Comedy

[kandrathe]

An epiphany came to me today in the shower: there is no real comedy, only tragedy!

I would be careful of "all or nothing" types of enlightenment. Aristostle, in the Poetics, noted that as a form, Comedy was most divorced from every day life (Mimesis), and that Tragedy was most authentic to everyday life. Wikipedia says "Much comedy contains variations on the elements of surprise, incongruity, conflict, repetitiveness, and the effect of opposite expectations, but there are many recognized genres of comedy."

In general, comedy provokes laughter, and I would guess that there are ways to be successful at doing that without being at the expense of anything, or anyone. Perhaps, it is just easiest to provoke laughter using the tried and true methods. The hard way may require the audience to have rarer qualities, like higher IQ or special knowledge (e.g. Noël Coward).

My youngest son has the gift of humor, and since he was very young (4yrs) has enthralled small mobs of young teen girls hanging out at the local malls with his repertoire of jokes, songs, and silliness. My oldest heads of to Air Traffic to watch the young men play Warhammer, and my youngest looks for an audience. Anyway, the point is, I am amazed at how he picks out subtle humor in the things we watch together (e.g. most recently Monsters vs Aliens).