Learn to be humorous - Humor is a charming life

Author: Wang Tao / Country:
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features: A dog's mouth spitting ivory—surprise technique What is surprise? It means that the outcome of an event has multiple possibilities, allowing us to imagine and predict various scenarios. However, the actual result is completely different from these imagined and predicted outcomes, creating a strong contrast between the expected and the real. This contrast gives rise to humor. The surprise technique is one of the most frequently used methods. In humor, jokes, films, and crosstalk, if there were no surprise technique, the effect would be halved. Let's look at a humorous example: A father with five children comes home with a newly bought toy. He gathers all his children and asks them who the toy should be given to. He says, "Who listens to Mom the most, never argues, and always does everything she asks?" After a moment of silence, the five children say in unison, "Dad, this toy should be for you to play." This humor uses the surprise technique. According to our imagination, the toy would be given to the eldest, second, third, fourth, or fifth child, but the actual result is given to the father because he "listens to Mom the most and never argues." The contrast between the imagined and the actual is unexpected, giving rise to a sense of humor. The surprise technique consists of two parts. One is the imagination part, which aims to stimulate as many possible images of the outcome as possible. The more vivid the imagination, the more successful the technique. A middle-aged noblewoman asked Shaw: "How old do you think I am?" "Looking at your sparkling teeth, you look like 18; your fluffy curls, 19; your slender waist, at most 14," Shaw said solemnly. The noblewoman laughed happily: "Can you tell my age accurately?" "Please add up the three numbers I just mentioned." This story has a touch of exaggeration. Shaw is witty and eloquent, and is a famous humorist in European literature. He also uses the surprise technique here, first evoking the noblewoman's various imaginations, making her think that Shaw could not accurately say she was 18, 19, or 14, but the actual result greatly surprises her—it is the "sum of the three numbers." Shaw's method of satire like this may seem a bit too harsh. The second part of the surprise technique is the result part. The result must be different from the imagined result to create a contrast and produce humor. Therefore, the actual result must be unconventional. People's imaginations are conventional, following the general patterns of how things develop. When the result is unconventional, the nature changes, and no matter how many conventional imaginations you have, it is difficult for them to match the result. There was a musician who often played the violin in prison. The day before his execution, the guard asked him, "You'll be executed tomorrow, why are you still playing it today?" Guess how the musician replied? He said, "I'll be executed tomorrow, if I don't play today, when else will I play?" It shows that every instance of humor using the surprise technique relies on a basic formula: first, make the audience imagine various possibilities, then reveal the truth in one sentence, and the climax will rise suddenly. Here's a short sketch: A exhausted husband comes home and tells his wife, "If anyone calls for me, tell them I'm not home." Shortly after, the phone rings, and the wife picks up: "Yes, my husband is home." The husband jumps out of bed and says angrily, "Didn't I tell you not to..." "Don't get angry, dear," the wife says, "It's not for you." P44-45