The Science of Comedy I – Music and Comedy
As an introduction to the Science of Comedy series I will start by introducing you to my fanatical, obsessive and altogether unhealthy obsession with making people laugh. Not only do I try to wring every ounce of laughter from life, I try to dole it out every chance I get. I’m part of a sketch comedy troupe and an improv troupe and I’d probably be doing more if my body would allow it.
But although my heart belongs to comedy, my mind was stretched and prodded in the halls of an academic computer lab. 5 years of programming and 3 more years of software testing has turned me into a rigid analyst. Maybe a little more than I’d like, but hey, it’s puts the bread on the table.
So I’m going to write about comedy from the point of view of both a comedian and a scientist. Both of which are fighting inside my brain as we speak.
PART I: Why the F@*# is Music so Funny?
I’ve written 20 or so sketches for my sketch comedy troupe. The first ones were awful, but I finally got a knack for it after about a year or two.
The moment I really knocked it out of the park was when I wrote a musical sketch. I picked up a guitar, wrote a couple of innuendos into some soft rock chords and the sketch blew up. I was showered with all sorts of praise for it. Many said it was the highlight of the show. One girl came up to me and said that “After hearing you guys sing, my life is complete.”
That last one was hyperbole (i think), but ever since then my troupe has found musical sketches to be their favorite to work on. I’ve written about 5 or so sketches that involved music or dancing and they’ve pretty much been our bread and butter, knocking audiences dead wherever we go.
And I’m not the only one keen on this information. Andy Samberg has practically made a living off of pairing bizarre subject matter with familiar beats.
So what makes this so funny? Why is it that music and comedy go together like milk and cookies?
To make a long story short, music is so funny because it is so serious.
The music generes that I make fun of tend to be the most serious. Rap music, love songs, R&B. These music genres thrive on something called “cred”. That’s basically the currency of being taken seriously. Without it, artists are deemed weak, soft, sellouts, what have you. If fans even see a glimmer of insincerity from an artist, they could loose they’re whole fan base. This whole system of cred has turned the music industry into sort of a humourless place.
Which makes it perfect to make fun of.
Put on a dope back beat, a straight face and start singing about ponies and rainbows. Watch people start laughing at you. What they’re laughing at is your character, a serious artist, willingly giving away cred.
