Humour
Humour is a gift. It makes life well lubricated. Even a tough subject can be made interesting if explained with a touch of humour. Many speeches and religious discourses are appreciated when interspersed with humour. To be effective, it must be spontaneous, not labored, and suggestive, not made too explicit. Excess of humour may also be poison. It may cost at times friendship if it is too personal or spiteful. On balance, to make others laugh is a welcome trait.
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July 9, 2016 ·
Humour (jokes)
PJ, someone is dumped, when the joke is shallow, repeated ad nauseum or in poor taste. There is no standard for good joke. It is a matter of personal taste, mood, affiliation, etc. Most people will laugh when the boss or a rich man tells some joke. A two line poem goes:
Money is honey, my little Sonny,
A rich man’s jokes are always funny.
Humour is leading someone up a path deliberately and introducing an unexpected twist. The twist is important and the build-up of the crescendo is important and delivery has to be well modulated. A joke is enhanced by the build-up (like the abracadabra of a magician) and the punchline in right moment with panache.
Jokes have become stereotyped. We have several jokes on wife and her idiosyncrasy. Someone raised the issue why there are fewer jokes on husbands. That is a good joke!
Then we have jokes on the ignorance/incompetence of people, which can be one’s own self.
Something grotesque tickles us. A man slipping over is funny (not to the victim though). We have variations of this in film comedy scenes. Spoonerism also makes us laugh. Once a colleague rattled out in hurry, ‘Is he sunior or jenior to you?’ He joined in the laughter after realisng the jumble. Even a person’s odd appearance provokes laughter. A Modi-baiter dismissed the ovations for his speech as caused by his appearance!
Humour enhances effectiveness of delivery and captures the mood of the audience. The span of attention increases. In a highly abstruse discourse on Vedanta, humour provides the necessary ventilation to the mind.
Russell who writes on serious subjects uses humour to get his points through. Two examples:
"Really high-minded people are indifferent to happiness, especially other people's."
About third world war scenario: "..You expatiate on the large number of civilian deaths that will take place, and while, in the top layer of his mind, he is duly horrified, there is a whisper in a deeper layer: 'Perhaps I shall become a widower and that might not be so bad.'
People like something risqué. Many jokes abound on this theme. In Shakespeare class, the teacher skipped the following lines:
“Hamlet: Lady, shall I lie in your lap?
[Lying down at Ophelia’s feet]
Ophelia: No, my lord.
H: I mean, my head upon your lap?
O: Ay, my lord.
H: Do you think I meant country matters?
O: I think nothing, my lord.
H: That’s a fair thought to lie between maid’s legs.
O: What is, my lord?
H: Nothing.”
A student called attention, ‘Sir, you have omitted a few lines.’ He smiled and continued with the later dialogue.
Here Shakespeare is not looking for cheap attraction. Hamlet is disturbed. He knows but not firmly that his uncle has killed his father. He behaves in a way that looks he is mad. He wants the smokescreen to be continued. There is a view (Polonius) that he is mad in love. Hamlet plays along that theme in the play scene where he wants to ‘catch the king.’
We have in films many songs that specialise in double entendre.
Shakespeare tries to soften the impact of tragedy by some lighter moments. When Hamlet kills Polonius mistaking him to be ‘his better’ (his murderer uncle) and Claudius asks him where Polonius is, Hamlet replies coolly, ‘At supper.’ He clarifies upon further questioning, ‘Not where he eats, but where he is eaten’. We have the fun-filled grave digger scene before the final scene where a great tragedy is enacted.
In office and places like assembly where tempers run high, humour often relieves tension, and better take on things is facilitated. In a staff meeting long back, there was a dispute as to what the procedure laid down in the bank’s instructions book was on a particular issue. The union man was excited and challenged the manager angrily, ‘What if what you say is not there in the book?’ The manager replied calmly, ‘Then what you say will be there.’ There was laughter and welcome return to some communication. Great leaders like Churchill and Rajaji used humour effectively to steer the legislature.
Puns are called the lowest form of wit. They are interesting though. Long back I watched ‘The Two Ronnies.’ One dialogue goes somewhat like:
‘What’s your name?
‘Watt.’
‘What’s your name?’
‘That’s right. Watt’s my name?’
‘I am asking you what’s your name’.
One must see it enacted for the hilarity it produces.
It is sad when people miss the joke/point and get into serious discussion.
Or, it provides humour as in the following real life incident.
A note was put up about the hassles and avoidable losses that RBI forced take over of UK operations of another bank entailed for SBI. The note concluded, ‘Here is a lesson or two for the RBI.’ The MD wrote on the margin, ‘What are they? List them and forward to RBI.’
