Brain Audit

How does ‘funny’ work?
Let’s look at few cartoons to begin with.
Then let’s look at a comedian in full flow.
Then let’s look at a video.
And we’ll do the impossible.

We won’t just analyse ‘funny.’
We’ll replicate funny. We as in you and I.
Yes, both of us.
You’re ready?

Let’s start out with the cartoons

Is this funny?
Sure it is. So why are you suddenly so amused?
A guy with bandages isn’t funny. A guy on a snowboard isn’t funny.
And yet, a guy on a snowboard with bandages is funny.

It’s the disconnection that makes things funny
Or creative.
Or whatever you want to call it.

Example 1:
So if we look at an air-hostess serving muffins and coffee on a flight, it’s not funny.
But an air-hostess serving muffins and coffee on a canoe is funny.

Example 2:
A man saying to another man: “I’d like to be a prince, but I hate paparazzi ” is not funny.
A frog saying to another frog: “I’d like to be a prince, but I hate paparazzi” is funny.

But notice what’s happening?
It’s not just the disconnection at work, is it?
No it’s not. If you don’t know what an air-hostess does, or can’t refer back to the story of the Frog Prince, then there’s no joke at all. Then it’s just a string of words, and a well-drawn picture.

The core of what comedians use is a complete disconnection
But if you go up to a comedian and ask him/her: “Do you use disconnection?,” they may not know what to answer? They don’t know what to answer, because they haven’t analysed what’s happening. And right now, we’re in analysis mode.

So let’s head over to see how comedians use disconnections, shall we?
Let’s look at this clip by Jon Stewart, on Comedy Central.
Feel free to see the entire clip, but note than in about a minute and thirty-five seconds you’ve laughed twice or thrice already.
(Note that if you go past a minute and thirty-nine seconds, it stops being funny).
So watch the clip, and then let’s do the analysis.

So what was funny?
Tea? There’s a president of a country sitting on your show, and you bring out tea? Oooh, nice disconnect.
For exactly thirty-eight seconds in the video, you watched the video seriously.

Then the tea came out. So did your smile.
Then a whole bunch of disconnects crop up. Till the Osama Bin Laden joke.
Now imagine if Jon Stewart had asked that Osama Bin Laden question about ten minutes into a serious discussion.

Would you have laughed?

Maybe. Maybe not.
What made the joke hilarious was that Jon asks the question right in the middle of the first sip of tea.
Now that’s funny.

And of course, let’s look at a video
This video cracks me up every time I see it. And by now you can tell what’s really happening in the video. And why it’s funny.

But let me not spoil it for you. Watch the video first. (NOTE: It has some “adult” language and “swear words” so yeah, if you’ve got kids around, you may want to watch this one with the headphones on, or later when they’re not around).

And what was funny?
Sure it’s the disconnect.Why would Darth go to the canteen?
Why would the canteen guy associate Darth with his boss?
Why does Darth get hassled for an autograph?

At each of those specific points you laughed.
But what’s funny about someone going to a canteen?
What’s funny with someone mistaking you for their boss?
What’s funny about getting hassled for an autograph?

It’s not funny at all.
Except if Darth Vader is involved.
The whole craziness of the situation is what makes things funny.
The disconnection is what causes the laughs.

You want to create laughs?
Take a perfectly ordinary situation. And create a disconnection.
Of course, you won’t make anyone laugh.
Your jokes may not appear funny at all.

And there’s a reason.
You’ve just started to train your neurons to dance in a new way. You’ve just started to teach your neurons to look for a disconnect.

And when you first start to dance (even if you’re a neuron) you look a bit nervous and ungainly.

But if you keep at seeking out and putting disconnections together, you’ll strike up a neuron string of bulbs.

Then you’ll do what every cartoonist does.
What every comedian does.
What every funny video does.

You’ll simply put two disconnected objects or situations together, using your vast database of learning and memory.
And create laughs.

So remember I told you that we (yes, both of us) could create funny cartoons or situations?
Well, we will. But not just yet. Because this post has taken enough of your ‘work time’ already

So let’s wait for the next post, ok?
Yes, we’ll do the impossible. We’ll get you to be funny, even if you have no history of being funny.
Until next time…

 
Do you find this cartoon funny?
Do you know the single powerful element that makes it funny?
And what makes one person creative and the other, um, not so-creative?

It’s the understanding of disconnection.
It’s the understanding of talent.
And creativity.

Talent is the combination of many emotions, memories, patterns and repetitions, implemented at high speed.

So what’s creativity?
Creativity, is simply ‘talent’ + ‘disconnected objects.’

So what is the meaning of the term ‘disconnected objects?’
When two objects or situations aren’t related, and force-fitted together, they form something we call ‘creative.’
To explain ‘creativity,’ we actually have to put in a few examples. And let’s take those examples from cartooning for instance.

Cartooning is ’supposed to be’ a highly creative ability (yeah right)!
If you could take a movie of a cartoonist’s brain in ultra-slow motion, here’s what you’d see. You’d see  the combination of many emotions, memories, patterns and repetitions. And the you’d see how that cartoonist was drawing a cartoon that’s super-funny.

So what made the cartoon super-funny?
They took a regular situation. And disconnected it.

Example 1: On Air-New Zealand we have the Koru Hour. The Koru Hour is when you actually get served cheese, grapes and wine on your flight at no extra cost. Well, so what’s so funny about an air-hostess serving cheese and wine?

There’s nothing funny.

Yet, if we changed that plane into a canoe. And an air-hostess like person was serving cheese, grapes and wine as everyone paddled. Now that’s funny.

Example 2:
Imagine a person saying in the Arctic, fully bundled up with warm clothing, saying: “I don’t care what they say.  I feel cold.”

That’s not funny is it?

Now imagine Mamma Polar Bear and Baby Polar Bear in the Arctic. And baby polar bear is saying: “I don’t care what they say.  I feel cold.”

Instantly, the image brings a smile to your face, doesn’t it?

Example 3:
When a person leaves a relationship, they often say: “You’ll never find another person like me.” And they storm out.
(Ok, so that is anything but funny).

So let’s tweak that situation a bit. Let’s say a comedian is reciting the same thing. Here’s what the comedian would say: “I hope I never find another like you. I mean you don’t get out of  a bad relationship expecting to find another exactly like the person who’s left do you? You actually hope you don’t find another like her. Man, that would be tough on you. Having back to back trouble. You get out of a relationship, because you think it’s bad, don’t you? You don’t get out of a relationship saying: “Hey do you have a twin?”

So let’s analyse what made that funny
Oh, we covered that at the top, didn’t we?
What made the cartoons and the gag funny was a single element in each case.
In Example 1: We changed the plane to the canoe.
In Example 2: We changed the freezing person to a freezing polar bear.
In Example 3: We took a standard, stock statement, and put in a disconnected person like a ‘twin.’

In every instance, what stamped a factor of creativity, was simply one disconnection.
When every black singer was singing soul back in the 60’s it wasn’t considered creative. When Elvis Presley started singing soul, it suddenly became creative. When you write a term like “he fell to the carpet,” it isn’t considered creative. When you write “The carpet rushed up to meet the falling man,” it becomes creative.

You want the definition of creativity?
There it is: The definition of talent + Disconnection.

A to-do list isn’t funny.
Thinking about a to-do list when fighting a dragon, is um, creative.
That’s all there is to it.