As an introduction to comedy practice, we unpacked different definitions of ‘comedy’ and a brief list of theories of humour. The theories we drew our focus on were surrounding surprise and incongruity, being “the detection of some disruption of our expectations” (Auddisino 2023, p. 8).
Our own expectations were disrupted through a series of sketches, a standout for me being an episode of Black Comedy. The miscommunication of car robbery / corroboree, coupled with the jazzy backing track and difference in attire, all put together a great sketch and encouraged us to ask questions about comedic timing and why this all leads to the end goal – making your audience laugh. As we’re familiar with the conventions displayed in the episode, the people in our studio sat in building 12 at RMIT are likely to let out a chuckle, but in another context, such an American household, an American family sat by the TV would probably not elicit the same response.
The other sketches that were screened all seemed to display a level of absurdity, the subjects being so ridiculous that a few of us couldn’t help but laugh. By reflecting on this “playful deception of our mental scripts” (Audissino 2023, p. 8-9) and absurdity, I made my own rough sketch of an encounter at a shoe store. A frazzled sales assistant offers store credit to a customer who purchased a pair of shoes made with cow leather as a snack, hoping it might not be too different to a slab of beef. I brought down the decibals of the background noise while the assistant inspects the shoes in efforts to make the situation uncomfortable, if the customer revealing they share the same behaviours as a dog isn’t unsettling enough.
I’m not convinced that my sketch was successfully incongruous, or even enough to say ‘it’s so bad it’s good,’ but it’s interesting to experiment with a previously untouched practice for me and inform my practice with discussions surrounding what can make a sketch funny.
References
Audissino E (2023) “From Dionysia to Hollywood: An Introduction to Comedy’s Long (and Bumpy) Road” in Audissino, E. & Wennekes, E. (eds), The Palgrave Handbook of Music in Comedy Cinema, London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 3–23.