In the book, Comedy after Postmodernism: Rereading Comedy from Edward Lear
to Charles Willeford (2001), Kirby Olsen attempts to articulate the rapport between the
genre of comedy and Postmodernism. Olsen explains
Comedy by definition requires stable referents, norms against which behaviors may be deemed humorous. In the absence
of such norms, it is impossible to define comedy. Some comics responded by
becoming metacomedians whose performances took the
impossibility of being a comedian in the postmodern world as their subject. (107)
Olsen's thesis that comedy is not longer able to be defined in the Postmodern moment due
to the destabilization of norms and normal modes of signification is an important one to
which novels like Joseph Heller's Catch-22 are a testament. A war novel without a clear
moral compass, bedlam (one of the text's most frequently used terms) becomes the new
norm, both to the readers delight and horror. In Catch-22 deconstructs established mores
and leaves ambiguity in its stead. "Insanity is contagious" (22) and during a war, everyone is
insane. But I do not think that Catch-22's humor is as much inane as hopeless. Its zaniness
is rooted in despair when confronting an existential lack of meaning, much like the complex
absurdity of Kafka's laws and insurmountable bureaucracies.
Gallows Humor is a variation of black humor (not the ethnic "Black humor" of Tyler Perry
or the Brothers Wayans) which strengthens the morale of the oppressed person even while
he or she is confronted by an insurmountable or dire situation. A good example of this kind
of humor might be the dubious last words of Oscar Wilde who reportedly asserted from his
deathbed "either those curtains go or I do."Here is an example from a page that I have
found indispensable to my understanding of Gallows Humor which provides a panoply of
examples from all
varieties of media, http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GallowsHumor.
This joke involves two German soldiers near the close of WWII:
Eins: I was thinking, after the war ends I will go for a walk around the perimeter of the
Greater German Empire.
Zwei: Oh? And what are you planning to do in the afternoon?
Told by Germans faced with the inevitable fall of the Reich the tellers would confront the
ineluctability of an undesirable socio-political situation with humor; however, if told by an
American the joke becomes an example of Aristotle's "Inferiority Theory" of humor in which
humor is used to deride the other.
Anyway, for this week, please post an example of "Gallows Humor" in which the joke reveals
a hopeless, morbid, or otherwise undeniable truth.
A woman goes away on vacation and has her brother watch her cat. On the second day, when she calls her brother to see how things are going he tells her that the cat is dead.
ReplyDeleteThe woman immediately goes into hysterics, really upset and says, "You can't tell a person bad news like that. The first day, you should have said that Fluffy was stuck on the roof and couldn't get down. The second day, you could have said that she had fallen, but the vet said she would be ok. The third day you could have said that she died from complications."
The next day the brother calls the woman up and says, "I have news." "What?" "Grandma is stuck on the roof and can't get down ..."
A 10 pm curfew was imposed in Baghdad.
ReplyDeleteEverybody had to be off the streets or risk being shot. However, one citizen was shot at 9.45pm.
"Why did you do that?" the soldier was asked by his superior officer.
"I know where he lives," the soldier replied, "and he wouldn't have made it."
J. P. Buttafucco, the tomato millionaire, died and went to hell. Upon his arrival, an assistant demon took him on a tour of the four rooms in which he could spend eternity.
ReplyDeleteThe first room was full of men standing on their heads on a brick floor.
J. P. decided against this one.
The second room was full of men standing on their heads on a wooden floor. J. P. thought this one looked better, but decided to see the other two rooms before making a choice.
The third room was full of men standing on their heads on mattresses. This looked more promising, but J. P. still wanted to see the last room.
The fourth room was full of men standing knee deep in raw sewage and drinking coffee. J. P. thought that the stuff that they were standing in was disgusting, but he decided on this room because of the coffee.
No sooner had the door closed and locked behind him when another assistant demon called out, "All right, coffee break's over. Everyone go back to standing on your head."
An Englishman, Irishman and a Scotsman apply to join MI6
ReplyDeleteThe Englishman comes in for his interview and it goes really well, he has a glowing record in the Army and is a perfect fit for the job.
At the end the interviewer asks him "Who do you love more, your country or your wife?"
The Englishman replies "My country of course!"
"OK" says the interviewer, "go through to the next room and shoot your wife" and he hands the Englishman a 9mm pistol.
The Englishman takes the pistol and walks through to the next room, lo and behold is wife is there sitting at a table.
He thinks back to all the years he has been married, how she has stuck with him through thick and thin throughout his military career. He goes back to the interviewer and hands over the gun, "I cannot do it, I love her too much".
The Scotsman comes in for his interview and it goes brilliantly, he has an amazing record in the Navy and is a perfect fit for the job.
At the end the interviewer asks him "Who do you love more, your country or your wife?"
The Scotsman replies "My country of course!"
"OK" says the interviewer, "go through to the next room and shoot your wife" and he hands the Scotsman a 9mm pistol.
The Scotsman takes the pistol and walks through to the next room, lo and behold is wife is there sitting at a table.
He thinks back to all the years she has stuck by him, on long deployments in the Navy, she has always been there for him when he returns. He goes back to the interviewer and hands over the gun, "I cannot do it, I love her too much".
The Englishman and the Scotsman are in the waiting room and they see the Irishman go in for his interview. After a while they suddenly hear loud noises:
BANG! BANG! BANG!
a pause and then:
THUD! THUD! THUD! ... THUD!
A few seconds later the Irishman staggers out of the interview room covered in blood.
The Englishman ans Scotsman shout at him "WHAT HAPPENED?!"
The Irishman replies "Some idiot put blanks in the gun, so I beat her to death with the chair."
I've heard this joke told with the first two applicants being males but the third is a female and while the two men love their wives too much to kill them the wife goes out of her way to kill the husband which goes against the stereotype that the wife cares more than the husband in a marriage
DeleteA man is at work when he receives a call from the hospital informing him that his wife's been in an accident. He rushes to the emergency room where he's met by the doctor. They sit down in the waiting room and the doctor, with a very solemn look on his face, says:
ReplyDelete"Sir, I have very bad news. We did all we could. Right now she's in a vegatative state, which is likely where she'll remain for the rest of her life. She can stay here overnight, but after that, you'll have to take her home because your insurance doesn't cover this type of thing."
The guy slumps, just crushed.
The doctor continues: "With the right care, which will include you feeding her five times a day, changing her soiled diapers, and tending to her needs constantly, she'll likely live for at least another 30 years."
The guy sinks even lower, just crushed, and starts to cry.
Doctor: "As I said, your insurance doesn't cover this kind of care, so you'll have to make some sort of arrangements to purchase the equipment you'll need for your wife. I would suggest you put your house on the market today and sell it as quickly as possible and buy a mobile home. You're gonna need the excess cash. It should be enough to buy the equipment your wife needs and for you to live on for the next couple of months. By then, you should be able to qualify for welfare and other forms of state and federal aid."
By this point, the guy is sobbing uncontrollably.
At that point, the doctor puts his hand on the man's shoulder, and says, "Naaaah - I'm just fucking with you, she's dead."
Their is a wife standing in front of a mirror and she says to her husband "I am fat, old, wrinkled and no longer pretty." Will you give me a romantic complement. The husband replies "Your eyesight is still excellent".
ReplyDeleteNever say that to your wife, EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DeleteThe infamous pirate Captain Jim has just taken on some new recruits. That night the ship sits down to a rowdy dinner and the new recruits gather around Captain Jim to hear some of his tall tales.
ReplyDelete'Captain Jim, how did you get that peg leg?'
'Yarr, I was fightin cutlass to cutlass with Bluebeard hisself in the blackest midnight these seas have ever held. Suddenly I saw me opening and grabbed Bluebeard, and we both fell into the drink. As soon as we hit water a shark grabbed onto me leg and wouldn't let go; I had to kill the beast before I could swim over and cut Bluebeard's throat. I climbed back on the ship triumphant, but had lost a leg to the shark, leaving me with this peg leg.'
'Captain Jim, that's amazing! Can you tell us how you got that hook?'
'Yarr, we was raidin a settlement in the New World with nary a star to see by. When a bolt of lightnin lit the sky I found myself facing thirty men with pistols drawn. As soon as the dark returned I drew me sword and killed them all, save one, who, in the dark, cut off me hand and threw it to Davy Jones. I run him through and the settlement's booty was ours, but I'd lost a hand, and was left with the hook.'
'That's amazing, Captain Jim! Can you tell us how you got the eye patch?'
'A bird pooped in it.'
'... You lost your eye because a bird pooped in it, Captain Jim?'
'It was me first day with the hook.'
Jake was on his deathbed. His wife, Susan, was maintaining a vigil by his side.
ReplyDeleteHe looked up and his pale lips began to move slightly.
"My darling Susan," he whispered.
"Hush, my love," she said. "Rest. Don't talk."
He was insistent. "Susan," he said in his tired voice. "I have something I must confess to you."
"There's nothing to confess," replied the weeping Susan. "Everything's all right, go to sleep."
"No, no. I must die in peace, Susan. I slept with your sister, your best friend, and your mother."
"I know," she replied. "That's why I poisoned you."
I think this one is pretty funny. Although if she had poised him she shouldn't really be weeping for him. Still, this one is pretty clever.
DeleteAn elderly couple who were childhood sweethearts had married and settled down in their old neighborhood and are celebrating their sixtieth wedding anniversary. They walk down the street to their old school. There, they hold hands as they find the old desk they'd shared and where he had carved "I love you, Sally."
ReplyDeleteOn their way back home, a bag of money falls out of an armored car practically at their feet. She quickly picks it up, but they don't know what to do with it so they take it home. There, she counts the money, and it's fifty thousand dollars.
The husband says, "We've got to give it back."
She says, "Finders keepers." And she puts the money back in the bag and hides it up in their attic.
The next day, two FBI men are going door-to-door in the neighborhood looking for the money and show up at their home. They say, "Pardon me, but did either of you find any money that fell out of an armored car yesterday?"
She says, "No."
The husband says, "She's lying. She hid it up in the attic."
She says, "Don't believe him, he's getting senile."
But the agents sit the man down and begin to question him. One says, "Tell us the story from the beginning."
The old man says, "Well, when Sally and I were walking home from school yesterday . . . "
The FBI guy looks at his partner and says, "Let's get out of here."
A couple of New Jersey hunters are out in the woods when one of them falls to the ground. He doesn't seem to be breathing, his eyes are rolled back in his head. The other guy whips out his cell phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps to the operator: “My friend is dead! What can I do?” The operator, in a calm soothing voice says: “Just take it easy. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead.” There is a silence, then a shot is heard. The guy's voice comes back on the line. He says: “OK, now what?"
ReplyDeleteIt's Christmas morning. Billy and Timmy wake up at the crack of dawn, run down the hall to drag their parents out of bed, and fly down the stairs to the pile of presents around the tree.
ReplyDeleteWhen the dust settles, Billy has all these great presents: a video game system, a big-ass Nerf gun that shoots 8 different kinds of projectiles, one of those electric slot car tracks where the cars climb up the wall and go through loops. But then he notices that Timmy only got one present--a little Matchbox car, which he's pushing back and forth in the corner.
"Gee, Timmy," Billy says, "I guess I sure got more presents than you this year."
Timmy says, "Yeah, well at least I don't have cancer."
Join the Army! Travel to exotic, distant lands. Meet exciting, unusual people, and kill them.
ReplyDeleteFull Metal Jacke
where do you find a dog with no arms and no legs?
ReplyDelete...
where you left it.
i love the one about the dog with no arms and legs, it's such a great antijoke. the lack of a clever punchline and the fact that it is completely true and kind of sad is hilarious
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteA doctor is meeting with a patient who hadn't seen a physician in 20 years.
ReplyDeleteDoctor: "I just got your test results back, and unfortunately none of it is good news. In fact, you're suffering from two different very serious conditions."
Patient: "Well doc, tell me about the worst first, just to get it out of the way."
Doctor: "All right. You have a very advanced case of an incurable form of cancer. You have, at maximum, one month to live."
Patient: "Wow. That's pretty bad. So what's the other condition?"
Doctor: "You have a quite advanced case of Alzheimer's, with some severe neurological degeneration."
Patient: "Wow. That's pretty bad. But I guess I should be thankful; at least I don't have cancer!"
This joke is funny and sad. Its funny because he forgets the cancer but it is sad because some people get very sick in old age and this quote addresses that.
ReplyDeleteMom and Dad were trying to console Susie, whose dog, Skipper, had recently died.
ReplyDelete"You know," Mom said, "it's not so bad. Skipper's probably up in Heaven right now, having a grand old time with God."
Susie stopped crying and asked, "What would God want with a dead dog?"
A very old woman realizes that she's seen and done everything and the time has come to depart from this world. After considering various methods of doing away with herself, she decides to shoot herself through the heart.
ReplyDeleteNot wanting to make a mistake, she phones her doctor and asks him the exact location of the heart. He tells her that the heart is located two inches below the left nipple.
The old woman hangs up the phone, takes careful aim and shoots herself in the left knee.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteKawinthi- Enjoy
ReplyDeleteA Mexican, an Asian, and a Black person jump off a cliff to see who could hit the bottom first.
Who wins?
Society.
This joke is definitely funny as a piece of gallows humor, but it can also be viewed as a good politically incorrect joke too.
DeleteQ: What goes, "Clip clop clip clop clip clop clip clop BANG BANG clip clop clip clop clip clop..."
ReplyDeleteA: An Amish drive-by shooting.
A little morbid and possibly a comment on gun use?
In what ways would you consider this "a comment on gun use"? Morbidity is one of the defining characteristics of Gallows Humor, so kudos on the appropriateness of this joke.
DeleteOne day Stalin decides to walk among the streets of his soviet utopia to see what it is like among the people. He disguises himself as a commoner and walks the city until he happens upon a movie theater. Fond of movies Stalin takes a seat in the theater and waits for the film to begin. When the lights dim and the reel starts playing, a glorious homage praising the great leader comrade Stalin plays on the screen to precede the movie. The audience in the theater immediately stands up and begins cheering and applauding. Stalin smugly stayed seated bathing in the glory. A man standing next to him noticed that he was still seated and bent down to him. He quietly said "Listen comrade, none of us want to applaud this pig either but trust me when I say it will be worse for you if you don't."
ReplyDeleteI appreciate how this joke straddles the line between Black Humor and political comedy. Embedded in the joke is trenchant social commentary of a somewhat desperate nature. What might you say about how the joke functions?
DeleteThis is an oldie that comes from the height of Soviet/US tensions. While the joke is clearly charged with anti soviet sentiment it came from a time when people were becoming aware of the mass slaughter happening in Russia. The paranoia of Stalin was becoming apparent and his ruthless purging of anyone he deemed unfit was a source of dark humor for some.
Delete"First the doctor told me the good news: I was going to have a disease named after me."
ReplyDeleteIt's funny because having a disease named after you is somewhat of an honor, but also really sucks in itself since that means the disease is also unknown to the world and how to treat it.
A family is gathering at the breakfast table, a mother, a father, and two boys. The mother asks the oldest son " what can I get your for breakfast"?
ReplyDeleteThe boy responds "I'll have the fuckin French toast"
The mother gasps an smacks him square across the mouth, and the father takes off his belt and beats the boy almost limp. When the beat down is over he gets up and cries to his room.
The mother then looks at the younger boy and asks kindly and softly "what can I get you for breakfast"?
He responds "well I sure as hell don't want the fuckin French toast"!
Not sure if this is exactly gallows humor, but the second boy being dumb and the mother and father being upset over the use of the f word led to an eventual demise for both boys.
DeleteJake, I am not sure that this joke is dark enough to qualify for the distinction of "Gallows Humor," but perhaps that is a matter of perspective.
DeleteA driver was stuck in a traffic jam on the highway outside Washington, DC.
ReplyDeleteNothing was moving.
Suddenly, a man knocks on the window. The driver rolls down the window and asks, "What's going on?"
"Terrorists have kidnapped the entire US Congress, and they're asking for a $100 million dollar ransom. Otherwise, they are going to douse them all in gasoline and set them on fire.
We are going from car to car, collecting donations."
"How much is everyone giving, on an average?" the driver asks.
The man replies, "Roughly a gallon."
This joke is somewhat political, but it also definitely fits the gallows bit as well. It can be seen as offensive because of people joking about murdering hundreds of politicians, but its also funny because of its surprising punchline.
Makayla, I appreciate the trenchant political commentary of this joke that points to popular dissatisfaction with the Washington establishment. I am not sure it is stygian or desperate to count as "Gallows Humor," but perhaps.
DeleteBubba dies in a fire and his body is pretty badly burned. The morgue sends for his two best friends, Daryl and Gomer, to identify the body.
ReplyDeleteDaryl arrives first, and when the mortician pulls back the sheet, Daryl says, "Yup, his face is burnt up pretty bad. You better roll him over."
The mortician rolls him over, and Daryl says, "Nope, ain't Bubba."
The mortician thinks this is strange. Then he brings Gomer in to identify the body. Gomer takes a look at the face and says, "Yup, he's pretty well burnt up. Roll him over."
The mortician rolls him over and Gomer says, "No, it ain't Bubba."
The mortician asks, "How can you tell?"
Gomer said, "Well, Bubba had two a**holes."
"What? He had two a**holes?!" exclaims the mortician.
"Yup, every time we went to town, folks would say, 'Here comes Bubba with them two a**holes.'"
Two guys show up in Heaven at the same time. The first guy says he froze to death, and the second guy tells him that he died of a heart attack.
ReplyDelete"How did that happen?" asks the first guy.
"Well, I came home and thought I heard my wife with another man. But when I searched the house, I couldn't find anybody. I was so stricken with remorse for wrongly accusing my wife of infidelity, I had a heart attack and died on the spot."
"Geez," says the first guy. "If you'd opened the fridge, we'd both be alive right now."
I think this counts as gallows humor because both of the guys are dead. If its not its still pretty funny.
In light of the Boston Marathon bombing, Anthony Jeselnik tweeted, "There are some lines that just shouldn't be crossed today. Especially the finish line."
ReplyDeleteIt should be noted that he tweeted this the same day of the attack. I myself did not encounter this tweet until a couple years after the incident, so perhaps with time and distance, I was able to absorbed it more easily and find the humor in it. Jeselnik is known for his 'timely' tweets after a major national or world tragedy, often to mixed review. In his special "Thoughts and Prayers," which we viewed a portion of in class, he defends his tweets, saying they are not an attack on the victims. They are a commentary on and mockery of people who post messages of support on social media, offering their "thoughts and prayers" - which Jeselnik critiques as insincere and useless. I struggled whether or not to post this particular joke given its sensitive subject matter, but ultimately thought that there are interesting arguments that can be had around it - if a comedian can go too far or joke too soon etc. - it truly does make you consider which lines are acceptable to cross.
Here's a link to his defense:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FLGEr1zJYo
What's worse than finding a worm in you apple?
ReplyDeleteAIDS.
A woman goes into labor with her child. The doctor says that they have invented a new device to transfer pain of child birth to the Father. He asks If it is ok to use the new device. The couple agrees and so he turns the pain to the father to 10%. The man feels nothing. They then bump it up to 20%. He still feels nothing. They keep doing this until they have the machine up to 100%. The man still felt nothing so they go home happy, until they find the milkman dead on the porch.
ReplyDeleteI'm generally not a huge fan of gallows humor, I mostly respond with nervous laughter when I hear the joke. I did think this joke was an interesting take on the whole milkman joke trope because we find out the wife cheated on her husband by finding the milkman dead.
What did kermit the frog say at Jim Hensons funeral?
ReplyDeletenothing.
This is a quick joke but it gets the point across for anyone who knows the muppets. It is subtle but pretty dark when you think about it at the same time.
"Abner was seated at his wife's sickbed, weeping uncontrollably, when his wife, mustering the dregs of her strength, drew herself up to one elbow. 'Abner,' she whispered, 'Abner, I cannot go to my Maker without confessing my misdeed.' 'Not now,' muttered the stricken husband. 'Not now, my dear. Lie back and rest.' 'I cannot,' she cried. 'I must tell, or my soul will never know peace. I have been unfaithful to you, Abner. In this very house, not one month ago - ' 'Hush, dear,' soothed Abner. 'I know all about it. Why else have I poisoned you?' "
ReplyDeleteFrom Isaac Asimov's "Jokester"
This joke is smooth and brutal. It lures you in with an intimate deathed scene that appears to be a story of sorrow and reconciliation. Once the tables turn in the final lines, the tone quickly rapidly warps into one of lust and revenge. The wife's self-righteous apology squashed is what is funny about the husbands own revelation of murder, yet it calls attention to the stark reality of life as an often unromantic, cold world.