WHAT MAKES COMEDY FUNNY - PART 1

A Multi-Part Series by America’s Funnyman, Artie Bremer

Hello, readers! I’m America’s Funnyman, Artie Bremer here to begin a multi-part series on what makes comedy funny for MankaBros.com.

I have lived and breathed comedy for as long as I can remember and now it’s time to give back by explaining to you people out there in computer-land exactly what makes comedy so funny and what makes funny things funny as well as what makes a joke work and what makes humor so important and necessary and not just to those people in Indian who take laughing breaks, but to all people who might have just had a leg sawed off in an operation and need to look on the bright side of life, as that song that Eric Idle wrote goes.

For the first article, I thought I would relate the three funniest “bits” I have ever heard in my life to you to really see where I’m coming from.

 

JOKE #1

From a “Monty Python” sketch, but used previously by other comedians including the late, great Shelley Berman:

“Put the cat out”

“Why?”

“It’s on fire.”

That is perhaps the best joke in the English language and no one needs convincing of that as I’m sure you are rolling on the floor laughing. WHY it is funny is why I bring it up at all.

“Put the cat out” – that phrase has been used in every sitcom since the dawn of time, but also in real life at night when the cat is put out to roam the neighborhood and kill rats as its owners sleep. Everyone puts the cat out at night. It is as American as apple pie and was even mentioned in a line in that “Yakkety-Yak” song where the song states in the command form to the listener, “bring in the dog and put out the cat” or something to that effect.

It is common and thereby an obvious target for humor. That’s the point about observational humor – you should always prey on the things that everyone can relate to. If Smokey Robinson didn’t sing a song about it, then it’s not funny.

Let’s move on to the second line. “Why?” Here’s where the listener understands that it is a joke. In this joke, it is implicit to the humor that the one who laughs is uninvolved and is merely an observer. The second person, the one who asks “why?” is merely there to move along the story to the punchline. The fact that anyone would answer, “why?” is absurd as if someone said “put the cat out” in the command form, the natural reaction would be to pick up the cat and toss it out the back door. To question this is suspect to begin with – is the second person a troublemaker trying to buck the trend? Probably. When we find out that the cat is indeed on fire, is the second person the one who set it on fire? Could well be.

Now, the final line – “It’s on fire.” 3 words. No “Because it is on fire” as that phraseology simply isn’t funny. “It’s on fire,” a phrase tossed off the cuff as if it’s meaningless, as if it’s the simplest trifle to have a cat in the house and on fire. As if the question “why?” is the dumbest thing anyone could ask as of why else would you put a cat out?

Because it is on fire.

The secret to this is in the beats as well.

Put the cat out. Why? It’s on fire.

Speed is the key. Just rattle it right off your tongue. Beat 1 – Put the cat out. Beat 2 – Why? Beat 3 – It’s on fire. Boom. Boom. Boom. Piece of cake. It works on so many levels that it is the kind of joke that absolutely, positively defines the best there is to be found in the annals of comedy.

 

JOKE #2

Do you watch “The Simpsons”? Of course you do. If you have any interest in comedy whatsoever, you are likely watching “The Simpsons” and have seen some of the absolute greatest comedy bits ever written including this sequence in episode 4F11 – “Homer’s Phobia.”

John: But this is the Rex Mars Atomic Discombobulator. Don't you just love the graphics on this box?

Homer: No. How can you love a box, or a toy or graphics? You're a grown man.

John: It's camp! [Homer stares nonplussed] The tragically ludicrous? The ludicrously tragic?

Homer: Oh, yeah. Like when a clown dies.

This is perhaps one of the funniest exchanges ever in the history of televised comedy. It makes you laugh out loud, but why? Why would talking about the death of another comedian, in this case a clown, make a comedian like me laugh? Here’s the explanation:

Have you ever heard of black comedy? I’m not talking about “Mo’ Money” or “Next Friday,” I mean darkly evil comedy that has something of a mean spirit to it. Well, that’s what the writers on “The Simpsons” are demonstrating in that particular exchange. Are they really using the line, “like when a clown dies” as a punchline? No. This is the realm of black comedy.

“Like when a clown dies” is tragic in nature, but it is also funny. Do you remember the episode of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” when they find out Peanuts the clown was killed and everyone laughs the days leading up to the funeral – everyone, that is, except Mary. Mary simply doesn’t understand why everyone would find it so humorous that he was killed until the funeral. At the funeral, everyone is somber, but Mary can’t stop laughing as suddenly she too is affected by the overall dark humor of the situation.

In this particular episode of “The Simpsons,” Homer is confused by the definition of camp being given by the character played by John Waters. When John tries to explain it as the ludicrously tragic or the tragically ludicrous, Homer makes the connection somewhere in his little animated brain, that this is the feeling when a clown dies. This is very, very funny simply because:

A. Homer is wrong in his assumption, he is defining tragedy

B. In being wrong and coming up with such an odd answer, he makes a rather dark observation. For a simpleton like Homer to be so incredibly cryptic at the spur of the moment and apparently quite innocently, is absolutely funny.

This is black comedy at its absolute finest. Thank you goes to Fox and “The Simpsons” for providing this example.

 

JOKE #3

Parody is yet another form of humor that has been mastered by cartoonists and pundits from the great Mark Russell to Carrottop. In the realm of songwriting, the current master of parody is Weird Al Yankovic, but many years ago there was another. He is the man who not only discovered Bill Cosby, but also put the angst of an entire generation into song. Of course I am speaking of the legendary Allan Sherman and the song is “Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah” also known as “A Letter from Camp” or “Greetings from Camp Granada”.

Allan Sherman was what is known as a “fat comic” and used that to his advantage during his brief run on the top of the charts with his triumvirate of stellar albums, “My Son, the Folk Singer,” “My Son, the Celebrity,” and “My Son, the Nut.” Later, “My Name is Allan,” “For Swingin’ Livers Only,” “Togetherness” and “Allan Sherman – Live!” followed, but nothing has quite lived up to the simple song of which the final part of this article is dedicated.

“Hello Madduh, Hello Faddah” is still as funny today as it was almost forty years ago. I wish I could reprint the entire lyrics below, but I’m sure someone at Warner Recordings or whoever controls the rights would sue the crap out of me, but as we all know the song, I’ll just remind you about it a little.

The song opens with the ubiquitous, “Hello Madduh, Hello Fadduh,” a child writing home from camp. He is obviously miserable. He speaks of poison ivy, bears, malaria, hail storms, and children being sought by search parties. Camp, for him, is the worst circle of hell and after explaining to his parents just how miserable he is, he even says that if his parents will let him come home, he’ll be nice to his little brother (the ultimate penance) and even let Aunt Bertha hug and kiss him (wretched torture for a young boy).

Then we find out that he’s only been at camp for one day. We all laugh. It can’t be that bad, can it? Of course, the rain stops and our letter-writer notices that boys are swimming and sailing. Suddenly, it doesn’t look so bad, so he writes, “please disregard this letter” and we are made to believe that he races out to join them, now happy at camp.

That’s comedy on so many different levels. Let’s look.

All of the comedic things that the boy is claiming cannot be true, of course, can they? If the lake had been found to be infested with alligators, wouldn’t the other campers be sent home immediately? Same with an outbreak of malaria. There would be no point for our hero to try and get his parents to rescue him.

What does this tell us? Well, it tells us that the boy is lying, making all of this up, and doing a damn good job of it. How many young kids could rhyme “waiters” and “alligators” or “Hardy” and “searching party” or even the classic, “scare ya” and “malaria”. This kid is obviously some kind of Sondheim.

And if this really is a complete fib, what about the line about the Coach not wanting sissies and thereby reading to them from something called “Ulysses”? Wow. What kid would know that? By saying specifically, “something called ‘Ulysses’” the kid is denying that he even knows what that really is, but it would certainly make an impact on his parents.

This is one clever kid.

But again, the audience for Allan Sherman was indeed the parents of children just like this, ones that relax during the summer when they know they can send their kids off to places like Camp Granada. Chances are, they have even received multiple letters just like this and that is precisely what Sherman is trying to key into. He is creating a parody of this by collecting the absolute most extreme examples and putting them together into a single song. I’m sure by the end of the night at one of his many club shows, parents were wishing that their children were as talented as Sherman when they wrote home. Indeed, there were probably children who tried this on their parents, even. A wiseacre child who might’ve heard “My Son, the Nut” at a more liberal family’s house could then go off to camp and reprint the lyrics into the letter and drive his parents nuts.

Allan Sherman has virtually disappeared from the face of the earth following his death in 1973 even though there was a musical revival of his songs in New York in 1993 aptly titled, “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh” and a collection of his greatest hits is available from Rhino Records. But ask anyone over 40 and chances are they’ve heard of “Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh”. It is comic genius at its apex and one of the greatest examples of parody known to man.

Part 2 of the series....

WHY IS BOB NEWHART FUNNY?

What Makes Comedy Funny? Part 1 Part 2 Part 3