When I taught film and theater, we spent considerable time evaluating, writing, and producing laughs using the “7 Causes of Laughter.” (You can find other sites and sources that will tell you there are six, or ten. I chose seven because it’s a nice even number.) Every list includes Exaggeration, Ambiguity, Recognition, and every junior high boy’s favorite, the Protection Factor or Slapstick. The latter outlines why a kick to the groin entertains those middle schoolers. I’ve recently discovered that, by middle age, it’s less funny. Dave Barry includes these tricks and more in his writing. The passage below touches on an “Incongruity,” in this case an irrelevant point in the middle of an intense moment, and it made me chuckle.
I’ve been looking for some funny books of late–the kind that make you laugh out loud. They’re hard to come by. It takes more time to set-up the joke in literature than it does with quick visuals or physical humor seen in film and television. Many of us remember Dave Barry’s humor from the 90s and 2000s, so I thought I’d read a couple of his novels . . . and there were definitely some laughs! You can learn more about Barry and his writing in GoodReads. And if you know of any books that made you laugh out loud, let me know!
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