Humour If

Taxonomies of humor all fail at some point. Having said that,

Humor, If Funny, must have an “ouch”—but cannot harm . . . it wounds but must not kill.

Humor always has a point to make; it falls short if it is mere diversion. Pure

senselessness and foolishness are not funny; neither is blunt spitefulness.

Humor, If Funny, must have a Huh?-Ha! moment—a solvable puzzle . . . it must surprise us, but not bewilder us.

It is the Logic of the Absurd, not simply absurd. Humor questions the obvious that we simply assume and invites us to see the obvious that we’re not seeing.

Humorist, If Funny, must be a tutor—not a philosopher or theologian.

If humor is didactic it will not amuse.

Humor, If Funny, must sit on the head of a pin—it cannot not fall right or left.

Humor doesn’t work if it is too obtuse or too explicit.

Humor, If Funny, seeks to woo—not command . . . it may bite but doesn’t draw blood.

Humor seeks to amend; it instructs more than demeans.

Humor is protean, allusive and elusive; it hurts and heals. It both challenges the status quo and points us back to time-honored wisdom; it teases and tests. Humor cannot be reduced to a single source or function. It questions both contingency and necessity on a case-by-case basis. It shows obliquely what is overlooked directly. Humor seeks to educate and reform; it is an adjustment opportunity.

Reductionist definitions or approaches to humor always fall short, most especially because humor exposes reductionist appeals of all kinds. Humor is a master magician, a high wire artist, and a supple gymnast. Humor escapes confinement with a wink, frustrates; she is mercurial, capricious. Humor is gleeful.

Jokes dissected end up as frogs do when dissected: DOA. Humor itself, however, is the master dissector of the human condition. Humor uses a scalpel, not a hacksaw.

Some humor seeks to entertain

Some humor seeks to correct

Some humor seeks to destroy

Sacramental humor seeks to heal.