The Ten Kinds of Humor: Monty Python and the Holy Grail
British Literature
Dr. Clark
Absurdity: absurd humor relies on incongruity, where the jokes rely on the viewer's
knowledge of the way the world really works. The result is nonsense. An absurd
joke is funny because we "know better," and the joke "lets us in" by relying on that
fact. Nonsense, importantly, remains unresolved.
o For example, the ongoing coconuts joke is absurd.
Based on the title of the film, we expect a knight or king to be riding a
horse, especially when we hear hoofbeats on the soundtrack.
Initially Arthur seems to be riding a horse as we see him bouncing
along just beyond a ridge.
Then we see that Patsy is skipping behind him making horse sounds
with coconuts as he skips along, pretending to hold reins.
The triumphant music clashes with the ridiculous image.
Once Arthur arrives at the first castle, the guard on the wall begins an
argument of definition about the word "ridden." Then he begins to
theorize specifically about how coconuts may be found in England,
mentioning specifically climate zones ("in Mersia? That's a temperate
zone. The coconut's tropical!"), weight ratios, "air speed velocity," and
different species of swallow, all of which we know would not actually
happen in medieval England.
The "actual" origin of the coconuts, how the castle guard could know
anything about physics, bird taxonomy, or climate zones, the reason
Arthur does not have an real horse, and the outcome of Arthur's
request to speak with the lord of the castle are all left unresolved—
thus, an absurd joke.
Parody (also known as "spoof") is an ironic imitation of a specific work or genre,
where the intent is to mock the original work. It also relies on the audience's
awareness; a parody is only funny if the audience knows what it is making fun of.
Satire is humor intended as a social critique; it is often biting, ironic, or bitter, and
can sometimes be extremely offensive. At the heart of satire is the desire to make
society more humane, moral, or decent.
Slapstick (or physical humor) is the use of violence to create laughter—the term
comes from the device used in theater to simulate the sound of a person getting
slapped. Unexpected or over-the-top violence can provoke nervous or genuine
laughter.
Double entendres or puns rely on the audience's knowledge of language; the term
means "double meaning." A relatively inoffensive word (like "pickle") might have
several off-color meanings in a different context.
Gallows humor or dark comedy makes fun of things that inherently are not funny—
like capital punishment (thus the name), war, suicide, and other horrors. Gallows
humor is funny if your audience accepts that the human condition is in some ways
absurd—that there is no meaning to life or death.
Irony is a situation in which the outcome is the opposite of what is expected. It's not
just a "bummer" or something that's "random," it's relying on the audience's
expectations of a given situation. Often irony will function as satire or parody.
Verbal irony is saying the opposite of what you mean.
Sarcasm is a subset of irony—verbal irony with a dash of malice or cruelty. Sarcasm
is saying the opposite of what you mean with the intent to mock or debase someone.
Dry humor is jokes that don't sound or seem like jokes at all—humor that is
underplayed by the person delivering it. This can also be called deadpan humor,
straight humor, or wit.
Bathroom humor relies on the fact—and it is a proven fact—that farts are funny.