The Unified Comedy Theory states there are only five types of jokes. This encompasses all forms of humor, including anecdotes, burlesque, farce, irony, parody, satire, slapstick, stand-up and many others. For this purpose I have named it the the Unified Comedy Theory.
A joke is the process of taking the audience from the expected (what the audience assumes will happen next) to the unexpected. The unexpected occurrence is what surprises and delights the audience and makes them laugh. A joke can involve more than one process. For example, an impression is mostly Emotional Similarity but there can also be elements of Premise Logic as traits are exaggerated It’s important to note that the unexpected occurrence must be seen as harmless to the audience for the process to qualify as a joke.
The process of going from the expected to the unexpected is the type of joke. There are five types of jokes. In this discussion the person performing the joke will be called the Character and the person(s) experiencing the joke, the Audience. I will define them briefly. For examples, click on the links below or the tabs in the header.
- Emotional Reversal (ER) The audience senses a character expresses one emotion, and then express the opposite emotion. Emotional Reversal (ER) happens within one character. The emotions usually happen sequentially, not simultaneously, and the character is aware of his change in emotional state. If these conditions are not met, the contrast in emotions that the audience senses is classified as an Emotional Contrast (EC) which we will discuss below.
One of the best Emotional Reversals is Henny Youngman’s “Take my wife….please”. In the first part “take my wife”, he sounds authoritative, like he’s about to give an example, In the second part. “please”, we sense his desperation. This is a great Emotional Reversal joke because it is concise. There is not even a need for an external stimulus, like another character saying something to trigger the the change in emotions.
Emotional Contrast. (EC) The audience’s senses are stimulated with two contrasting emotions. - Emotional Similarity (ES) The audience’s senses are stimulated with two different stimuli unexpectedly representing a similar emotions.
- Character Response (CR) The character does not respond to a stimulus the way the Audience expects a normal character to respond. There is a variance between the way the Character responds and the way the Audience expects a normal person would respond to the stimulus. There are also two sub-categories. Character Response Premise (CRP): This is when a new premise/condition exists. For example, what if a straight & narrow character is drunk? How will the character respond? Character Response False Premise (CRFP) What if a character believes a new premise/condition exists? But he is wrong. It is a false premise. How will the character respond to what he erroneously believes is true? For example, what if a politician was in an important meeting but falsely thought his microwave was bugged?
- Premise Logic (PL) A premise is something we accept and from which we can make inferences and draw conclusions. If the audience experiences something new, by reading a news story for example. It creates a new association (NA) in their mind. The new association can be used as the premise, or as part of the deductive reasoning, as we move from premise to an unexpected conclusion which surprises us with new meaning. The process of going from premise to conclusion using associations will be called Premise Logic.
Emotions/Feelings
The first three types of jokes contain the word “emotion”. The fourth Character Response also is also mostly-based on emotions. Premise jokes also sometimes include emotions because they may involve associating an individual with a new emotion based on something which has happened, so it’s important to display a basic list of emotions/feelings.
Here is a List of Emotions as seen on ChangingMinds.org:
The Five Senses and the Stimulus-Response (S-R) Process
Sometimes we will discuss what the Character senses and what the Audience senses. Below is a list of the senses and the part they play in the Unified Comedy Theory.
Humans have five senses. They are:
- Visual (sight)
- Auditory (hearing),
- Taste (gustation),
- Smell (olfaction),
- Touch (somatosensation)
These five senses can be both internal or external For example, we can see something outside but we can also picture something in our minds. We can hear a song on the radio but we can also have the song playing in our head.
When our senses receive a stimulus, either internally or externally, there is a response. This is known as the Stimulus-Response (S-R) process .
In comedy, both the performer, the Character, and the Audience receive stimuli and go through a continuous Stimulus-Response process. When a Character and the Audience respond differently to the same stimulus it is often the basis of a joke. We will see how the Stimulus-Response (S-R) process factors into some of the joke types.
What’s Next?
Now that we have: an overview of the types of jokes; a list of emotions: and a basic understanding of the five senses and the Stimulus-Response (S-R) process; we can delve deeper into the types of jokes and see some examples by clicking on each tab in the navigation bar.
