How Humor Works in ‘Annie Hall’

Applying the Harmless Delusion Theory of Humor

Photo: MGM

In my first article, How Humor Works, I introduced my new and unique humor theory, the Harmless Delusion Theory. Using examples from many forms of humor, I explained why I contend that my theory accurately and meaningfully identifies what causes us to find things funny. I also discussed its strengths in comparison to popular ideas like surprise, incongruity, truth, and superiority. In this article, I take a deep dive into a single well-known humorous work, the movie Annie Hall, to further illustrate my theory’s effectiveness.

First, a quick recap of the theory:

I propose that the essence of humor is harmless delusion. To find a something funny, we must perceive that a person has a delusional belief. This means we must perceive 1) that a person believes something is correct or true and 2) that it should be clear to this person that it’s incorrect or untrue. We must simultaneously perceive that the stimulus is harmless, meaning that it feels to at least some degree okay, acceptable, inoffensive, or safe to us personally. If either of these conditions is absent, we do not experience humor. The delusion we find funny can be any belief held despite clear conflicting evidence, even one very minor or mild. It can be someone else’s delusion or our own. It can be a delusion that we perceive a person actually has, one that we perceive a person pretends to have, or one that we perceive in our imagination that a person has. The person can be an animal or thing that we imagine is a person.

I suggest that there are ten distinct ways this delusion occurs. We experience something as funny only when we perceive that a person holds one or more of these beliefs and that it feels harmless to us:

1. Delusional Underreaction, Understatement, or Similar: A belief that something is a small amount, degree, extent, etc., even though it’s clearly much larger.
2. Delusional Overreaction, Overstatement, or Similar: A belief that something is a large amount, degree, extent, etc., even though it’s clearly much smaller.
3. Delusional Lack of Knowledge or Judgment: A belief that one’s knowledge or judgment is correct, even though it’s clearly incorrect.
4. Delusional Lack of Awareness: A belief that one’s awareness of what is present or happening is correct, even though it’s clearly incorrect.
5. Delusional Misunderstanding: A belief that something has a particular meaning, even though it clearly means something else.
6. Delusional Norm Violation: A belief that a behavior is appropriate or acceptable, even though it clearly isn’t.
7. Delusional Contradiction: 1) A belief that something both is the case and isn’t the case at the same time. 2) A belief that two things are compatible, even though they clearly aren’t.
8. Delusional Nonsense: A belief that something has meaning, even though it clearly doesn’t.
9. Delusional Impossibility or Improbability: A belief that something can be done or happen, even though it clearly can’t or very likely can’t.
10. Delusional Absurdity: Extreme cases of categories 1 to 7, and equivalent to categories 8 and 9.

Now on to the humor in Annie Hall. Because the movie is fictional, the potential for the jokes to feel harmless to us is readily apparent. So, I will focus on pointing out the delusional beliefs that are the root cause of the humor. I’ve picked a number of representative examples from the movie and grouped them by the types of delusion they exhibit. I’ll conclude with a look at the key role delusion plays in the movie’s sarcastic irony.

Delusional Overreaction, Overstatement, or Similar

A belief that something is a large amount, degree, extent, etc., even though it’s clearly much smaller.

Child Alvy is depressed and has stopped caring about anything. He tells his mother and doctor why: “The universe is expanding. The universe is everything. And if it’s expanding, someday it will break apart and that will be the end of everything.” Alvy’s mother: “What is that your business?… What has the universe got to do with it? You’re here in Brooklyn. Brooklyn is not expanding.” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: Alvy’s belief that the significance to his life of the universe’s expansion is large, even though it’s clearly much smaller. His mother, conversely, exhibits delusional understatement (belief something is small even though it’s clearly much larger) by referring to the universe as “business” and asking what relevance it has at all.

Alvy (Woody Allen): “I feel that life is divided up into the horrible and the miserable. Those are the two categories. The horrible would be like terminal cases. And blind and crippled. I don’t know how they get through life. It’s amazing to me. And the miserable is everyone else.” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: With exaggeration, Alvy’s belief the extent of miserableness is extremely large, even though it’s clearly much smaller.

Annie (Diane Keaton): “Sometimes I ask myself how I’d stand up under torture.” Alvy: “You? You kidding? If the Gestapo would take away your Bloomingdale’s charge card, you’d tell them everything.” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: With Alvy’s exaggeration, Annie’s belief that the pain of not having a credit card is large, even though it’s clearly much smaller.

Delusional Lack of Knowledge or Judgment

A belief that one’s knowledge or judgment is correct, even though it’s clearly incorrect.

Alvy supposedly grows up in a house that sits beneath a roller coaster in Coney Island. DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: The family’s belief that their judgment about the house’s livability is correct, even though it’s clearly incorrect.

[At a California health food restaurant] Alvy: “I’m gonna have the alfalfa sprouts and a plate of mashed yeast.” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: The restaurant’s and Alvy’s belief that their judgment about serving and eating plain yeast is correct, even though it’s clearly incorrect.

Alvy: “I don’t use any major hallucinogenics. I took a puff about five years ago at a party. I tried to take my pants off over my head.” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: Alvy’s belief that his knowledge about how to take pants off is correct, even though it’s clearly incorrect.

Alvy: “Annie, there’s a big lobster behind the refrigerator. I can’t get it out. This thing’s heavy. Maybe if I put a little dish of butter sauce here with a nutcracker, it will run out the other side.” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: Alvy’s pretend belief that his knowledge is correct that lobsters know what butter and a nutcracker mean, even though it’s clearly incorrect. An example of humorous pretense, where a person creates humor to amuse others in their reality by overtly pretending to have a delusional belief.

Delusional Lack of Awareness

A belief that one’s awareness of what is present or happening is correct, even though it’s clearly incorrect.

Alvy, in a flashback, is wondering what his childhood classmates are like as adults. We then see the children as they state what they are doing in the future as adults: “I run a profitable dress company.” “I’m President of the Pinkus Plumbing Company.” “I sell tallises.” “I used to be a heroin addict. Now I’m a methadone addict.” “I’m into leather.” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: The children seem to think they are adults. They have a belief their awareness of who they are is correct, even though it’s clearly incorrect. This is also absurdity (extreme lack of awareness).

Delusional Misunderstanding

A belief that something has a particular meaning, even though it clearly means something else.

Alvy’s date brings him to see a yogi speak. Alvy’s date: “He’s got millions of followers who would crawl all the way across the world just to touch the hem of his garment.” Alvy: “Really? It must be a tremendous hem.” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: Alvy’s pretend belief that his date means the followers like the yogi’s hem, even though she clearly means they like the yogi.

Alvy has killed spiders at Annie’s apartment. Alvy: “I did it. I killed them both. [Annie is crying] What’s the matter? What are you sad about? What did you want me to do? Capture them and rehabilitate them?” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: Alvy’s pretend belief that Annie’s crying means she’s sad about the spiders, even though it clearly means she’s sad about something else.

Alvy: “I was having lunch with some guys from NBC. So I said, ‘Did you eat yet or what?’ And Tom Christie said, ‘No. D’you?’ Not ‘Did you’. ‘D’you eat?’ ‘D’you?’ Not ‘Did you eat?’ but ‘D’you eat?’ ‘Jew?’ You get it? ‘Jew eat?’” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: Alvy’s belief that Tom means “Jew”, even though he clearly means “did you”. This is also delusional overreaction.

Delusional Norm Violation

A belief that a behavior is appropriate or acceptable, even though it clearly isn’t.

Annie and Alvy have just met for the first time a few hours earlier. Annie: “This tie is a present from Grammy Hall.” Alvy: “Your Grammy? My Grammy never gave gifts. She was too busy getting raped by Cossacks.” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: Alvy’s pretend belief it’s appropriate to make such a comment in a casual conversation with someone he just met, even though it clearly isn’t. This is also delusional overstatement.

Soon after they begin dating, Alvy and Annie are in a bookstore and Alvy brings her books on death: “I’m going to buy you these books because I think you should read them instead of that cat book. Because, you know, I’m obsessed with death, I think. Big subject with me. I have a very pessimistic view of life. You should know this about me if we’re going to go out.” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: Alvy’s belief that it’s appropriate, at this point in their relationship, to urge her to read the books, even though it clearly isn’t.

Delusional Contradiction

A belief that something both is the case and isn’t the case at the same time.

Alvy telling a joke: “Two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort. One of them says, ‘Boy, the food at this place is really terrible.’ The other one says, ‘Yeah I know, and such small portions.’” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: The woman’s belief she both doesn’t like the food and does like the food (she wants more of it).

Alvy approaches a man and woman on a street: “Here, you look like a very happy couple, are you?” Woman: “Yeah.” Alvy: “Yeah? So, how do you account for it?” Woman: “Uh, I’m very shallow and empty and I have no ideas and nothing interesting to say.” Man: “And I’m exactly the same way.” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: The couple appear and sound happy and confident, yet their words express unhappiness and lack of confidence. Also, the delusional norm violation of volunteering this to a stranger.

Delusional Nonsense

A belief that something has meaning, even though it clearly doesn’t.

Annie (to Alvy): “Oh, God, what a dumb thing to say, right? I mean, you say ‘you play well’ and then right away I have to say ‘you play well’. Oh, oh, God, Annie. Well, oh well, la-di-da, la-di-da, la-la. Yeah.” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: Annie’s belief “la-di-da” has meaning, even though it clearly doesn’t.

Delusional Impossibility

A belief that something can be done or happen, even though it clearly can’t or very likely can’t.

Alvy telling a joke: “I was thrown out of NYU my freshman year for cheating on my metaphysics final. I looked within the soul of the boy sitting next to me.” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: Alvy’s pretend belief that it’s possible to cheat on an exam by looking into someone else’s soul, even though it’s clearly impossible. Also, the school has the same belief.

Alvy telling a joke: “This guy goes to a psychiatrist and says, ‘Doc, my brother’s crazy. He thinks he’s a chicken.’ And the doctor says, ‘Well, why don’t you turn him in?’ And the guy says, ‘I would, but I need the eggs.’” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: The guy’s belief that it’s possible for his brother to lay eggs, even though it’s clearly impossible.

[In California] Annie: “It’s so clean out here.” Alvy: “That’s because they don’t throw their garbage away, they make it into television shows.” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: Alvy’s pretend belief that it’s possible to make a television show out of waste, even though it’s clearly impossible.

Alvy: “There’s a spider in your bathroom the size of a Buick.” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: With exaggeration, Alvy’s pretend belief that it’s possible the spider is as large as a car, even though it’s clearly impossible.

Sarcastic Verbal Irony

I maintain that all humor flows from the ten sources of delusion, including the humor found in verbal irony. Verbal irony occurs when a person overtly pretends to have a belief with the intention of implying their attitude about something or someone. Sarcastic verbal irony is when this attitude is a negative evaluation meant to criticize, insult, or ridicule someone. Like with humorous pretense, we find the pretend belief in verbal irony funny when we view it as delusional.

Alvy (to Annie, who has just parked the car they were in): “That’s OK. We can walk to the curb from here.” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: Alvy’s pretend belief that the distance to the curb is large, even though it’s clearly much smaller (Overstatement).

Alvy (to Annie): “Grammy Hall? What, did you grow up in a Norman Rockwell painting?” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: Alvy’s pretend belief that it’s possible Annie grew up in a painting, even though it’s clearly impossible (Impossibility).

Alvy (to Annie, who has arrived late): “Jesus! What did you do? Come by way of the Panama Canal?” DELUSION WE FIND FUNNY: Alvy’s pretend belief that it’s possible Annie took that route, even though it clearly isn’t (Impossibility or Improbability).

Contact Gary at howhumorworks@gmail.com

The “How Humor Works” series presenting the Harmless Delusion Theory

• Part 1: How Humor Works (foundational article)
• Part 2: How Jerry Seinfeld’s Humor Works
• Part 3: How Humor Works in ‘Airplane!’
• Part 4: This article
• Part 5: Responding to Questions and Objections