Surreal humor
Surreal humor (also known as absurdist humor) is a form of humor based on deliberate violations of logic, particularly of expectations of logical coherence between statements, and thus, violations of linguistic pragmatic principles such as the Gricean maxims. They can be based on violations of causal reasoning, with endings that are obviously illogical. Thus, surrealist jokes and humor may involve bizarre juxtapositions, logical or sequential incongruity, non-sequiturs, irrational or absurd situations, or otherwise, simply expressions of nonsense. The humor arises from a subversion of audience's expectations, so that amusement is founded on unpredictability, separate from a logical analysis of the situation. The humor derived gets its appeal from the ridiculousness and unlikeliness of the situation.[1] The most familiar popular example might be the humor in Monty Python's Flying Circus, particularly their TV sketches.
1 Absurd quotes
The following are not so surreal, but certain absurd and unusual -- what we would call "off-the-wall humor" because it involves juxtapositions or situations that are strange, but can still be understood by most people, and so these are not as absurd as outright surrealism.
“For my birthday I got a humidifier and a dehumidifier... I put them in the same room and let them fight it out.” — Steven Wright
“I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this.” — Emo Philips
“Stuffed deer heads on walls are bad enough, but it’s worse when you see them wearing dark glasses, having streamers around their necks, and a hat on their antlers. Because then you know they were enjoying themselves at a party when they were shot.” — Ellen DeGeneres
When I was a kid my parents used to tell me, "Emo, don't go near the cellar door!" One day when they were away, I went up to the cellar door. And I pushed it and walked through and saw strange, wonderful things, things I had never seen before, like... trees, grass, flowers, the sun... that was nice... — Emo Philips
1.1 Short jokes
Here are examples of some short surrealistic jokes.[2]
- How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb?
- Two, one to hold the giraffe and another to fill the wheel barrow with brightly colored machine tools.
- How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb?
- A fish.
- How many surrealists does it take to change a light bulb?
- Three. One to hold the giraffe, and one to throw brightly colored power tools into the bathtub.
- What is the similarity between a monkey and a bicycle?
- The both have wheels except for the monkey.
- What is the difference between a duck?
- The one eye is blue and the other eye is also green.
- What is the difference between a duck?
- One of its legs is both the same.
- Why did the bed cross the road?
- Because he wanted to send e-mail from space and there were no telephone poles.
- There are two penguins on an ice flow, drifting north into warmer waters. These penguins are very fond of each other, but they don’t speak English very well. Suddenly, with a terrific crack, the ice floe splits in half, right between the penguins. As they begin drifting apart, one penguin sadly waves a flipper and calls out, “Chocolate milk!”
- What do you get when you cross a surrealist with a mafia don?
- An offer you can't understand
- Why did the chicken cross the road?
- Staple Gun!
