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How to be funny : parody, prank, passion and play in the comic techniques of Ridiculusmus Theatre Company

Woods, David William (2005) How to be funny : parody, prank, passion and play in the comic techniques of Ridiculusmus Theatre Company. Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) thesis, University of Kent. (doi:10.22024/UniKent/01.02.94737) (KAR id:94737)

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https://doi.org/10.22024/UniKent/01.02.94737

Abstract

An analysis of the essential elements of comic performance using a practice based research project called How To Be Funny.

For centuries the greatest philosophers, scientists and psychologists have attempted to define humour. Plato began rather negatively with the Superiority Theory, Kant and others claimed all comedy was incongruity whilst Freud declared relief to be the unifying factor in humour. True to academic bent the different camps and their followers take it in turns to knock each other's theories down finding examples that don’t fit (a snake in a fridge is incongruous but not funny for example). I attempted the opposite and sought to find a unifying and universal solution.

The result of the research - a thirty five second practical performative demonstration, involves the deflation of a balloon, a duck caller and a rubber wind bag in the act of sitting down three times. It is at once incongruous, superioritizing and a metaphorical and actual relief in the golden harmonic form of a three line gag and reveals that all comedy is deflation.

The practical work was used to examine the comic elements of the extant methodology of theatre company Ridiculusmus, the principles that underpin it and how these are deployed in the company’s comedy in general.

The findings are then extrapolated to universal principles necessary for the pursuit of successful comic performance:

There is functional humour and memorable humour - a successful creator of memorable humour needs to lead a life rich in aspirations that will produce enough deflatory failures to regale and entertain others with. They must be prepared to inflate and deflate themselves over and over again on the sacrificial altar of audience mirth. Nothing is fixed in comedy. Whatever one person finds funny another does not. It is easy to become distracted by fripperies - microphone technique, formula jokes - the pull back and reveal, call back, rhythm, and timing - and by misleadingly close, but distinct areas of study - laughter, tickling and glee. To discover the secret of comedy one needs to find its soul, the essential essence at its core. The aspiring creator of memorable humour needs to realize their unique vision and arrange a soulful communion with their audience that creates a sensus communis from which inspiration can be taken.

The thesis, which includes a CD Rom of the performance piece with critical commentary and analysis, reflects the structure and working method behind the performance and is expressed in the form of a long - winded joke that playfully mocks itself whilst divulging useful knowledge in a deductive manner.

Item Type: Thesis (Doctor of Philosophy (PhD))
DOI/Identification number: 10.22024/UniKent/01.02.94737
Additional information: This thesis has been digitised by EThOS, the British Library digitisation service, for purposes of preservation and dissemination. It was uploaded to KAR on 25 April 2022 in order to hold its content and record within University of Kent systems. It is available Open Access using a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-commercial, No Derivatives (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) licence so that the thesis and its author, can benefit from opportunities for increased readership and citation. This was done in line with University of Kent policies (https://www.kent.ac.uk/is/strategy/docs/Kent%20Open%20Access%20policy.pdf). If you feel that your rights are compromised by open access to this thesis, or if you would like more information about its availability, please contact us at ResearchSupport@kent.ac.uk and we will seriously consider your claim under the terms of our Take-Down Policy (https://www.kent.ac.uk/is/regulations/library/kar-take-down-policy.html).
Uncontrolled keywords: Comedy
Subjects: P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1969.C65 Comedy acts. Stand-up comedy
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Arts
SWORD Depositor: SWORD Copy
Depositing User: SWORD Copy
Date Deposited: 21 Nov 2022 10:14 UTC
Last Modified: 22 Nov 2022 09:22 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/94737 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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