Absurd Comedy – Where Off The Rails Is Right On
Images via decasp.com
Images via decasp.com
Kenny B is the editor of a new comedy site Decasp.com that tries to capture the spirit of absurd and surreal comedy. Kenny contributed this piece on absurdity in modern comedy as a guest author.
So what the heck is absurd comedy?
Let’s take a short quiz.
What’s the difference between Rodney Dangerfield and Steven Wright?
A: About 40 pounds B: The Lark
If you answered B, I’m sorry. Addiction is a disease and you may have it. An addiction to absurd comedy that is. And let me tell you, once you have it, it’s hard to shake.
At a young age I became addicted, maybe like you, to Monty Python. Let’s be honest, we also liked the occasional naked women. But the real attraction was the shear absurdity of it. Imagine two quaint old ladies watching television when one says “There’s a penguin on the telly.” “A what?” “A bloody penguin, roight there on the telly.” From there they engage in a heated discussion about where it came from, if it’ll lay an egg, and how lions are tagged in zoos. I won’t give it away, but the skit ends in a boom. Pure absurdity. And part of what makes this skit so absurd is that it’s actually quite ordinary.
Comedy, new or old, has always had a contrast between being straight-ahead and being absurd. Charlie Chaplin was ha-ha funny, but Buster Keaton was absurd. Edgar Bergen and Bob Hope were funny in their day, but W.C. Fields had that intangible something in his skits that put them beyond ordinary gags. And if you listen to Bergen or Hope nowadays, their humor is kind of stale. W.C. on the other hand still holds up because it wasn’t tied to a time period. The essence of his humor wasn’t dated.
Search for ‘WC Fields Carl LaFong’ on YouTube, and you’ll find:
Well-dressed fella calling up to WC on the porch of his third story apartment: “Do you know a Carl LaFong? Capital L, small a, capital F, small o, small n, small g, LaFong, Carl LaFong.”
WC: “No I don’t know a Carl LaFong, capital L, small a, capital F, small o, small n, small g. And if I did know Carl LaFong I wouldn’t admit it.” More pure absurdity. And again, perfectly mundane in every other regard.
Take these one-liners from two of my favorite comedians.
Rodney Dangerfield (RIP): “In my house the dog begs for Alka-Seltzer.”
Steven Wright: “The other day I bought a cordless extension cord.”
What makes Wright’s line absurd and Rodney’s “merely” funny? Honestly, I don’t have a magic formula other than maybe on one level Rodney’s makes sense, and Steven’s doesn’t. And yet a cordless extension cord is on another level, one that’s definitely out there and makes enough sense to make us laugh. Perhaps it’s like the saying about pornography: “I can’t define it, but I know it when I see it”.
Now I’m not saying absurd comedy is better than straight-ahead. If I were being sent to a desert island and had to decide on one album between each type, like Buridan’s Ass (google it) I’d probably starve to death. Come to think of it, I’d take a Jonathan Winters album; he’s a perfect mix of both types in one nut.
Who represents absurdism in today’s comedy scene? Other than the Monty Python gang themselves who are still somewhat active, the person who comes to my mind first is Zach Galifianakis. As he says, he’s fat, not p-h-a-t fat, but fffattt fat. Then there’s Steven Wright of course. Once while waiting at a red light, Steven stuck his head out the car window to pose for a satellite picture. And in movies, Adam Sandler for one. Remember the black toe scene in Deeds? Or the giant penguins in Billy Madison and Happy Gilmore? Nuts. Better yet, Will Ferrell, especially Anchorman 2. Remember the burial scene where Brick Tamland gives his own eulogy? Or the recreational vehicle scene, complete with scorpions and chimis? Really the entire movie is one long stroke of absurd brilliance.
When it comes to this type of absurd humor online, there just aren’t many sites out there. There’s The Oatmeal of course, and MAD Magazine online, sort of. There are several straight-ahead humor sites, but they tend to be overly political or sexual. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but sometimes we just want humor without the controversy. A respite if you will. And that’s where my site comes in.
So hopefully you have a little better idea, if not by explanation, at least by example, of what absurd comedy is. I’ll leave you with one final thought: Albatross For Sale! (google it)
Kenny B is the Founder and Editor of the comedy site Decasp.com as well as the serious literary site SPANK the CARP.
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