Banana Jokes, Absurdity and Dark Humour — Comedy that make me Laugh [Ice Cream Sundae]
I’m re-watching one of my favourite TV shows, the unfortunately short-lived Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. I was sat in Prague one night last week, and while I have plenty of new TV series and movies I haven’t watched yet I felt in the mood for that one.
It’s the show Aaron Sorkin started writing and producing after the end of The West Wing. It’s about the behind the scenes of a live comedy TV show akin to Saturday Night Live. I thought it was brilliant, though sadly not everyone agreed: it was cancelled after only one season. There was a big buzz around it at first and it was even nominated for several awards the following year. On the other hand the audience dropped in the second half of the first season, production costs were high, and apparently 30 Rock running on the same network with a similar theme was favoured in the end.
I mention it because in the first episode the camera pans to a saying on the clock that resets every week telling them how long they have left until the next episode airs:
“Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.”
It made me smile. I tweeted it after finishing the episode. Time flies, though we tend to forget that fruits can too. I wrote about happiness in my blog this week, and laughing sounds quite naturally related to it. Several pieces of research point to correlations between laughter and happiness, which makes sense really.
I had a knock knock joke book when I was a kid, and now that’s coming back to mind I had another one called the big book of jokes if I remember correctly. I think it had a red cover.
A classic one also mentioned in an episode of Studio 60 goes like this:
Knock knock
Who’s there?
Banana.
Banana who?
Knock knock
Who’s there?
Banana.
Banana who?
Knock knock
Who’s there?
Banana.
Banana who?
Knock knock
Who’s there?
Orange
Orange who?
Orange you glad I didn’t say banana?
Maybe you didn’t laugh too much at this one. It probably needs to be performed and heard with the right accent for full effect. It might help to be a child too. We don’t all laugh of the same things of course. I think it plays an important part in who we become friends with, at least I’m pretty sure it’s the case with me. My best friends tend to ones I can also cry of laughter with.
I particularly love dark, ironic, cynical, surreal, and absurd humour. That covers an already pretty large panel. Without being the regular clown or entertainer in a group, I can be the one in the group occasionally cracking (hopefully) witty or deadpan comments that sometimes get laughs, or at other times get me curious looks when nobody gets the humour in what I was saying.
I could write about the French stand-up comedians I grew up with at length, though most of them probably don’t translate into English, so I’ll just name a few for now: Coluche, Pierre Desproges, Raymond Devos, and Fernand Raynaud. There are more but these cover a wide panel of the kind of wit I appreciate.
Le Père Noël est une Ordure (Santa is a Stinker), Les Bronzés (French Fried Vacation), Les Bronzés font du ski, La Cité de la Peur, C’est Arrivé près de chez vous (Man Bites Dog), or even Bernie (1996 movie) are the kind of French speaking comedy movies I grew up with, going from crass slapstick humour to very dry and dark humour. You can probably find many of them with subtitles if you’re up for it, though only the darker last two movies are likely more accessible to English speakers, less puns on the French language. Politically incorrect only gives the barest idea of how wrong they are. I showed my friendAdam Bernie once and he was not impressed, so it might not make everyone laugh.
I found out about Monty Python’s Flying Circus at some point, thanks to reruns in English on TV in France, and their movies became part of our references as teenagers.
I’d smoke weed with friends as a teen and watch VHS videos of movies like Wayne’s World or Dumb & Dumber over and over again. At one point I could quote the whole of Wayne’s World by heart from start to finish.
I definitely laughed my ass off in school. We elevated stream of consciousness utterly absurd conversations with several friends, two of my oldest friends in particular, JB and James. It’s the kind of experience I don’t even know for sure how to write about and do it justice. I think you either relate to the same kind of humour and get what I mean, or not.
We’ve probably all written notes in classmates’ diaries in high school, or at least that was a thing for us. I’d write rambling essays about anything from the reproduction habits of flying otters to the recurring suicidal tendencies of hamsters every Springtime.
They’d go something like this:
Hey there friend, well you’ve asked me to write a note for posterity and on this sacred day, the anointment of King Louie the crumpet baker, I feel I should take a moment to consider the lives of all crumpets out there, waiting for their moment of glory. This typically happens over the course of a royal breakfast, accompanied with creamy butter and jam. Don’t forget: strawberry jam in even years, and raspberry in odd years. Mixing the jam is back luck for your future career. The only well-known exception is of course quince, ever since the peace treaty signed at the end and yeasty long war against the scones. Lather your crumpets in quince on every bissextile year to ensure healthy teeth and perfect fashion sense.
I wish you well, and hope that from now on you will spare a thought for King Louie every time you eat a crumpet.
Yours truly,
Willem, Keeper of the holy baker’s wisdom
I’d have full on conversations with some friends making up facts and characters by the second, generally until one can’t take anymore and breaks out in laughter. I have no idea how well this might translate in writing, you can tell me later.
The fact I took theatre classes from the age of eight or nine might’ve helped with the improvised conversations. The end of year play we put together was an adaptation of a famous French comics series: Les Bidochons. It’s a satire of a lower middle class full of stereotypes French couple. I played monsieur Robert Bidochon, the gruff, closed off, petty, ignorant, beret-wearing, football (soccer) watching, possibly gentle on the inside husband. It was successful and we adapted several stories for a few years.
I later extended my theatre classes to improvisational theatre and loved it. I went to see and competed in Impro Matches. Originally coming from Quebec, this performance “sport” activity is popular is all French speaking countries now.
I think it exists in English now as well, if you come across it, go check out a show, it’s very entertaining. They created this kind of improvisational theatre as a sports performance show mirroring the atmosphere and visual style of ice hockey. Two teams, typically six people on each team though it can depend on the leagues, compete against each other in a fake ice rink, which is where the improve takes places. Each team has a captain who also speaks in the name of the team when fouls are called.
The referee, who performs as much as the players, picks and announces improv topics for the audience, and these have a few main criteria:
- Either both teams are together in the improv, or one after another
- The number of maximum players per team allowed in the rink
- The length, typically between 30 seconds and like 5 minutes for long ones
- The category, which can be anything from free to comedy, spaghetti western, or tragedy
- And finally, the title of the Improv, like “A day at the zoo” or “Lunch with the in-laws”.
Teams have 30 seconds to huddle and brainstorm what they’re doing before the referee’s whistle announces the beginning of the next improvisation.
The audience usually get a coloured card to vote for their favourite team after the end of each improve, and a slipper to throw on stage if you’re unhappy with whatever is going on.
It’s high energy and a lot of fun! This video can give you an idea of what it looks like. I considered taking it up again recently. I went to a few training workshops with the local team in Perpignan earlier this year, then they broke for the summer season and I haven’t gone back yet. I’ve been traveling for work quite a bit on one hand, and I think I’d rather do something in English rather than French if I take that up again.
Back to stand up comedians, one of the best finds after moving to the UK and meeting another of my now best friends, when we were flat mates Adam introduced me to Eddie Izzard. I somehow had never heard of him and love his stand up so much. I’m sure you’ve seen at least one of the famous sketches, like the Death Star canteen, or the one about advertising that makes me laugh every time.
I recently watched an hour-long video talk between Jerry Seinfeld, Ricky Gervais, Chris Rock and Louis CK. They talk about their inspiration, what makes them laugh and what they think is funny. I learned a lot and it was damn funny too.
My friend James reliably introduced me to some my favourite funny TV sitcoms: I’m thinking about It’s always sunny in Philadelphia, and a little more recently The League. Both are very wrong, absolutely not politically correct and some of the funniest sitcom moments I’ve watched. I also remember stuff likeHappy Tree Friends or Joe Cartoon from the early days of animated Flash media on the web in (as a side RIP Flash this week). This interview of several cast members of The League at Google, and it’s brilliant to find out more about the show and how much of it is improvised — which is quite a lot.
I find that sometimes I meet someone new and find out we have a similar sense of humour, I’m certain we’re going to get along. Does that ever happen to you? I think there’s a kind of camaraderie in a shared sense of humour that tends to show up fairly quickly with new people I meet.
Did you catch the reference in the email title by the way?
If not, it’s from one of my other all time favourite movies and another musical:Singin’ in the rain. If that’s a gap in your cinematographic knowledge I highly recommend checking it out!
It’s might be a little early to reminisce, though the holiday season is arriving at the speed of an arrow, so let fruit lie like a banana in the meantime! I wish you plenty of laughter catching up with friends and colleagues in run up to the Christmas season. If you don’t have plans with friends, why not make some? Laughter is infectious and communicative; It’s easier and better to laugh with other people. If you really don’t want to go out, snuggle in and watch some of the stuff I linked to if you haven’t seen them yet.
And if you’re still looking for something to do after all this, you can also listen to the latest episode of my audio podcast! I interviewed John Wick, one of my favourite table top and roleplaying game designers. I’ve been recording more interviews and new episodes will be published on the 10th, 20th, and 30th of every month.
Please share this with the friends you laugh the most if you enjoyed reading! You can directly forward the email, or you should have a few buttons below to share on your social networks.
Keep in touch if you have any questions, feedback, or want to tell me what makes you laugh I’m only an email or a tweet away.
Til’ next week!
Cheers
Willem
PS: In case you’re wondering, I’ve managed to repair my phone!
This newsletter was originally published via email on the 6th December 2015. You can also sign up to receive Ice Cream Sundae via the Ice Cream for Everyone website.
