The introduction to Henri Bergson’s book Laughter: an Essay on the Meaning of the Comic offers several examples of how humour is created in the intersections between humans, animals, and machines. One of the first claims he makes is that comedy only exists within the realm of what feels human; he states, ‘You may laugh at an animal, but only because you have detected in it some human attitude or expression’ (Bergson 3).
Additionally, he points out the humour in a person’s repeated words or actions, invoking a machine which does things on command. While a machine seems to lack the humanness which he claims as the basis of comedy, Bergson points out that manmade objects are funny in a way that natural ones are not – because of ‘the shape that men have given (them)’ (Bergson 3). Additionally, the comparison of the thinking, feeling, elastic human being with the rigid, mechanical, predictable machine is humorous in its outlandishness.
Bergson also describes how there is humour in the disguise, explaining why exaggerated features – like a big nose, a wig, or unusual clothing – make us laugh. The idea of applying rigid objects to our elastic selves to make us seem less recognisably human is funny.
All of these comic elements can be found in the interactions between evil scientist Dr. Doofenshmirtz and his archnemesis, Perry the platypus, in the TV show Phineas and Ferb. Each episode, Perry shows up to Doofenshmirtz’s evil lair without his signature hat. When Doofenshmirtz sees him, he calls out in confusion, “A platypus?” Perry then places the hat on his head – a disguise, though in this case, it functions as the opposite of one – and Doofenshmirtz yells in rage and recognition, “Perry the platypus?!”
Doofenshmirtz’s oft-repeated phrases, said with the same tone of voice, as well as his inability to recognise the same platypus which breaks into his lair every day, are indicative of a machine –responding in the same way to the same stimulus every time it’s presented. It’s an example of the phenomenon which Bergson describes – the viewer knows exactly what will happen when Doofenshmirtz sees Perry, but it’s the predictability which is funny.
Additionally, without the hat, Perry walks on all fours, has a bland facial expression and rigid movements, and makes a mechanical beak-rattling noise. With the hat, he transforms; his eyes focus, he stands on two feet, and his movement and expressions become distinctly humanlike. Bergson’s theory states that we find animals funny when they remind us of people, and Perry’s transformation into a secret agent illustrates the humourous contrast between his “disguised”, almost machinelike animal self and his true, more humanlike form.
Overall, Dr. Doofenshmirtz’s character is funny because he’s a human who reminds us of a machine, while Perry’s character is funny because he’s an animal who reminds us, at different times, of both a machine and a human. Their interactions, aided by the reality-defying medium of animation, explore the humorous blurred lines between all of these states of being.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ua9ybl-FMU&t=41s
Works Cited:
Bergson, Henri, Henry Brereton, and Fred Rothwell. 1914. Laughter.
I liked the comparison you made between Perry as a human and Dr Doffenshmirtz as a machine – it’s an acute observation that most people don’t notice since Perry’s transition from animal to human became such a central part of the show. Dr Doofenshmirtz in some ways can even be said to enact the same principles that Buster Keaton did regarding machines and automation. Keaton, like Dr Doofenshmirtz, engage with and create machines for often comic reasons, but the subsequent failures that the machines almost always result in are part of the comedy itself. Dr Doofenshmirtz, as such, acts mechanically in his tone and behavior, but also engages with the mechanical processes themselves.
I think you articulated the comedy of the recurring Perry the Platypus sequence precisely! Another layer worth considering is the role of interrupting repetition—how comic-timing and pauses heighten humour by subverting audience expectations, especially considering the slight alterations to the premise that are made every time we witness the Perry-Doofenshmirtz interaction.