Funny how? : sketch comedy and the art of humor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Clayton, Alex.

Series:

SUNY series, horizons of cinema.

SUNY Series, Horizons of cinema

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

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

Comedy.

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

Comedy sketches.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (162 pages) : illustrations.

Place of Publication:

Albany : SUNY Press, 2020.

Summary:

"What makes something funny? Some take this question to be effectively unanswerable, while others turn to comic theory. Funny How? offers a new approach, showing how humor can be analyzed without killing the joke. Alex Clayon writes that the brevity of a sketch or skit and its typical rejection of narrative development make it comedy concentrate, providing a rich field for exploring how humor works. Focusing on a dozen or so skits and scenes, Clayton shows precisely how sketch comedy appeals to the funny bone and engages our philosophical imagination. He posits that since humor is about persuading an audience to laugh, it can be understood as a form of rhetoric. Through vivid, highly readable analyses of individual sketches, Clayton argues that Aristotle's three forms of appeal-logos, the appeal to reason; ethos, the appeal to communality; and pathos, the appeal to emotion-can form the basis for illuminating the inner workings of humor. He draws on both popular and lesser-known examples from the United States, United Kingdom, and elsewhere, across film and television, from Monty Python's Flying Circus to Key and Peele, via Saturday Night Live, Airplane!, and Smack the Pony"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

The trouble with comic theory

Take offs

Thought experiments

Prime numbers

Pitched battles

Conclusion: the rhetoric of humor.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781438478302

1438478305

OCLC:

1155149261