Comic DevicesThe Art of Laughter

What’s So Funny?

We can’t always explain why a piece of writing is funny. However, we do know that writers use certain comic devices to make us laugh.

Types of Comic Devices

Some commonly used comic devices are

•hyperbole

•understatement

•comic metaphors

•comic characters and situations

Hyperbole

Hyperbole is a figure of speech that uses an incredible exaggeration, or overstatement, for effect.

“The fish was so big, I needed an extra pair of hands!”

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Understatement

Understatement is a statement that says less than what is meant.

•Writers often use understatement for ironic purposes or comic effect.

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Staggering toward us with scratched, bleeding arms, the vet announced, “Shots are not Fluffy’s favorite things.”

Comic Metaphor

A comic metaphor is a colorful, unexpected comparison between humorously mismatched or opposite things.

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Everyone else’s cake looked perfect, but mine was a pond of muddy goo surrounded by charred walls.

Comic Characters and Situations

Comic characters and situations are probably the oldest and most reliable comic device. Humorous stories often contain unusual people dealing with unlikely events.

There was a feller here once by the name of Jim Smiley… he was the curiousest man about always betting on anything that turned up you ever see, if he could get anybody to bet on the the other side. . . . But still he was lucky, uncommon lucky; he most always come out winner. He was always ready and laying for a chance; there couldn’t be no solit’ry thing mentioned but that feller’d offer to bet on it and take any side you please, as I was just telling you. . . . why, if there was two birds setting on a fence, he would bet you which one would fly first. . .

from “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” by Mark Twain

Comic Devices in Action

For reasons I cannot begin to understand, when I was about eight years old my parents gave me a pair of skis for Christmas. I went outside, strapped them on, and stood in a racing crouch, but nothing happened. This is because there are no hills in Iowa.

Casting around for something with a slope, I decided to ski down our back porch steps. There were only five steps, but on skis the angle of descent was surprisingly steep. I went down the steps at about, I would guess, 110 miles an hour, and hit the bottom with such force that the skis jammed solid, whereas I continued onward and outward across the patio in a graceful, rising arc. About twelve feet away loomed the back wall of our garage. Instinctively adopting a spread-eagled position for maximum impact, I smacked into it somewhere near the roof and slid down its vertical face in the manner of food flung against a wall.

from I’m a Stranger Here Myself by Bill BrysonFrom "Fun in the Snow" from I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America after Twenty Years Away by Bill Bryson. Copyright © 1999 by Bill Bryson. Reproduced by permission of Jed Mattes Inc., New York.

Identify the comic device used in each of the following items.

What Have You Learned?

Hyperbole Comic Metaphor Understatement

1. Misha tried to perk us up, but we stared at him with the glazed eyes of zombies.

2. Jason jumped nearly to the moon to make that shot.

3. “That was a bit loud,” Sheila said mildly as Kay’s shriek echoed through the halls.

4. That hamster eats enough to feed an entire city!

Comic Metaphor

Hyperbole

Understatement

Hyperbole

The End