Sliding Scale of Comedy

     I think most people can agree that comedians are funny. They tell some good jokes, and while opinions will vary on comedians, someone does find them funny. But, comedy isn't just jokes. There are gags, situational humor, puns... Many, many things go into comedy.
     Most people are also aware of the idea of a bad joke. A joke that falls flat, either because it wasn't funny, or  required explanation. Most people are also aware that jokes grow tiring the more you repeat them. Your first reaction to "knock knock" is probably to say "Use the doorbell" now after hearing way too many of them. Many people will also agree that some things aren't funny, but are comedic... So how on earth do we differentiate?

     Well, like most things, we rate them. There isn't really a formal way to rate comedy as it is different for many people, but I do have a standardized way for checking to see if the comedy in a movie is good.
     It is called "The Sliding Scale of Comedy."


     There are more or less four levels for the sliding scale: Not funny, Humorous, Funny, and  Hilarious.
     Not funny is basically when there is nothing funny. Think a soap opera in it's dramatic moments. Unless something about the delivery of the lines is odd, it isn't funny. This section also applies to jokes that fall flat.
     Humorous is the section for filler comedy. You'll find more humor than jokes in most movies, as it's job is to maintain the mood of comedy. They aren't really jokes, because they don't really make you laugh. They are just there to keep a light mood. It is also used to slowly transition into comedy, to prevent mood whiplash, and serve as the warm up for the jokes.
     Funny is the main target of most jokes. It is the one that makes you laugh when you see/hear it. The downside to this section is that things that are funny can become humorous, and eventually unfunny as they are told more and more. For instance, toilet humor is funny to very young children, but is groan worthy for people who are older than them.
     Hilarious... this is the golden joke. It makes you laugh a lot, and makes you laugh when it is referenced again later.
For instance, this video:

     Not to offend republicans who read this (if there are any at all) but the delivery of the line "President Obama wants everyone to go to college... What a snob." alone was funny, mixed in with some irony to make it hilarious. Even the Republicans who agreed with him laughed before they applauded him. It can be repeated with ease so that retelling it doesn't make it lose its comedic value, and the same goes for re-watching the video itself. A joke that remains funny throughout re-tellings falls under Hilarious as a category.


Now, I shall show examples of how this work in comparing scenes from two movies.

     The clip is from Megamind, where the eponymous character is fighting Titan. The joke itself is easily humorous, and is definitely funny. But, the biggest test is whether it is funny without actually knowing the setup. Even if you know nothing about the two featured, it can still make you laugh, and thus is funny.
Now, compare it to this:

     The clip is from Despicable me. I'll admit, it is funny... When you have the setup. Without it, it is just generic kids movie comedy, and is only humorous. But, even with the setup the comedy degrades, and it can start to annoy you as you realize that it is just generic comedy (shaking a soda bottle, vibrating chairs are comfy, playing with a TV...). So this falls under Humorous.
Now finally, this clip:

     This falls rather squarely under hilarious, and at least humorous if you don't really like Jim Carrey. You don't need the setup, this could be a commercial for scotch tape and it would still be funny. That is why it falls under hilarious.





This scale is my primary method for determining whether a comedy or a movie with some comedy in it, is good. I for instance hate the comedy in Brave because it consists of fumbling around, which is at best humorous, while I love the comedy in Megamind because the jokes and gags are varied.

As for the best usage of comedy in a movie... well, that's another topic. I'll get to it eventually, But first I'm going to have to cover Megamind, Despicable Me, and Yes Man.


This has been Fixer Sue, giving a bit of Story Theory.