Self-referential humor

History

Old Comedy of Classical Athens is held to be the first—in the extant sources—form of self-referential comedy. Aristophanes, whose plays form the only remaining fragments of Old Comedy, used fantastical plots, grotesque and inhuman masks and status reversals of characters to slander prominent politicians and court his audience's approval.

Douglas Hofstadter wrote several books on the subject of self-reference;{{Citation | access-date = August 12, 2021}}

Meta-jokes

Examples Meta-jokes are a popular form of humor. They contain several somewhat different, but related categories: joke templates, class-referential jokes, self-referential jokes and jokes about jokes.

Joke template

This form of meta-joke is a sarcastic jab at the endless refitting of joke forms (often by professional comedians) to different circumstances or characters without a significant innovation in the humor.

—Bill Bailey}}

A finite number: one to perform the task and the remainder to act in a manner stereotypical of the group in question.}}

Class-referential jokes

This form of meta-joke contains a familiar class of [jokes as part of the joke. For example, here are a few subversions of the standard bar joke format:

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Self-referential jokes

Self-referential jokes refer to themselves rather than to larger classes of previous jokes.

|access-date=24 February 2021

Jokes about jokes

Marc Galanter, in the introduction to his book Lowering the Bar: Lawyer Jokes and Legal Culture, cites a meta-joke in a speech of Chief Justice William Rehnquist:

Stand-up comedian Mitch Hedberg would often follow up a joke with an admission that it was poorly told, or insist to the audience that "that joke was funnier than you acted."

The process of being a humorist is also the subject of meta-jokes; for example, on an episode of QI, Jimmy Carr made the comment, "When I told them I wanted to be a comedian, they laughed. Well, they're not laughing now!"— a joke previously associated with Bob Monkhouse.

Other examples

Fumblerules

Fumblerules are stylistic guidelines, presented such that the phrasing of the rule itself constitutes an infraction. For example, "Don't use no double negatives".

Limericks

A limerick referring to the anti-humor of limericks:

The limerick packs laughs anatomical Into space that is quite economical. But the good ones I've seen So seldom are clean And the clean ones so seldom are comical. W. S. Gilbert wrote one of the definitive "anti-limericks":

There was an old man of St. Bees, Who was stung in the arm by a wasp; When they asked, "Does it hurt?" He replied, "No, it doesn't, But I thought all the while 'twas a Hornet."}} Tom Stoppard's anti-limerick from Travesties:

A performative poet of Hibernia Rhymed himself into a hernia He became quite adept At this practice, except For the occasional non-sequitur.

A limerick about limericks:

A limerick's cleverly versed, The second line rhymes with the first; The third one is short, The fourth's the same sort And the last line is often the worst.

Metaparody

Metaparody is a form of humor or literary technique consisting "parodying the parody of the original", sometimes to the degree that the viewer is unclear as to which subtext is genuine and which subtext parodic. An example of a Metaparody would be the film "Scary Movie" which parodies the film "Scream" which is itself a parody.

RAS Syndrome

RAS syndrome is the redundant use of one or more of the words that make up an acronym or initialism with the abbreviation itself, thus in effect repeating one or more words. "RAS" stands for Redundant Acronym Syndrome and so RAS syndrome is self-referencing.

References

References

1. "Sentences about Self-Reference and Recurrence". .vo.lu.
2. Alan Hughes; ''Performing Greek Comedy'' (Cambridge, 2012)
3. [http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,15306761-16947,00.html "Stars turn to jokers for hire"]{{dead link. (March 2025)
4. Smid, J., & Zenker, F. (2015). Three logicians walk into a bar—a modest proposal for teaching epistemic logic . The Reasoner, 9(3). Retrieved from https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/thereasoner/article/view/24887
5. "Mitch Hedberg - Mitch All Together", CD [[Comedy Central]] (2003) ASIN B000X71NKQ
6. Deacon, Michael. (3 June 2015). "Modern comedy's unlikely hero: Bob Monkhouse".
7. Safire, William. "Fumblerules: a lighthearted guide to grammar and good usage." (1990).
8. Feinberg, Leonard. ''The Secret of Humor''. Rodopi, 1978. {{ISBN. 9789062033706. p102
9. Wells 1903, pp. xix-xxxiii.
10. [https://books.google.com/books?id=eKNK1YwHcQ4C&pg=PA683 Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia Of Literature - Google Boeken]
11. Creative Teaching: English in the Early Years and Primary Classroom. Chris Horner, Victoria Ryf. Routledge, 11 Jun 2007
12. (1989). "Rethinking Bakhtin: extensions and challenges". Northwestern University Press.
13. Marina Terkourafi. (23 September 2010). "The Languages of Global Hip Hop". [[Continuum International Publishing Group]].
14. Peter I. Barta. (2001). "Carnivalizing Difference: Bakhtin and the Other". Routledge.
15. Clothier, Gary. (8 November 2006). "Ask Mr. Know-It-All". The York Dispatch.
16. Newman, Stanley. (December 20, 2008). "Sushi by any other name". Windsor Star.
17. (2001-04-07). "Feedback". [[New Scientist]].