Think about something or someone that makes you laugh, something that strikes you as deeply and unforgettably humorous. Probably many instances come to mind, for humor surrounds us, protects us from the raging storm that is life, sheltering. Many people tell jokes in difficult and trying situations in attempts to defuse the issue and we all like to use humor as a respite from our ordinary humdrum difficulties. But what is comedy? Why do we laugh at some jokes and not others? Where lies the differentiation?
As with obtuse and difficult subject, scholars have shed barrels of ink over this subject, and there are literally hundreds of definitions of the nature of humor. While it is impossible in the space we have here to come to a full definition, I do think we can begin to come to fuller understanding with a working definition: “Humor is the pointing out of incongruities in the world in language and in being and encouraging us to see the things we had never truly noticed from a new angle.”
What on earth do I mean by this? Let’s break it down. For starters, humor poists out the incongruities in the world. In other words, the best comedy reminds us of the world around us and the ways in which it is broken. This may seem counterintuitive, that humor works by reminding us of problems and mistakes, but when you think about it carefully, it is clear. For example, one stand up comedian does a bit where he pretends to hold a soda can the size of a tree and carry a straw the size of a pipe. We laugh at least in part, because he is pointing out our culture’s soft drink addiction.
On another level, puns, one of the most common and both most loved and hated forms of comedy, work when they remind us of the oddities inherent in our language. For example, a pun may go, "I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me." We find this humorous because it plays with our expectations about the nature of language and phrasing to say two things at once. It plays with language and we laugh at the sight of our own absurdity.
Some have said that the nature of comedy is ridicule, and to an extent there is some truth here, but with a fundamental caveat. True comedy does not purely ridicule others in mockery. It is willing to turn its spotlight upon anything, including oneself in every aspect and on every level. Comedy, ultimately, is the cheering reminder of our world’s brokenness in ways that encourage and uplift.
