Tuesday, June 24. 2008
Duhamel on Humor in Poetry
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I’m so hyped up on ideas from such a goulash of sources I hesitate to say, just because I can’t remember the source, "yes, it was me." But I agree with you agreeing with me agreeing with whoever said it first (which might be me): apropos.
"She showed how classic stand-up tricks, like following the main punch-line with “tags,” mangled cliches and malapropisms, and, above all, a tone in satire that admits complicity — a kind of poking fun at the speaking self alongside all humanity"
I like this idea, learning "the rules" comedians follow and seeing what of them one could bring to a poem.
I like this idea, learning "the rules" comedians follow and seeing what of them one could bring to a poem.
At some point in my writing career I realized that what makes poetry interesting is not necessarily that different than what makes humor funny — i.e. a twist of expectation. For example, setting up a pattern and then disrupting it is a classic ploy in jokes where e.g. something happens twice, then, just when you think it will happen again, something else happens in the third instance. But Duhamel really articulated this well in drawing parallels to stand-up techniques like the "tag."
