Umberto Eco discusses the carnival and its comedic value in acting as an upside-down world where the rules of the real world do not apply, and the constraints of reality are lifted.
The enjoyment from the participant comes from the sardonic pleasure received in breaking the conventions and expectations of their respective society. In the cinematic sense, people receive the same pleasure in seeing the rules of which they have become accustom being broken, often at the scenes respective climax.
As an example, Eco cites a Mad Magazine article called ‘Movies We Wish Would Happen’, wherein the classic cinematic trope of the helpless woman tied to the train track instead of being saved is hit by the train. This particularly meta-attitude to comedy reminded me of several examples. The first being from the film Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang (Black, 2005). One scene in particular is when an interrogation goes array (In what way I won’t spoil). The scene -and the film in general- capitalise on breaking the rhythm and rules that have been established in the history of generic cinema.
The jokes momentarily take the audience out of reality being projected and are reminded of the humour in the situation, almost acting as circuit breakers that disrupt the established rules and the expected outcomes with a simple case of real-world logic. SNL have made several skits using this application of real-world logic in the diegesis of preestablished entertainment. In doing so, highlighting the absurdity of this upside-down world. The examples listed below extract humour from taking a topic out of the upside-down world and scrutinising it to the degree of “I bet your fun at parties”. (The Cobras vs Panthers sketch is a particular favourite).
Great point about the pleasure of broken rules—as I think your examples show, the breaking can also come from an extreme following in a way. The carnivalesque upside-down world can be created by following a rule to such an extreme that our actual world becomes the carnival as the silliness or meaninglessness of the rule is drawn out, like the conventions of musicals in Cobras & Panthers and High School Musical 4.
Watching those clips reminded me of an old Kyle Mooney video, “toast” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaYtFLGELB8), which I have forced way too many people to watch. The awkward formality and at times seemingly endless experience of a toast is stretched beyond recognition into an otherworldly absurdity that is super fun to watch, and Kyle’s delivery is top-tier.
I really liked your point about how using real-world logic in absurd situations can create humorous situations. Another example that your reminded me of were the hyperrealistic video games depicted in the newest season of Rick and Morty, where the games are so realistic that the characters are not even excited to play them, a joke that compounds as the family’s issues lead the kids to want to distract themselves, joining in and playing a variety of “realistic” games as the episode’s B plot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3DbxB2EFpQ