What are you laughing at? : a comprehensive guide to the comedic event / Dan O'Shannon.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

O'Shannon, Dan, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Comedy--History and criticism--Theory, etc.

Comedy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (321 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

London : Bloomsbury, [2012]

Summary:

If you're looking for a book that will teach you how to write comedy, we suggest you keep moving. You still have time to pick up a copy of Writing Big Yucks for Big Bucks before the store closes. However, if you want to understand the bigger picture -- what is comedy, why do we respond to it the way we do -- then you've come to the right place. What Are You Laughing At? presents an entirely new approach to comedy theory. It challenges long-held beliefs and shows how the three main theories of comedy (incongruity, superiority, and relief) are not in conflict; but rather, work as parts of a larg

Contents:

Cover; Title; Copyright; Contents; Introduction; Overview; 1 Common comedy theories; 2 The comedic event; 3 Documenting the comedic event; Part One Elements of context: the reception factors; 1 The receiver and his world; 1.1 The line between funny and not funny; 1.2 A comedy frame of mind; 1.3 The duality of comedy: two types of laughter; 1.4 Early reception factors; 1.5 Levels of social interaction; 2 Elements of communication; 2.1 Modes of communication; 2.2 Device and specific device; 3 Vehicles; 3.1 Vehicles; 3.2 Vehicle-based reception factors

4 Level of control and identifying the source4.1 Level of control; 4.2 Identifying the source; Part Two Comedic Information; 5 Fundamental components; 5.1 The receiver's brain: hard-wired for comedy?; 5.2 Comedic information: the triangle; 5.3 The core variables; 6 Incongruity; 6.1 Incongruity; 6.2 Estimating levels of incongruity; 6.3 Types of incongruity; 7 Cognitive process; 7.1 Cognitive process: overview; 7.2 Level one: straightforward information; 7.3 Level two: gap-filling; 7.4 Level three: recontextualization; 8 Variations; 8.1 Exploring the four corners of the triangle

8.2 What are practical jokes?9 Comedy and entropy; 9.1 Sustaining the laugh; 9.2 Entropy; Part Three Enhancers, inhibitors, and aspects of awareness; 10 How comedic information triggers enhancers and inhibitors; 10.1 Overview; 10.2 On-going social needs: superiority, identification, and inclusion; 10.3 Aspects of awareness; 11 Elements of the joke's communication, structure, and content; 11.1 Resuming the chart: the joke as a whole; 11.2 Elements of communication and structure; 11.3 Elements of content; 11.4 The target; Summing it all up; The completed chart

Final thoughts and acknowledgmentsIndex

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-4411-1495-5

OCLC:

828793883