Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
by
Joe Carter
12 . 29 . 09
There is more logic in humor than in anything else. Because, you see, humor is
Comedians aren’t often known for their critical thinking skills and Mr. Spock —the Vulcan
embodiment of cool logic—wasn’t known for his jokes. So at rst glance it might appear that
humor and logic belong to completely separate spheres. Humor is playful, lively, and
The range of humour in which there is logic and logical fallacy is huge. By logic
and fallacy being in humour I mean that there is some logic or fallacy there that
removed that logic or fallacy, the joke would not work. You’ll nd logic and
Lewis Carroll, Monty Python, the Marx Brothers, Abbott and Costello, Woody
Allen, Mel Brooks, Steve Martin, Stephen Leacock, Douglas Adams, and even
Also, logic and fallacies are used in many di erent comics, including Gar eld,
Calvin and Hobbes, and Peanuts. And there are lots of great examples in the
work of stand-up comedians like Jerry Seinfeld, Bill Cosby, George Carlin, and
Henny Youngman. In fact, basically everywhere you look in humour there will
be some bits in which logic or fallacy is used in a signi cant way - sometimes just
a couple can be found, and other times they are all over the place!
Every time logic or a fallacy is used in humour it serves a speci c role. I have
that seem to cover all the signi cant ways logic and fallacy are used in humour:
In the article, Nefsky explains each of these terms and provides examples of how they are used.
Although she provides adequate illustrations, I’ve taken the liberty of using her roles but
replacing the examples with ones from episodes of Seinfeld . Needless to say, these examples are
Roles of Essence — The logic or fallacy used serves as the essence of what makes it funny. In
these cases other aspects might enhance the humor, but the logic or fallacy is precisely what
Type #1 — Equivocation : the name of the most common informal fallacy used in humor and
usually it is the essence of what is funny. Equivocation occurs when two di erent meanings or
senses of the same word(s) are used as if equivalent. In humor equivocation is often played out
with two people—where one person says something implying one meaning and the other
person takes it as if another meaning was intended.
“I wanted to talk to you about Dr. Whatley. I have a suspicion that he’s
“Well, then what are all those ties and sports jackets doing in my closet?”
Type #2 — Contradiction — One thing in logic that is often used in humor and that usually
serves the role of essence is known as contradiction or absurdity. This occurs when
contradictory statements are given or implied, producing a nonsensical, absurd situation. In
terms of formal logic, this is like having both “A” and “not A” (where A could be substituted
with anything). In formal logic having both “A” and “not A” simultaneously is considered
“Exactly!”
Note”
Type #3 — False Cause — There is an informal fallacy called False Cause that is used in humor
and that often has the role of essence. False Cause happens when it is assumed that simply
“No doctors for me. A bunch of lackeys and yes-men all towing the company
The Role of Enhancer — the logic or fallacy adds to the essence of what is funny to make it even
funnier.
Type #1 — Hasty Generalizations — occurs when a generalization is made from too few cases or,
as often seen in humor, when the generalization is obviously not true as a literal statement (a
clear exaggeration).
“So, what you are saying is that ninety to ninety- ve percent of the population is
undateable?”
“Undateable!”
“Alcohol.”
nudity?”
“It can’t be the nudity. I never got into these terrible ghts and
“You should have lived in the twenties and thirties, you know men wore hats all
The Role of Mechanism — the logic or fallacy is what gets you from one thought to another.
When formal logic takes on the role of mechanism, valid logic is used to get the reader or
audience to make a certain inference from one idea to another.
“What about that Bavarian cream pie joke I told you? There’s no truth to that.
Nobody with a terminal illness goes from the United States to Europe for a piece
of Bavarian cream pie and then when they get there and they don’t have it he
says, ‘Ah, I’ll just have some co ee.’ There’s no truth to that.”
“God would never let me be successful. He’d kill me rst. He’ll never let me be
happy.”
“I’ve been lying about my income for a few years. I gured I could a ord a fake
“I said it.”
“Nothing.”
“How is it a write-o ?”
“Write it o what?”
“Do you?”
“No, I don’t.”
“But they do. And they’re the ones writing it o .”