In the introduction of Sigmund Freud’s “Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious Mind,” Freud writes, “A joke says what it has to say, not always in few words, but in too few words—that is, in words that are insufficient by strict logic or by common modes of thought and speech. It may even actually say what it has to say by not saying it” (6). Broadly, this means that jokes do not need to be drawn out, but can find their funniness through brevity.
This quote reminds me of the Key & Peele comedy sketch “Substitute Teacher” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dd7FixvoKBw) where the scene revolves around a classroom during attendance. While reading out the names, the substitute teacher mispronounces each name and as the students correct him, the substitute teacher becomes increasingly frustrated. The set up of the sketch’s punchline includes the mispronunciation of Jaqueline as “jay-quellin,” Blake as “balakay,” Denise as “dee-nice,” and Aaron as “ay-ay-ron”—thus establishing little pockets of humor through the pronunciation of the names, as well as through the substitute teacher’s reactions. It is not until the substitute teacher says Timothy as “tim-oh-thee,” receiving a response of present as “pree-zent” from the student, that the substitute teacher conveys his approval, ultimately enabling the sketch to reach its comedic height.
With the punchline being one word, this sketch meets the brevity requirements of the quote. And with a longer set up, “Substitute Teacher” establishes the framework that makes the “pree-zent” response funny, fulfilling the fact that a joke would not be understandable “by strict logic or by common modes of thought and speech” without any provided context. Moreover, the unspoken context lies in the video’s description: “substitute teacher Mr. Garvey has trouble adjusting to a classroom full of middle-class white students.” This allows the sketch to take on a greater purpose than just being funny. “Substitute Teacher” becomes a commentary on how many white teachers mispronounce names that are not typically associated with white people, enabling the sketch to use comedy as a mode of cultural and societal critique. As the substitute teacher and Timothy—the two who embrace the alternative name pronunciations—are both Black and all the other students whose names were called are white, the sketch achieves what Freud describes as “[A joke] may even actually say what it has to say by not saying it.”