The gears of a clown.

• Author: Gehring, Wes D.
• Position: Reel World - Humor and comedy

HAVING WRITTEN 20 BOOKS about comedians and various comedy genres, I frequently am buttonholed about laughter. Yet, no one theory fits all funny situations. Through the years, though, I have managed to collect a menagerie of mirthful suggestions that might prove helpful, should you want to decipher your funny bone. Before starting, however, rest assured that whatever you may learn will in no way derail your future ability to laugh. I only mention this because I readily meet students who worry about becoming so analytical that they will stop enjoying comedy.

If anything, you just might begin to appreciate a broader range of the genre. Ironically, humorists themselves often back away from dissecting laughter, afraid they will kill their golden goose. Thus, one of America's great wits, Robert Benchley, was charmingly vague in his case against comedy interpretation: "In order to laugh at something, it is necessary (1) to know what you are laughing at, (2) to know why you are laughing, (3) to ask some people why they think you are laughing, (4) to jot down a few notes, [and] (5) to laugh. Even then, the thing may not be cleared up for days."

So, with apologies to Mr. Benchley, let us begin. History's oldest theory of comedy is that of superiority. We laugh at characters and/or situations to which we feel superior, from Laurel & Hardy to what the critics have dubbed the "moron masterpiece'--the Farrelly Brothers' "Dumb and Dumber" (1994). During my college years, Cheech & Chong made a series of movies, the best of which was "Up in Smoke" (1978), that both epitomized this technique yet suggested stoned stupidity could be a heck of a lot of fun.

Now, that was dumb

Obviously, we're covering a great deal of ground here. Indeed, even the most sophisticated slapstick is predicated upon the random dumb act, such as Irene Dunne giving her lover's hat (he's hiding in the bedroom) to husband Cary Grant as he is about to leave the apartment in "The Awful Truth" (1937). Suddenly, Grant's new derby comes down over his ears, and farce will fast become fisticuffs. The only down side to this theory is that, through time, some critics have confused the nature of superiority into suggesting comedy is a lesser genre of entertainment. Now, that's dumb.

A second truly ancient comedy dictum is that of surprise--some imaginative bit of mischief deftly pulls the laughter out of you. My favorite example would be the Marx Brothers' "mirror scene" in "Duck Soup" (1933)...