  Comedy
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Make the simple complex.
Make the complex simple.
Raise a  or two! |
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One of the most effective comic devices is contrast. The contrast between big and small, ancient and modern, petty and important, clumsy and agile. When these are forced together, it is in-congruent and often comic. Throw in the element of surprise and you've got a pretty good formula for a chuckle.
Today, I'm going to look at the contrast between simple and complicated. Often, comedy arises from simplifying what would have been complex or complicating what would have been simple. To coin words for these, I'm going to say we simplicate or complify.
Simplicate implies an unexpected easy solution to an otherwise complicated problem. It comes as a surprise which comes as a laugh.
Complify signifies unexpected twists and turns where a straight line would have sufficed. These show up as a series of surprises and raise a chuckle or two.
Examples from "Pippi Longstocking" by Astrid Lindgren (Puffin Books)
1. "Simplicate"
Pippi was a very remarkable child, and the most remarkable thing about her was her strength. She was so strong that in all the world there was no policeman as strong as she. She could have lifted a horse if she had wanted to, and there were times when she did want to. Pippi had bought a horse of her very own with one of her gold pieces the day she came home to Villekulla Cottage. She had always longed to have her very own horse, and now there was one living on her front porch. When Pippi wanted to take afternoon tea there, she simply lifted him out into the orchard without further ado.
The complications here are:-
1. Obtaining a horse: Simplicated - she conveniently has a gold coin to buy one with.
2. Lifting the horse: Simplicated - she is the strongest girl in the world.
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2. "Complify"
Outside Villekulla Cottage sat Pippi, Tommy and Annika. Pippi sat on one gatepost, Annika sat on the other gatepost, and Tommy sat on the gate. The townspeople liked to go for walks out Villekulla way, for it was there that the most beautiful surroundings lay.
While the children sat there eating pears, a girl came by on the road form the town. When she saw the children, she stopped and asked, 'Have you seen my father pass by?'
'I don't know,' said Pippi. 'What did he look like? Did he have blue eyes?'
'Yes,' said the girl.
'Black hat and black shoes?'
'Yes, exactly,' said the girl, eagerly.
'No, we haven't seen anyone like that,' said Pippi, definitely.
The girl looked disappointed and went on without a word.
'Ahoy there!' Pippi shouted after her. 'Was he bald?'
'No, not in the least,' said the girl angrily.
'That's a bit of good luck for him,' said Pippi.
The girl hurried on, but then Pippi yelled, 'Did he have uncommon big ears that reached all the way down to his shoulders?'
'No,' said the girl, and then turned about, astonished. 'You don't mean to say you've seen a man walk by with ears as big as that?'
'I've never seen anyone walk with his ears,' said Pippi. 'Everybody I know walks with his feet.'
'Oof, but you're silly, I mean have you really seen a man with ears that big?'
'No,' said Pippi. 'There isn't anybody with ears that big. Why, that would be absurd. How would it look? One simply can't have such big ears.'
The girl went on her way and didn't once turn around again. Pippi yelled after her, 'No, we haven't seen any bald men today. But yesterday seventeen of them went by, arm-in-arm!'
The simple question here required a simple answer ... instead Pippi complifies it and raises a laugh!
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Example from "Mr. Sampath - The Printer of Malgudi" by R. K. Narayan (Indian Thought Publications)
Complifying ... done simply!
Unless you had an expert knowledge of the locality you would not reach the offices of The Banner. The Market Road was the life-line of Malgudi, but it had a tendency to take abrupt turns and disrupt itself into side streets, which wove a network of crazy lanes behind the facade of buildings on the main road.
Kabir Lane was one such; if you took an inadvertant turn off the Market Road you entered it, though you might not if you intended to reach it. And then it split itself further into a first lane, a second lane, and so on; if you kept turning left and right you were suddenly assailed by the groans of the treadle in the Truth Printing Works; and from its top floor a stove-enamelled blue board shot over the street bearing the sign The Banner.
* * * * * * * * *
Thanks for reading, and giggle on!
- Sonali |
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werden 
I agree 90% 
Seriously, you made several good points and it is a sign of growth, maturity and true humor to laugh with someone instead of at them.
I agree that laughing at someone (in most cases) is really a sign of insecurity.
Good topic
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Elaine's Beary Limited*~ 
Really good newsletter. I enjoyed this. and will be back next week to read the next one. I enjoy comedy so much. It seems it makes a bad day just float when something makes you laugh. To laugh at someone is totally wrong. I couldn't give my kids the best when they were young and the other kids made fun of them. I raised them by myself and it was very hard just to have the esentials. We did fine though and I think my kids are stronger people for it. I know that they are nicer to others than they were to them.
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Maria Mize 
Immensely enjoyed your newsletter. Let's continue to laugh with one another so we all enjoy the fun.
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Annette 
A terrific and even tempered newsletter about the difference of laughing-at and laughing-with. I have a nine-year-old, who has such a hard time with that. Any fun poked his way is taken the wrong way and I am trying to teach him when a joke is really so funny and silly, that it shouldn't be taken personal. It is hard on all of us and I think just as joksters need to be mindful of whom they poke fun at and how they do it, those laughed (with) need to learn to recognize it. Nobody needs to accept being the butt of a demeaning joke and definitely not over and over again. Yet, a little good humor between friends keeps things alive.
An old Itchy and Scratchy show comes to mind. Itchy and Scratchy sit on the porch, drinking tea, being polite and just boring. All the kids run away and stop watching. As soon as Itchy and Scratchy go back to slugging it out the kids are back. The beauty of cartoon characters is their never-ending ability to forgive, forget and do the same thing over.
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spazmom
Fun newsletter, and true comments. No one likes to feel they are being laughed AT.
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Acme
Another top notch newsletter, Sonali. Sometimes I can't help laughing 'at' people instead of with them; mean old ladies falling into duck ponds after telling off kids; mean old ladies falling off the bus after shouting at the driver ... erm, basically, mean old ladies falling over.  Oh, and there's nothing funnier that a pie-in-da-face moment, no matter who is on the receiving end.
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Sneaked in on Oct. 1:
Acme 's feedback to the current issue:-
Yay! I love Pippi Longstocking. Ace examples of simplificatoring and complicaticastling 
Thanks, Acme!
... and from Katya the Poet
Great fun! Thanks for the...complification!
Thank you for the feedback! 
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Comedy: September 30, 2009 Issue [#3293]
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