Research Paper about Humor and Its Theories

Have you ever laughed at something? Did you ever wonder why do people laugh at different situations? Humor is something that makes a person laugh. There are three different types of laughter. In his book, Taking Laughter Seriously, John Morreall explained incongruity theory, superiority theory, and relief theory. Incongruity theory is better than superiority theory and relief theory because incongruity theory makes us feel more intellectual by seeing something illogical or seeing meaningless acts which don’t make sense. Incongruity theory focuses more on the thinking side of the laughter which is not true about superiority theory and relief theory. Incongruity theory is quite straightforward this theory of humor makes people laugh when something unpredicted happens which doesn’t make any sense. According to Pascal “nothing produces laughter more than a surprising disproportion between which one expects and that which one sees”. (Qtd. In Morreall). The incongruity theory of humor offers an explanation about why a person laughs in different situations when something unexpected or illogical happens. After understanding all three theories of humor  Incongruity theory made the most sense and it is more relatable to most people`s day-to-day lives and why they laugh. 

In his show The Family Guy, Seth Macfarlane shows the perfect usage of incongruity theory. This clip was a nine-second short video from the show called The Family Guy which made people laugh by incongruity theory (0:01 to 0:10). In this clip Brain who is a dog sees his own reflection in the mirror and thinks that his reflection is of some other person and attacks his own reflection thinking that the person in his reflection is a trespasser in his house. He knocks himself out by attacking his reflection. Peter Griffin who is a human in this show also does the same thing as the brain and knocks himself out by attacking his reflection in the mirror. This is a perfect example of the usage of the incongruity theory of humor because a person could expect Brain who is a dog to do something illogical like that, but no one would expect a human-like Peter Griffin to do something that illogical or dumb. Some people would argue that this could also be a usage superiority theory of humor, but this nine-second video showed unexpected and illogical acts which made people laugh at it. In his book, Taking Laughter Seriously, John Morreall quoted that “for the incongruity theory amusement is an intellectual reaction to something that is unexpected, illogical, or inappropriate in some other way” (p.15). So, it could be concluded from the quote that this video demonstrates the incongruity theory of humor because it showed illogical acts of both Peter and Brain.

The second clip is chosen from YouTube. It is a seven-second-long video. During this clip, a man wearing a yellow shirt is coming back to dock from the lake in a boat. He was holding the rope very tightly and making sure that he will come to the dock safely. However, he was not able to come to the dock safely. He fell in the water after losing control over his boat. Once he is in the water, he says to the cameraman that “I really hope you took the video” (1:05 to 1:14). It could also be said that this video showed the superiority theory of humor because according to Plato “the laughable person thinks of himself is the one who thinks of himself as wealthier, better looking, more virtuous, or wiser than he really is” (Qtd. in Morreall). However, this video demonstrated the incongruity theory of humor because it made people laugh by performing an unexpected or meaningless act that someone would not expect to happen. His reaction was quite unexpected because any normal person would not give an answer like that person in the video. In the article philosophy of humor, Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy. It was quoted that “The most common kind of joke is that which we expect one thing, and another is said; here our own disappointment expectation makes us laugh” (5). This quotation by the article philosophy of humor, Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy proves that this video is using the incongruity theory of humor to make people laugh.

The third video that shows the incongruity theory of humor taking place to make people laugh from it is from YouTube and the name of the clip is called what is drugs meme (0:01 to 0:16). This is a sixteen-second old short video in this video a guy is under influence of drugs and alcohol. He was getting arrested in this video by the cops. The cops asked him a question “are you under influence of drugs or alcohol” to which he replied, “What is drugs?”. No sane person would give an answer like that when asked a question about drugs or alcohol offenses. It could be argued that this video demonstrated the Superiority theory of humor or relief theory of humor but his answer to that question was unexpected, illogical, and dumb. So, it can be said that this video demonstrates the incongruity theory of humor that makes people laugh. This answer was quite unexpected because a normal person would not give an illogical answer like that when he/she is interacting with a cop because these kinds of answers to the cops could get a person into legal trouble. 

In conclusion, the incongruity theory of humor is better than the superiority theory of humor and the relief theory of humor. Incongruity theory of humor makes people laugh because of someone performing illogical acts or something unexpected happening that a person couldn’t expect to happen.          

WORK CITED 

Morreall, John. Taking Laughter Seriously, “The incongruity theory” 

MacFarlane, Seth. “when Peter tries to help Brain”. YouTube, uploaded by Daily shorts, 24 January 24 2022, https://youtu.be/MOzwvRwPij0, From 0:01 to 0:10

“He tried to hang on, but still failed!” YouTube, uploaded by America`s Funniest Home Videos,12 February 2022, https://youtu.be/BkPdlGSO3pM, From 1:05 to 1:14

Morreall, John “Philosophy of Humor”, 20 November 2012, “Incongruity theory” (Morreall)

“What is drugs MEME” YouTube, uploaded by Papayrus, 21 May 2021, https://youtu.be/7WUnj1IdN4I, From 0:01 to 0:16