Anti-humor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anti-humor and anti-jokes[1] (also known as unjokes) are a kind of humor based on the surprise factor of absence of an expected joke or of a punch line in a narration which is set up as a joke. This kind of anticlimax is similar to that of the shaggy dog story.[2] In fact, John Henderson sees the "shaggy dog story" as a type of anti-joke.[3]
An example of anti-humor is "Why did the chicken cross the road?" with the answer, "To get to the other side". Whereas the listener may be expecting something clever, obscure, or tricky, the true answer's obviousness and straight-forwardness becomes part of the humor.
Another popular unjoke involves any seemingly humorous setup leading to the non-sequitur "punchline" of "No soap, radio". Another example of anti-humor is "A man walks into a bar. His alcohol dependency is destroying his family." Another form of anti-humor is poking fun at bad humor by the way of parody. An example is Jim's Journal, a comic strip by Scott Dikkers, co-founder of The Onion, whose four-panel strips end without any sort of punchline. Alternative comedy, among its other aspects, parodies the traditional idea of the joke as a form of humor.[4] Andy Kaufman saw himself as a practitioner of anti-humor. Other comedians known for their anti-humor are Ted Chippington, Neil Hamburger, Corey Mystyshyn, and Bill Bailey.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Paul Lewis, "Joke and Anti-Joke: Three Jews and a Blindfold", The Journal of Popular Culture, 1987, Vol. 21, Issue 1, pp. 63-73
- ^ Warren A. Shibles, Humor Reference Guide: A Comprehensive Classification and Analysis (Hardcover) 1998 ISBN 0809320975
- ^ John Henderson, "Writing Down Rome: Satire, Comedy, and Other Offences in Latin Poetry" (1999) ISBN 0198150776, p. 218
- ^ Andrew Stott (2005) "Comedy", ISBN 0415299330, p. 119
