Laughing at the System

It is impossible to tell what is going to be funny, humor is just too objective. A fact which science has yet to fully explain and critics have yet to grasp. At least if the universal hatred of prop comedians is anything to go by. There  are, of course, particular mechanisms and means by which to get an amused reaction. As reflected in the different kinds of humor. Three of the most common are ‘Sight Gags’, including the newly invented ‘Gross-Out’ humor; ‘Observational’, in which attention is drawn to an absurd element of everyday life and ‘Surreal’ in which humor is based on an odd situation or outcome. A lesser known form of humor that has been gaining in notice in the past few years is ‘Anti-Comedy’. Despite the name, Anti-Comedy is not the same as ‘anti-humor’ and practitioners of the form do try to be funny. The ‘comedy’ in Anti-Comedy refers to the tropes and structures that make up the traditional stand-up comedy set. There are those that experimented before. Lenny Bruce did his own thing, favouring monologues and riffs over the one-liners popular at the time. Eddie Izzard has tried to add a sense of off the cuff spontaneity, though each um and stumble is masterfully timed. The humor in Anti-Comedy derives from the surprise and discomfort that comes from willfully disrupting the assumed order. The current form coming mostly from the British Alternative scene in the 1990’s, Anti-Comedy is now starting to push the boundaries of what comedy can be.

Though he was around before the terms as invented, Andy Kaufman should be counted among the very first Anti-Comedians. This is after all, the person who came out on stage during a show and read The Great Gatsby in its entirety. He also once set up a bit in which he literally sits at a table and eats a bowl of ice cream with ‘this is the bit that got me thrown out of the Improv’. A set-up which implies a bit of filthy Blue humor in the style of Bruce or Richard Pryor. Also notable is what happened when Kaufman performed as the ‘musical guest’ on Saturday Night Live. Something that really needs to be seen to be believed.

Another early example are the comedy duo Fry & Laurie. Comprised of gleeful brain-box Stephen Fry and muttering musical genius Hugh Laurie, their short-lived sketch show, A Bit of Fry & Laurie, really is a thing to behold. Some of the sketches are fairly ordinary but others come so far out of left field that no one could see them coming. Though you never knew which one you were going to get. There are, for example, sketches with surprise endings. Then there are also sketches with no ending at all. They will literally stop in the middle of a scene and one will say to the other ‘you haven’t really thought this through have you?’

One of the first modern Anti-Comedians is the British Alternative stand-up Stewart Lee. Coming of age in the experimental 1970’s, it was not long before Lee was taking risks of his own. One of the first indications there is something different going on is Lee’s delivery. Soft but not whispered and calm but stopping short of deadpan, it is a comic delivery that makes the listener acutely  aware that it is a delivery. He also plays with language and the very meaning of words and terms. One of his more straight-forward jokes involves him making a reference to where he was on 9/11 2001, quickly clarifying that he means November 9th. More recently, Lee has gotten even more into the form not even trying to do a traditional show anymore. One of the first indications things were changing was the introduction of the ‘coffee-card joke’. In it the house lights go down, Lee is announced, the stage lights come on and Lee makes his entrance. He then starts a joke about a coffee-chain loyalty card, hitting many obstacles along the way. Eventually he walks off-stage.  Stage lights go down, house lights come up. Then the house lights go down, Lee is announced again, the stage lights come back up and Lee re-enters and does the joke all the way through without a hitch.

While it is not their primary mode there are elements in Anti-Comedy in the work of both Demitri Martin and Jim Gaffigan. On of the things setting Martin apart is that he often plays an instrument during his spoken bits. This is almost in heard of in comedy. Vast majority of musicians, whether they are primarily musical or not, either speak without an instrument or sing while playing an instrument. Martin speaks while playing an instrument. The closest thing to this in the past is when Bruce had musicians back him up on his piece ‘To Is A Preposition, Come Is A Verb’. An effect later used by Mitch Hedberg when he had a Jazz band back him up on one of his live comedy albums. Though in both these cases the music was played by separate performers and was in a distinctly Jazz style, adding an element of Beat poetry. Something that works with the style of both comedians. Martin plays an instrument while he speaks and the music is more in the Folk or Rock vein, standing  in stark opposition to what he is saying.

Gaffigan takes a similar tack to Lee, particularly in terms of his delivery, on of the most famous aspects of his style being his ‘inside’ voice. A soft, almost creepy tone Gaffigan adopts, usually in the middle of a bit that serves as a sort of inner commentary about what is going on. A sense also come up in his book Food: A Love Story. Despite the humorous title and cover image, not to mention Gaffigan’s, reputation after his publishing debut Dad Is Fat, the book is a fairly straight-forward account of Gaffigan’s life-long interest in food. An interest hinted at by the photo on the back cover of the hard-cover edition showing Gaffigan in full Hemingway mode.

It is also possible to take part in Anti-Comedy without needing to say anything at all. As demonstrated by the mysterious figure known a The Boy With Tape On His Face or simply Tape Face. Convention would dictate that there should be some sort of description of Tape Face and his act. Though, as hopefully has been demonstrated, convention is not always the best guide.