What's so Funny?

I've been reading a book, The Practical Philosophy, by Rev. R.L. Dabney, a 19th century theologian and philosopher.

This book tackles many subjects that we encounter in daily life: value of feelings, nature of beauty, nature of man, morality, etc. In one section he discusses wit and humor. In other words, what makes something funny? We all know when to laugh at something, but have you ever thought of why it's funny? In a time when the world is not a very humorous place, I thought I would share this with you. This is an excerpt from chapter 4:

The explanation of the witty upon which the best writers agree is, that it is a vivid and pleasurable feeling, arising instinctively upon the unforeseen and sudden perception of an apt, but new, correspondency of ideas, otherwise regarded as irrelevant the one to the other. I think that our consciousness evidently sanctions this account of the matter. Let us examine as many as we please of the witticisms at which we are instinctively amused: we shall find this to be the common element and the essential one: that between two ideas which we should have judged disconnected and irrelevant, the speaker has flashed upon us a relation, unperceived before, yet possessing an aptitude or fitness....

[Similarly] that while the element prominent in the witty thought is the sudden and unexpected display of resemblance between ideas, the chief characteristic of humor is, that it is the sudden and unexpected recognition of incongruity between the ideas brought together.

I think that's pretty cool and I think he's right. I'll give an example from the show, Friends, and see how well his definition explains why this scene is funny:

In one episode, Monica (I think) finds an old video tape and plays it. The videotape flashes back to when Monica and Rachel were going to their senior prom and were waiting for their boyfriends to show up. Monica's dad is manning the video recorder and he pivots to show Monica coming out of the kitchen. While thin now, back then Monica weighed about 200 pounds. When Chandler sees her on the tape, he makes a comment about her weight, to which Monica responds, "Oh c'mon, they say the camera adds about 10 pounds." To which Chandler replies, "Oh yeah, well how many cameras are on you?"

That's funny. There is that unexpected application of the connection between how someone appears heavier on camera. The way Chandler is using it is unexpected and the humor comes because of the contradiction between the ideas brought together.

As you watch TV or listen to the radio, see how Dabney's definitions of wit and humor hold up.

And don't forget to laugh.