Surreal humour
From Freepedia
Surreal humour is a form of humour based on bizarre juxtapositions, absurd situations, and nonsense logic.
Probably the most common form of surreal humour is the non-sequitur, in which one statement is followed by another with no logical progression, as in the joke below.
Q: How many surrealists does it take to change a lightbulb?
A: Vibrating Norwegian horse box full of sea-cucumbers
Note that the humour in this joke depends not just on the randomness of the answer, but on its odd juxtaposition of disparate items.
Surreal humour can also be found in unexpected juxtapositions (such as in the image to the right).
History of Surreal Humour
Humour which we might now consider surreal has been around at least since the nineteenth century. Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass both use illogic and absurdity for humorous effect. Many of Edward Lear's nonsense stories and poems are also basically surreal in approach. Thus, Lear's "The Story of the Four Little Children Who Went Round the World," is filled with contradictory statements and odd images intended to provoke amusement, such as the following:
"After a time they saw some land at a distance; and when they came to it, they found it was an island made of water quite surrounded by earth. Besides that, it was bordered by evanescent isthmusses with a great Gulf-stream running about all over it, so that it was perfectly beautiful, and contained only a single tree, 503 feet high."
Despite such precursors, the name "surreal" first began to be used to describe a type of aesthetic in the early 20th century. At that time, several avant-garde movements calling themselves, variously, dadaists, surrealists, and futurists began to argue for an art that was random, jarring, and illogical. The goals of these movements were in some sense serious, yet they were also committed to undermining the solemnity and self-satisfaction of the artistic establishment of their day. As a result, much of their art was -- intentionally -- quite funny. Thus, in 1917 Marcel Duchamp placed an upside-down, signed urinal in an art exhibit. Duchamp's urinal is now one of the most famous and influential pieces of art in history -- it is also, however, a joke, relying on an unexpected juxtaposition.
Besides the avant-garde art movements, the most important 20th century influence on today's surreal humor is probably writer Franz Kafka. Like Lear and Carroll, Kafka wrote stories which dispensed with the normal rules of logic. In "Metamorphosis" for example, the hero, Gregor Samsa, wakes up to find himself changed into a bug, for no discernable reason. In Carroll's Alice, such a change would probably be a brief and amusing diversion. Kafka's story, however, is generally perceived as a grim paen to despair, describing modern man's existential futility. This view is not necessarily incorrect; however, Kafka himself saw a great deal of humour in his own work. Max Brod, Kafka's editor and friend, notes that:
"When Kafka read aloud himself, this humor became perfectly clear. Thus, for example, we friends of his laughed quite immoderately when he first let us hear the first chapter of The Trial. And he himself laughed so much that there were moments when he couldn’t read any further. Astonishing enough, when you think of the fearful earnestness . . ."
Duchamp and Kafka were hugely influential, and thanks in part to their example, surreal humour permeates both visual art and literature. Yoko Ono, Andy Warhol, Donald Barthelme, Italo Calvino and many others have relied on this technique in their work.
Pop Surreal Humour
In the sixties, surreal humour became increasingly mainstream as musical performers like Captain Beefheart and Syd Barrett began to mix surreal humour and drug humour. The most important artists in this regard were probably the Beatles. A song such as Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds is both a winking drug goof and a surreal collage (though the full humorous potential of the song was arguably realized not by the Beatles, but by William Shatner). Equally important were the Beatles' movies such as Help! and, especially, Yellow Submarine, which made extensive use of abrupt transitions and unconventional logic.
After the Beatles, the group which has had the most influence in making surreal humour mainstream is probably the British comedy troupe Monty Python, which deliberately integrated surrealism into a popular half-hour sketch format. Thus, in one Monty Python sketch, a couple find themselves in a café in which the only food available is SPAM. The couple attempt to order something else, the waitress argues, and their discussion is regularly interrupted by a group of Vikings singing hymns to processed meat.
Since then, surreal humour has pervaded popular entertainment. Songs such as Camper Van Beethoven's Take the Skinheads Bowling, television shows such as The Brak Show comic books such as Flaming Carrot, movies like Naked Lunch and books such as Douglas Adams' Hitchhiker's Guide have all made extensive use of surreal humour.
