August 17, 2010

• An introduction into awkward humor

  I love awkward humor.  I think it is the new sarcasm.  And I am partially hoping that it will overtake sarcasm as the new medium, but partially I’m hoping that it won’t.  I like that it’s still rare enough that people can still be uncertain and confused by it.  When the awkward becomes commonplace, it’s no longer funny anymore.

  My friend made a good point in that it is partially in part to “The Office” and “30 Rock” that awkward humor has increased so much in the past few years.  I think characters like Michael or Dwight from the Office are great examples of awkward humor.  They do and say strange things without knowing they are being strange.  They are genuine and sincere in what they say and do.  That’s just who they are.  Liz Lemon is unabashedly a foodie.  She has a sense of dignity, but is not ashamed of many of her quirky traits.  It’s awkward, but it’s great.  And we love her for it.

  I started to think about awkward humor today at work and tried to put it down into words.  How does it work?  How does someone enter into the realm of awkward humor.  With just 10 minutes to write, I jotted down the following notes:

  1) Make the abnormal, normal.  Think of the character of Dwight, who knows more than the common person about beets, bears, and martial arts.  He discusses these random things as if they are things any person would bring up in common conversation and want to know.  It works because it’s unexpected.  When we are first introduced to his character, we have no idea he knows about all of these things.  The surprise is part of the fun.  Do or say something out of character.

  2) Remember that you are all at once the straight man and the wacko. Say things that are absurd but never let on that what’s being said is absurd. Do it for real. Be sincere. Be proud.  If you laugh about what you just said, it ruins the joke.  You have to not know that it’s strange.  You have to maintain a sense of innocense.

  3) Take them on a journey of the strange. There is limited humor in shock value. Shock value can only take you so far.  Instead, artfully take your audience on a journey of discovery and revelation. Anyone can bring out a picture of his mom doing something indescribable with farm animals. But that’s not artful, nor is it really revolutionary. It inevitably devolves into a series of one-upsmanship until the audience just doesn’t want to be a part of it anymore. No. True awkward humor requires starting small with something believable, but not quite socially acceptable, and then bringing the audience along to believe something that isn’t acceptable at all, but still remains believable based on the building blocks that were laid before. This requires good pacing, improvisation, as well as the ability to read the audience. Ad libbing is key to fill in the gaps when there is disbelief.

   

  A couple of years ago, I made an announcement on facebook that I was going to do something different for Lent.  I was going to give up stuff that I hadn’t considered giving up before.  This was based on the established understanding that I partake of Lent annually.  I started with giving up meat.  Then the next day, I announced I was taking a vow of silence and giving up speech.  After that, I declared I was giving up gainful employment and a 9-5 job.  Lastly, I declared that I was going to give up sobriety for Lent.  40 days of dedicated drunkenness; it’s a hard job, but I’m going to for Jesus.  Now, this is less awkward than it is absurd, but it was awkward to the people who didn’t know me very well, and funny to the people who did (I can’t sniff a bottle of beer without passing out).  It was a good joke, but not universally appreciated.  Probably a better example is this:

   

  I was in a facility where there was a secure room inside a larger secure room.  I was speaking with the project manager and discussing how the people in the inner room felt cut off from the people from the outside, larger room.  Here is how it went.

   

  Project Manager: You know, before the built this room, they were going to just put up some bars instead of solid walls.  It would have been like working in a jail cell! How awful is that?

  BokGwai: Well, they could have installed some stripper poles too and hired some dancers to liven it up a little bit. You know, make it a little more festive.

  Project Manager: Have you seen the population of the people working here? It’s 97% women.

  BokGwai: You could have some male strippers too.  Something for the ladies.

  Project Manager: Eww… that’s creepy.

  BokGwai: Yeah… I know what you mean.  Every time I see a male stripper, I always think to myself [pauses and takes a deep sigh] Why did I come here?

  Project Manager: [Really awkward silence]

   

  Now, this works on a number of levels.  I didn’t go too far when I made the first comment about stripper poles that it ended the conversation.  There are a lot of strip clubs in Denver (where this facility was), so talking about strip clubs wasn’t too unusual, despite it being a work environment.  The project manager played along and continued the conversation.  The male stripper comment took things a little further and pushed it over the edge.  The response then was less positive.  So I quickly reeled it back in.  I agreed with the PM that male strippers were creepy, but then took it another step further to suggest that I know this from experience.  Multiple experiences.  So much so that by the end, the PM thought I was serious, and I needed to let the PM know that it was just a joke.

  That is how a good awkward humor journey begins and ends.  Start with something strange, but not out of the question, and build on it.  Keep it genuine and sincere.  Do not go out of character.  Just say things or suggest things that not expected of your character.  Gender confusion is one of my favorite topics to play with.  If you can pull that off, you’ve done well.

  Hopefully, I’ll be back to a more serious post tomorrow.  I am very interested in continuing the “I am not better than you” series.  And I now have more material to bring.

  Goodnight!

  • 11:17 pm
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