Humor Rules

A few random notes to remember from Scott Adams' podcast about humor:

Adams discussed what he called the 2 of 6 rule. The idea is that there are 6 elements to make something funny. For something to then be funny, it needs to have at least 2 of the elements. If it has even more, that's better. An excellent comedian will be able to hit 3 points. A 4 of 6 is rare. The elements are:

• Mean
• Bizarre
• Clever
• Naughty
• Recognizable
• Cute

That's why a sitcom will always have a small child or pet, since that adds an element of cute. Adams plays with Dilbert in the recognizable realm. When he has Dogbert (cute dog wagging his little tail) say something mean, that puts him at a 3 before he has even decided on the joke.

Some corollary principles have to be considered as well.

One is that about 30% of the public has no sense of humor. They won't know a joke even if it has 5/6 elements in it.

He also discusses punching up vs. punching down. The idea is that if someone is in some type of power situation, a joke is less funny and possibly offensive for the higher power person punching down at the people below them. He discussed a few examples of Donald Trump and things he said while on the campaign trail, which now seem like he was punching down, but at the time when he was yet unelected, he was punching up. Punching up makes it more funny, because you're getting back at The Man.

Another principle is that the funnier a joke is, the more you can get away with. I think of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. I think at some point they hit all 6 points, even if not all at the same time. There are some pretty raunchy things in there that they get away with, because the rest of it is so funny.

The final principle is what he calls the Uncanny Valley. This is where if you have something that is artificial, but obviously artificial, it can come across as cute - most of the droids in Star Wars fall in this category - BB-8 is cute, because it is nothing like a living thing. But if something artificial is almost realistic but not quite, it becomes disgusting or creepy. Think here of staying at a family member's house and waking up in the middle of the night and seeing a row of dolls staring back at you. Almost realistic, and very creepy! I think the main reason for this principle is that if you're going for cute, make sure you don't cross the line into creepily almost-realistic.

Next time you need to make up a joke, grab as many of the principles as you can, make sure you punch up, and don't be creepy.