Anti-humor

Examples

The yarn, also called a shaggy dog story, is a type of anti-humor that involves telling an extremely long joke with an intricate (and sometimes grisly) back story and surreal or repetitive plotline, before ending the story with either a weak spoonerism, or abruptly stopping with no real punchline at all, or no soap radio.

The obvious punchline involves narratives that are structured like a traditional joke including a set-up and punchline, but whose punchline is the most obvious to the narrative. Some examples of this would be the Why did the chicken cross the road? and the "What did the farmer say/do" set of jokes, which include various situations where the joke teller asks the listener what the farmer did in any given situation:

:A: What did the farmer say when he lost his tractor? :B: I don't know, what did the farmer say when he lost his tractor? :A: "Where's my tractor?"

:A: What did one lawyer say to the other lawyer? :B: I don't know, what did they say? :A: "We're both lawyers!"

In stand-up comedy

Alternative comedy, among its other aspects, parodies the traditional idea of the joke as a form of humor. Anti-humor jokes are also often associated with deliberately bad stand-up comedians. Stand-up comedian Andy Kaufman had his own unique brand of anti-humor, quasi-surrealist acts coupled with performance art; one of his best-known manifestations of this was his act as the fictional persona of Tony Clifton, an untalented lounge lizard entertainer. Norm Macdonald was another comedian sometimes associated with performing anti-humor, although he objected to the characterization.

References

References

1. [[Warren A. Shibles]], [http://facstaff.uww.edu/shiblesw/humorbook/ Humor Reference Guide: A Comprehensive Classification and Analysis] {{webarchive. link. (September 28, 2007 (Hardcover) 1998 {{ISBN). 0-8093-2097-5
2. John Henderson, "Writing Down Rome: Satire, Comedy, and Other Offences in Latin Poetry" (1999) {{ISBN
3. Nachman, Steven R.. (1982). "Anti-Humor: Why the Grand Sorcerer Wags His Penis". Ethos.
4. Lewis, Paul. (1986). "Painful Laughter: The Collapse of Humor in Woody Allen's "Stardust Memories"". Studies in American Jewish Literature (1981-).
5. Andrew Stott (2005) "Comedy", {{ISBN
6. Seibold, Witney. (2024-01-25). "How Andy Kaufman's Alter Ego Almost Took Down Taxi".
7. (May 12, 2014). "Norm Macdonald: 'Worthless' anti-comedy 'is for the weak and cowardly'". Twitchy Entertainment.
8. (August 31, 2018). "Norm Macdonald, Still in Search of the Perfect Joke". The New York Times.