Incongruity Theory on Humor

     The work we read by Plato, Hobbes, Kant, and Kierkegaard challenges the idea of laughter in context and form in many different ways. I found Kierkegaard’s “Incongruity Theory on Humor” the most relatable to my experience with humor. Kierkegaard says, “The comical is present in every stage of life (only that the relative positions are different), for wherever there is life, there is contradiction, and wherever there is contradiction, the comical is present” (Kierkegaard 83). The contradiction he speaks about can basically be summed up with the expression “expectation versus reality.” The idea that something should be one thing and it turns out to be another entirely. To draw an example from my own life, I am currently quarantined in my room, and I have 3 male roommates, I think that detail allows the story to make more sense. The other day I asked my roommate Jack to make me some toast. He texted me and told me he brought it up, and I open the door to see two, untoasted, unbuttered, dry pieces of Wonderbread sitting on a plate. I immediately started laughing. I now realize I was laughing at the incongruity and contradiction that Kierkegaard talks about. As Kierkegaard explains, “Errors are comical, and are to be explained by the contradiction involved” (Kierkegaard 86). The idea that I thought it was universally known that “toast” implied toasted bread with butter, yet Jack had a completely different understanding of that word. While it was a harmless “error,” it was also funny because Jack thought he had done a great job “making toast” for his sick roommate, meanwhile I was hysterically laughing and then sadly chewing on raw Wonderbread, “a mixture of pain and pleasure” (Plato 10), as Plato describes the act of laughing.

    While in my life, there are many instances of laughter caused by contradiction, Samantha Irby also uses the power of contradiction in her book Wow, No Thank You. In her chapter discussing the new technological era of phones she says, “So here’s to love and loving your portable handheld telecommunication device. Stay inside where it’s temperature-controlled and there are no bugs and spend some time celebrating your beloved today” (Irby 42). The contradiction here lies between the idea that parents are always telling their kids the opposite and “to get off your phone and go outside.” Yet, here Irby is using this contradiction between herself and the usual lectures of parents to create humor. It’s funny that she is encouraging the reader to stay inside with their phone and describing it as “your beloved,” because it is not what we as humans are used to hearing in regard to our phones. Another instance of Irby creating this contradiction is when she says talking about her dream job, “All I ever wanted—shit, all I still ever want—is a cool-T-shirt-appropriate job where I can eat snacks and sit around talking shit with my friends all day while hiding all the good CDs behind the counter for myself” (Irby 55). The contradiction she establishes here is the idea that everyone always has a big dream job, one that is nearly unattainable like an astronaut. Yet, here she is telling the reader her dream job, and it is nothing like the “aim for the sky” dream jobs of others, it is extremely underwhelming. Even though, this job is aiming very low, it is still as unattainable as any other dream job like a little kid saying they want to be an astronaut. It is humorous because it is not a stereotypical dream job, and yet it is still a job that (as far as I am concerned) does not exist. She establishes these contradictions in order to create humor.

The implications of the “Incongruity Theory of Humor” that Kierkegaard explains is “being clear where to laugh, one also understood where not to laugh” (Kierkegaard 89). Contradictions are everywhere. I once walked into a tattoo studio with my friend who was getting one, and for the first time in my life, I saw a tattoo artist who had no tattoos. There was the contradiction, and while yes, I found it a little humorous and puzzling, it was not appropriate nor was it the time or place for laughter. The contradiction does not always equate to laughter. It is okay for me to laugh at my roommate Jack for not understanding the translation of the word “toast,” but it is not okay for me to laugh at the stranger tattoo artist with no tattoos. It is okay for me to laugh at the description of Samantha Irby’s dream job because it was a book made for laughter. The line of the contradiction lies in when and when not to laugh, and one has to find that line.