Trahair’s chapter Jokes and their relation to… addresses the differences in relation paradigms that Freud uses to distinguish between comics and jokes. While they are both social acts, a comic only involves the audience and the comedian, while a joke involves also involves the person the joke is aimed at, “the butt of the joke” (Trahair, 110). The primary way I understood this was by using it to distinguish stand-up comedy from many other forms of comic entertainment, like clowns or jesters. The type of stand-up comedy I thought of was that of Jimmy Carr or Frankie Boyle, where the audience is used as the subject of the joke.
Frankie Boyle is specifically known for his heckling of the audience, with viral video compilations of his work under the label “Audience Annihilation”. This is one of the many examples of his work, and the segment from 0:40-1:30 shows an example of him focusing on a singular victim and expanding the joke. Identifying the victim here allows for it to be a joke rather than a comic act.
The brutality, however, made me also think of a question proposed by Douglas in her essay; when does a Joke become an Insult? (Douglas, 92). Comedians like Boyle thrive off of their teasing of audience members, and the farther they go with the joke it funnier it becomes. People are often offended by this, but given the social setting in which the joke is presented, I don’t understand how the heckling of audience members can be seen as mean or ill-intentioned. As stated by Freud, jokes are inherently social, and in this example, the audience members are active participants in this exchange. Furthermore, as seen in the exchange presented in the example, the comedian will often make a self-deprecating comment while picking on the audience member to make the situation more intimate and personal. Therefore making it a less daunting experience.
Frankie Boyle- Best of Audience Annihilation part 2. By Skillyskills85 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHrsI7UWJuw
Mary Douglas, “Jokes,” Implicit Meanings (New York: Routledge, 1975), 146-164.
Lisa Trahair, “Jokes and their Relation to…” The Comedy of Philosophy: Sense and Nonsense in Early
Cinematic Slapstick (Albany: SUNY, 2007), 109-123, 226-229.