Humour



English Language Arts A30

Canadian Identity - Discovering Canadian Humour

Humour

Comedy uses human imperfection to show us that life isn’t always as serious as we think. It reminds us that there are ridiculous things in everybody (bishops use the bathroom, teachers fail subjects in school, parents put the car in the ditch too, Oprah farts).

➢ Farce: visual or physical humour

Pie in the face, slip on a banana

➢ Wit: essentially verbal humour, based on the way a thing is said, rather than on what is said.

Chandler Bing from Friends: “Could I BE any more funny.”

Techniques of Comedy

• Satire: uses laughter as a weapon to diminish a subject by making it ridiculous. We feel amusement, contempt, indignation, or scorn.

o A tree is a thing that will stand in one place for fifty years and then jump out in front of a woman driver.

o Opera is when a guy gets stabbed and instead of bleeding, he sings

• Tom Swifties:

o “I have no flowers,” he said lackadaisically.

o “Shall we camp here?” he asked tentatively.

o “May I have a drink?” he asked wryly.

• Pun: a play on words that uses words that sound the same or nearly the same as another word, but have far different meanings.

o Mercutio, bleeding to death, says, “Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man.”

• Spoonerism: mixing up the first sounds of words

o To a lazy student: you have hissed all my mystery lessons and completely tasted two worms.

• Sarcasm: much like satire, only more brutal (sneering)

o That’s a lovely dress dear; too bad they didn’t have your size.

• Hyperbole: humourous exaggeration (tall tales)

o Yorkton mosquitoes are carnivorous animals: they eat their young, and they are provided with incisor and molar teeth for tearing and chewing flesh.

• Understatement:

o Mrs. Harrison, wife of a British working man who won a million dollars was asked for her reaction. “Well,” she said, “We think the money’ll come in useful.”

• Unexpected Endings: often are ironic situations

o A man slips on a banana peel that he set out for someone else.

• Ridiculous Comparison:

o My head’s as clear as a bell; in fact, I hear it ringing!

• Parody: changing the words of a well-known piece of writing (poem, song, story) to produce comic results.

o The McDonald’s coffee commercial when the man says “Shhhh, you had me at free”

Comedy Quiz

1. __Sarcasm____ “No dear, I’m not mad at you. Just because you burned my steak and crashed the new car. How could I be mad at you?”

2. __Understatement____ As the leader of the acting company said after being bombarded with rotten fruit from an angry audience, “I guess this was not our best performance.”

3. __Satire ___ The boy rushed into the barber shop and yelled “Mr. Jones, your house is on fire!” The man leapt out of the chair, ran out the door and half way down the street he skidded to a stop and said, “My name’s not Jones!”

4. __Pun______________ Teacher: Johnny, spell “weather”

Johnny: “w-h-e-g-h-t-o-r”

Teacher: That’s the worst spell of weather we’ve had in a long time.

5. __Swifties___________ I don’t know where I left my gloves,” Jim said offhandedly

6. __Hyperbole__________ His bass voice is so deep he needs an elevator to bring the notes out.

7. __Spoonerism_________ We searched every crook and nanny for clues.

8. __Ridiculous Comparison___ Favourite music among swinging fish: sole music.

9. __Unexpected Ending____ Did you hear about the baker who electrocuted himself when he stepped on a hot cross bun and a current shot up his leg?

10. ___Parody______________ “Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg, Batmobile lost its wheel and Joker got away. Hey”

Tom Swifties

A. Create Tom swifties by using the adverbs given below.

1. “I’m glad I passed my electrocardiogram,” said Tom __wholeheartedly__

2. “Stop!” said Tom __haltingly__

3. “I’m the new custodian,” Tom said ___sweepingly___

4. “The sun is coming up,” said Tom ___brightly____

5. “I like to gamble,” Tom said __winsomely_______

Haltingly Winsomely Sweepingly Brightly Wholeheartedly

B. Now try your hand at writing swifties. Use AT LEAST FIVE (5) of the following adverbs in a punning fashion.

Dryly Sourly Clearly Sternly Craftily

Rashly Weakly Blindly Expressively Rakishly

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