns should be all the capitalized professional titles. The ambush is stopped by

74 the authority figure in the gold hat who brings the problems to the Pokey for Those Who Would Keep Us from Inner Peace (70). These proper nouns personify insecurities and underestimate the effort needed to change said behaviors through metaphorically imprisoning the actors in a paper jail replica. In addition to metaphor and proper nouns, the syntax of Pokey for Those... is crafted so slovenly that the metaphor contradicts its own assumed ease and finality suggested through prison. The phrases blatant lack of tactical efficiency reveals the seminars flawed approach to self-improvement. This final example from Winky is important to the linguistic patterns but also tells us something about the entire genre of humorous fiction. The interaction between the diverse collection of joke types provides the perfect microcosm for complete works. When focusing on the linguistic patterns, it is obvious that all the different types of jokeconstructs mentioned can find their way into a text. And, as this last example has shown, the different patterns aid one another in their individual efforts to create humor. Similarly, complete works balance theme with title, narrator, setting, metaphors, syntax and all the others in search of comedic harmony.

75

Conclusion: My opinions may have changed, but not the fact that I am right. The importance of humorous fiction, and all other mediums of comedy, comes from its close relationship to human society. Remember that George Meredith proclaims that humor cannot exist without a social atmosphere and Henri Bergson notes that comic idea is something that is identified only by the stamp [mankind] gives it or the use he puts it to (63). If these stipulations are true, and I think that they are, comedy is the result of human cognition designed for us, by us. This kinship with humanity allows humor to reveal or mimic truths about the human condition and provide the audience with an introspective look at their own existence. Humor does this by targeting a specific social circle that will correctly interpret the intention of a comic author. Fortunately, it is quite easy to identify if the author is successful because the audience will react in laughter. As I hope Ive shown, humorous fiction doesnt happen by accident; certainly, there is an amount of craft that is needed to design successful humor. Even the humor that we think derives out of accidents, like seeing someone fall in the mud, is predicated on a contextualization designed by a society and recognizable to its members. There is nothing intrinsically funny about the mishaps that occur to people or the jokes that comedians create; they become funny only by the way cultures interpret them. In the case of falling in the mud, the humor is a combination of the Superiority and Relief Theories of laughter. On the one hand, we laugh because we know the object of ridicule is safe from harm and that the fall was non-lethal; on the other, we are pleased that we are not covered in mud. Whatever the situation is, the point is that human culture creates interpretations that specifically identify humor. Authors of humorous fiction take that into account when they

76 write and, because certain interpretations are more successful than others, patterns develop in humorous constructions. For me, the idea of a humorous construction can refer to a particular joke, a literary device or an entire story type; in other words, constructions are identifiable by language, structure, and sub-genre. Thus, the constructions encompass all of the choices that authors make when writing humorous fiction, from the smallest to the largest of designs. Think of these constructions as bubbles in a vast space full of words and ideas and images, like a room with zero-gravity filled with every conceivable idea, image, word, punctuation, context, etc. in a tangible form. The bubbles begin empty and we can fill them with contrasting or agreeing concepts, follow the whims of any series of events, signify them with any of the words we want to, in any order we can imagine. Each bubble represents only one of an infinite number of possible combinations. Since authors do not have access to a magical room filled with pre-constructed bubbles, they must choose their words and ideas for themselves. When the bubbles are analyzed, and patterns start to develop, it suggests that there is something unique to these constructions that guides them towards humorous intentions. This intentional construction is the link between humorous and non-humorous fiction. Once intention is established as a creative motivator, the discussion about any type fiction, especially the humorous kind, should be raised to a degree that merits critical attention. Disregarding the genre because of its often silly subject matter is a mistake that devalues humor unjustly. Keep in mind that one of the most important concepts of this argument is that, despite intention, humor is never a guarantee. I believe that authors are aware of this and that is why patterns emerge. Authors are keen to interpretations deemed humorous by

77 their culture and so they create something original within the parameters of those interpretations. I think of the beginning of my research, when I was developing a thesis idea that hadnt been approved yet. I was reading James Thurber, a satirist and cartoonist from the middle of the twentieth century. I was adamant that I didn't want to read any earlier authors, specifically Mark Twain because not only is his reputation adequately anthologized (and I didnt want to go digging around in that mess), but having read some of Twains writing I knew that I didnt think he was funny in the same way contemporary writers were funny to me. I quickly realized that Thurber, like Twain, was also writing in a time with different interpretations of humor. Then, when I got to Woody Allen in the 1960s and 70s, and I read about forty of his stories, I realized that I didnt understand a lot of his humor too. Even though this older material wasnt funny to me, I knew these authors were choosing their words, their structures, and their themes purposefully. That is when I started to really recognize the importance of context and know that when its absent, comedy lies dead on the floor. As I say, without context, humor doesnt exist. That is the claim Bergson makes when he says that humor is a strictly human (62). In that same vein, I believe that humor is not universal or inherently funny. Ive already mentioned theories that deny humors ability to transcend language, making it impossible to be universal. Similarly, the recognition of humor is not inherent. That is evident by the extremely different senses of humor people have throughout the world. Tell a dirty joke to your grandmother and, depending on your grandmother, you might immediately experience just how non-inherent humor is.

78 Along with the uncertainty of humors outcome, the other stipulation that must be observed when dealing with humor states that there is no perfect formula that will lead to humor. Hopefully you noticed that the stories of this discussion appeared multiple times. If you noticed that, you probably also noticed that the works which fit into multiple patterns do not all do so in the same combination. For example, Times Roman Font Announces Shortage of Periods is a Silly humor sketch that has a first level title that is both funny and explains the premise of the text, has a gullible narrator, manipulates syntax, and uses puns to make jokes on every aspect of the text. Now consider that Mom and Pop Biz is an Unfortunate humor narrative that has a third level referential title, also uses a gullible narrator, and makes use of puns and metaphors to create its overall effect of humor. Subjectivity may lead a critic or reader to prefer one combination over the other, but ultimately, because of that same subjectivity, the level of humor in any given piece is irrelevant. The value of a piece of humorous fiction should be based on an authors attempt to relate to and comment on a social context. To me, there is no greater influence to contexts and interpretations than time. Some jokes can extend through different cultures at different times, but the vast majority of comedy is time sensitive. One critical perk of temporal interpretations is that humorless humorous fiction is a great tool for analyzing an authors intention. Because older literature is not funny anymore means that there is no guaranteed formula for humor. But because it was considered funny at one time means that the authors were aware of patterns and strove to create particular kinds of constructions and that they could be thought of as funny if the context or interpretation becomes relevant again.

79 Time, then, becomes critical to explaining why humorous fiction is not as revered as non-humorous fiction. Many academics equate a texts greatness with its timelessness. That is to say that the great works of literature will endure the burden of time and resonate with readers forever, or at least a really long time. Since comedy is so desperately reliant on the context of time, it should not be surprising that comedy is not highly esteemed because of its trouble enduring multiple-generation changes. However, humorous fiction should be highly esteemed precisely for its individuality from non-humorous fiction in this respect. Generation after generation, humor is forced to redefine its core values and authors are charged with the task of discovering what those values are by keeping in touch with their own society. That, to me, is the stamp of great literature. And thats the end of my thesis.

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80 - - -. The Whore of Mensa. The Complete Prose of Woody Allen. New York: Wings Books. 1991. 49-58. Aristotle. Poetics. The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor. Ed. John Morreall. Albany: State University of New York Press. 1987. 14-6. Bergson, Henri. Laughter. Comedy. Ed. Wylie Sypher. New York: Doubleday Anchor Books, 1956. 59-190. Carlin, George. Class Clown. Little David. 1972. - - -. Jammin In New York. Atlantic. 1992. - - -. Parental Advisory: Explicit Lyrics. Atlantic. 1990. Cicero. On the Orator. The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor. Ed. John Morreall. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1987.17-8. Franzen, Bill. Mom and Pop Biz. Hearing From Wayne: And Other Stories. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988. 51-6. - - -. The Park Avenue Social Review Visits the Drought Dinner in Eagle Grove, Iowa. Hearing From Wayne: And Other Stories. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988. 636. - - -. The Volunteer Organist. Hearing From Wayne: And Other Stories. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1988. 57-62. Frazier, Ian. Lamentations of the Father. Humor Me: An Anthology of Funny Contemporary Writing (Plus Some Great Old Stuff Too). Ed. Ian Frazier. Seattle: HarperCollins Publishers, 2010. 49-53. Freud, Sigmund. Humor. The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor. Ed. John Morreall. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1987. 111-6.

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