Before bendy bananas it was the loony left with baa baa green sheep. Thing is that the humour in this genre is intended to ridicule and not just to be engaging.
There's a gaslighting element, written on the face of Littlejohn's shtick - 'you couldn't make it up' (said of something you've just made up).
But this approach also makes a virtue out of implausibly extreme allegations by making them, specifically, implausibly ridiculous. So they become memorable and useful to repeat in the pub that evening in lieu of wit.
Those factors along with the inherent humour of the ridiculous help to cancel, divert or override the reader's bullshit detection faculties.
I thought the Ealing Comedies were full of chortles to skewer someone or something. But they were comedy films for entertainment, not IRL. The "Yes, Minister" and "Yes, Prime Minster" tv series had lots of chortles mixed in with the sometimes very satirical humor.
Its creator (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_Jay) admitted at one point it was a vehicle in particular for promoting so-called Public Choice Theory (see 1st link, to YM wiki).
Some are great at breaking mental blocks. Some are intended to reinforce pre-existing blocks. Like anything else in language, it depends on how you use it, and what for.
Am not a Brit, so I might not always get the context in which your jokes land, and I might miss that some are jokes at all.
I used to write newspaper columns in my small USA town, some (allegedly) funny and some not. I realized that if I didn't make the first paragraph interesting, nobody would read the rest of what I had to say. Plus, a little sweetness helps the medicine go down.
Now, some topics just don't seem suitable for joking. We might disagree on which those topics are.
You tell me: the Chris Rock joke on SNL, about the ambush of the health care exec: "Sometimes, drug dealers get shot." Which side of the funny/offensive line was that on?
One side of life is comedy, the other, tragedy. Sometimes you are angry, and then the jokes are more bitter, or biting. Puncturing a balloon, or ripping a mask off. That old "speak truth to power" thing. You can't be a comedian without being a moralist, and there also needs to be a morality to comedy.
Joking can be a tactic, where you don't make a frontal assault on your opponent, both for practical and moral reasons. Am thinking of Aikido as an example, from the martial arts.
I would offer Scottish film director Bill Forsyth ("Local Hero," "Comfort and Joy") as an example of perfect comedic pitch. Being funny without putting people down. Recognizing the absurdity in the human condition. In other words: being a sane person, with a heart, seeing the world whole. And boy, did he figure out that Iceland banking collapse before it even happened. Where the morality goes, the money is sure to follow! Or, vice versa...
Remember: realism and cynicism are next door neighbors. Sometimes, in the dark, you might walk into the wrong house.
And: jokes are there to make points, not to substitute for points.
OK, I'm a Yank. Please, what is a "bendy banana?" Is that some kind of drink? Or were you just saying the PM was drunk again?
Is this a Mae West thing? You, get your mind out of the...
You can call me a banana as long as you spell my name right.
I can only imagine the newspaper headlines this must have been good for. The editor who came up with "Bendy Bananas" deserves a bonus.
It sure was fun to watch Boris "Kettle" Johnson calling the Euros and their Bananacrats "Black!"
From over here, this just proves how wise we were to separate from the mother country.
On the other hand, we have...the situation.
Tesla stock prices are falling to earth like Elon's exploding rockets; pieces of the bulletproof exterior of the mighty Cybertruck are coming off because the glue (!) holding them on couldn't handle cold weather; there was an unsigned letter from some Tesla lackey begging for relief from the new Trump tariffs, because: bad for (Tesla's) business.
On the up side, a whole day went by without Donald of Orange picking a new country to bully.
I think you're underrating the effect that humor can have to change things - the bendy banana led to Brexit, and Trump's success is a large part due to the fact that he is genuinely funny. Pofaced reports exist in their thousands are are never read by anyone of importance.
Oh yeah, they can be very effective - too effective, that's the point! Interesting question - can we think of any examples of a chortle having a positive effect?
I suspect it is instinctively reactionary, as it lends itself parodical oversimplification of the prosaic and procedural (which is often attempting to handle the complexities of the world with sensitivity).
Are we basically talking about canards here? Is the analysis something like: 1.anecdata, 2. distorted or confected, 3. feeds a stereotype or simple narrative, 4. entertainingly ridiculous?
Can't think of one offhand - David Cameron fucking a pig's head came to mind, but doesn't really work.
One problem is identifying some positive effects for them to have had...
The phrase "sinking giggling into the sea" comes to mind.
https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v35/n14/jonathan-coe/sinking-giggling-into-the-sea
Before bendy bananas it was the loony left with baa baa green sheep. Thing is that the humour in this genre is intended to ridicule and not just to be engaging.
There's a gaslighting element, written on the face of Littlejohn's shtick - 'you couldn't make it up' (said of something you've just made up).
But this approach also makes a virtue out of implausibly extreme allegations by making them, specifically, implausibly ridiculous. So they become memorable and useful to repeat in the pub that evening in lieu of wit.
Those factors along with the inherent humour of the ridiculous help to cancel, divert or override the reader's bullshit detection faculties.
I thought the Ealing Comedies were full of chortles to skewer someone or something. But they were comedy films for entertainment, not IRL. The "Yes, Minister" and "Yes, Prime Minster" tv series had lots of chortles mixed in with the sometimes very satirical humor.
Probably worth pointing out, for anyone not aware, that YM/YPM was straight-up Thatcherite propaganda https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yes_Minister#Production
Its creator (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antony_Jay) admitted at one point it was a vehicle in particular for promoting so-called Public Choice Theory (see 1st link, to YM wiki).
There's jokes...and there's jokes.
Some are great at breaking mental blocks. Some are intended to reinforce pre-existing blocks. Like anything else in language, it depends on how you use it, and what for.
Am not a Brit, so I might not always get the context in which your jokes land, and I might miss that some are jokes at all.
I used to write newspaper columns in my small USA town, some (allegedly) funny and some not. I realized that if I didn't make the first paragraph interesting, nobody would read the rest of what I had to say. Plus, a little sweetness helps the medicine go down.
Now, some topics just don't seem suitable for joking. We might disagree on which those topics are.
You tell me: the Chris Rock joke on SNL, about the ambush of the health care exec: "Sometimes, drug dealers get shot." Which side of the funny/offensive line was that on?
One side of life is comedy, the other, tragedy. Sometimes you are angry, and then the jokes are more bitter, or biting. Puncturing a balloon, or ripping a mask off. That old "speak truth to power" thing. You can't be a comedian without being a moralist, and there also needs to be a morality to comedy.
Joking can be a tactic, where you don't make a frontal assault on your opponent, both for practical and moral reasons. Am thinking of Aikido as an example, from the martial arts.
I would offer Scottish film director Bill Forsyth ("Local Hero," "Comfort and Joy") as an example of perfect comedic pitch. Being funny without putting people down. Recognizing the absurdity in the human condition. In other words: being a sane person, with a heart, seeing the world whole. And boy, did he figure out that Iceland banking collapse before it even happened. Where the morality goes, the money is sure to follow! Or, vice versa...
Remember: realism and cynicism are next door neighbors. Sometimes, in the dark, you might walk into the wrong house.
And: jokes are there to make points, not to substitute for points.
OK, I'm a Yank. Please, what is a "bendy banana?" Is that some kind of drink? Or were you just saying the PM was drunk again?
Is this a Mae West thing? You, get your mind out of the...
You can call me a banana as long as you spell my name right.
"bendy bananas" and Brexit, https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/bendy-bananas-brexit-uk-eu-wholesale-law-b1080806.html
Thanks for re-floating my banana boat.
I can only imagine the newspaper headlines this must have been good for. The editor who came up with "Bendy Bananas" deserves a bonus.
It sure was fun to watch Boris "Kettle" Johnson calling the Euros and their Bananacrats "Black!"
From over here, this just proves how wise we were to separate from the mother country.
On the other hand, we have...the situation.
Tesla stock prices are falling to earth like Elon's exploding rockets; pieces of the bulletproof exterior of the mighty Cybertruck are coming off because the glue (!) holding them on couldn't handle cold weather; there was an unsigned letter from some Tesla lackey begging for relief from the new Trump tariffs, because: bad for (Tesla's) business.
On the up side, a whole day went by without Donald of Orange picking a new country to bully.
Absurdity is as absurdity does.
Hang on. Bats from the Sheephouse Wood Bat Shed have been used to test how far cricket balls go? #chortle
LIFETIME BAN
Bought the paperback yesterday. Was given prominent place in the Piccadilly Waterstones. Can’t wait to get stuck in
I think you're underrating the effect that humor can have to change things - the bendy banana led to Brexit, and Trump's success is a large part due to the fact that he is genuinely funny. Pofaced reports exist in their thousands are are never read by anyone of importance.
Oh yeah, they can be very effective - too effective, that's the point! Interesting question - can we think of any examples of a chortle having a positive effect?
I suspect it is instinctively reactionary, as it lends itself parodical oversimplification of the prosaic and procedural (which is often attempting to handle the complexities of the world with sensitivity).
Are we basically talking about canards here? Is the analysis something like: 1.anecdata, 2. distorted or confected, 3. feeds a stereotype or simple narrative, 4. entertainingly ridiculous?
Can't think of one offhand - David Cameron fucking a pig's head came to mind, but doesn't really work.
One problem is identifying some positive effects for them to have had...