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What's so Funny, Anyway: Is it Time to Comedies Seriously?
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<blockquote data-quote="overgeeked" data-source="post: 9245429" data-attributes="member: 86653"><p>Honestly, I think that's the core of the problem. It mostly comes down to <em>people judging comedies by the criteria of dramas</em>. "It's funny but it didn't make me think deep thoughts (with Jack Handey)." Okay? So what? It's not meant to. That's neither the purpose nor the goal of a comedy. Did it make you laugh? Then it did what it's supposed to do. Did it lighten your mood for a few hours? Mission accomplished. Did it make you temporarily forget your worries? Then it's a brilliant comedy. Judge comedies as comedies, not dramas.</p><p></p><p>It's also an aspect of <em>verbal comedy</em>. When you go wider and examine <em>physical comedy</em>, that problem almost disappears. Watch stuff from Jacques Tati, Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean), Oleg Popov, Slava Polunin, Bill Irwin, The Three Stooges, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and a lot of the Marx Brothers. Most if it still holds up. It's also why exported physical comedy is more popular in other countries, you don't need to translate a physical gag. There's nothing to be lost in translation.</p><p></p><p>As a fan of comedy RPGs, I gotta say part of the problem is how they're designed vs how players want to play them, generally speaking. Most players when they are presented with a comedy RPG think it's time to be stupid, force the "humor," and generally cut loose. Which generally destroys the actual funny bits. There's a rule in improv where you're not supposed to try to force the humor. The comedy will come naturally from the premise, the game, the setup, etc. You trying to force the jokes is just going to wreck the scene. Let things flow naturally and the funny bits will pop. Most gamers fall into this same trap. The trick is to design the game mechanics to produce comedy while the players don't have to be inherently funny themselves. If they just play the game, comedy happens. It's the difference between a truly funny game of <em>Paranoia</em>...and the absolute shambles that is zap play. It's the trying to force things that kills it dead. Thankfully, comedy RPG designers have started to figure this out. The upcoming <em>Monty Python's Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme</em> even has a callout box just for this. It's paradoxical, but <em>play it straight and the comedy will flow</em>.</p><p></p><p>#</p><p></p><p>There's some <em>fascinating</em> reading on the topic:</p><p></p><p>[URL unfurl="true"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_humor[/URL]</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="overgeeked, post: 9245429, member: 86653"] Honestly, I think that's the core of the problem. It mostly comes down to [I]people judging comedies by the criteria of dramas[/I]. "It's funny but it didn't make me think deep thoughts (with Jack Handey)." Okay? So what? It's not meant to. That's neither the purpose nor the goal of a comedy. Did it make you laugh? Then it did what it's supposed to do. Did it lighten your mood for a few hours? Mission accomplished. Did it make you temporarily forget your worries? Then it's a brilliant comedy. Judge comedies as comedies, not dramas. It's also an aspect of [I]verbal comedy[/I]. When you go wider and examine [I]physical comedy[/I], that problem almost disappears. Watch stuff from Jacques Tati, Rowan Atkinson (Mr Bean), Oleg Popov, Slava Polunin, Bill Irwin, The Three Stooges, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and a lot of the Marx Brothers. Most if it still holds up. It's also why exported physical comedy is more popular in other countries, you don't need to translate a physical gag. There's nothing to be lost in translation. As a fan of comedy RPGs, I gotta say part of the problem is how they're designed vs how players want to play them, generally speaking. Most players when they are presented with a comedy RPG think it's time to be stupid, force the "humor," and generally cut loose. Which generally destroys the actual funny bits. There's a rule in improv where you're not supposed to try to force the humor. The comedy will come naturally from the premise, the game, the setup, etc. You trying to force the jokes is just going to wreck the scene. Let things flow naturally and the funny bits will pop. Most gamers fall into this same trap. The trick is to design the game mechanics to produce comedy while the players don't have to be inherently funny themselves. If they just play the game, comedy happens. It's the difference between a truly funny game of [I]Paranoia[/I]...and the absolute shambles that is zap play. It's the trying to force things that kills it dead. Thankfully, comedy RPG designers have started to figure this out. The upcoming [I]Monty Python's Cocurricular Mediaeval Reenactment Programme[/I] even has a callout box just for this. It's paradoxical, but [I]play it straight and the comedy will flow[/I]. # There's some [I]fascinating[/I] reading on the topic: [URL unfurl="true"]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theories_of_humor[/URL] [/QUOTE]
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