The Asignifying Force of Humor and Laughter Kevin Michael Casper Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected]
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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2013 In spite of yourself : the asignifying force of humor and laughter Kevin Michael Casper Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Casper, Kevin Michael, "In spite of yourself : the asignifying force of humor and laughter" (2013). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 1142. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1142 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. IN SPITE OF YOURSELF: THE ASIGNIFYING FORCE OF HUMOR AND LAUGHTER A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in Partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English by Kevin Michael Casper B.A., California State University, Northridge, 2005 M.A., California State University, Northridge, 2008 August 2013 Table of Contents Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………iii Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………...1 Part I: Loss of Control Chapter One Nonrational Seizures: Beyond Reason, Signification, and the Human……………………………………………. 23 Chapter Two Hang on to Your Ethos: Humor and Laughter in the Rhetorical Tradition……………………………………………47 Interchapter…………………………………………………………………………………100 Part Two: No Talk, All Action Chapter Three I Didn’t Do It, Man, I Only Said It: The Performative Force of The Lenny Bruce Performance Film……………………………………………………….103 Chapter Four I’m So Glad You’re Fake: Postmodern Slapstick and the Creation of the Real………………………………………..135 Chapter Five So I Don’t Even Know My Own Name?: Approaching Alterity in Soundboard Prank Phone Calls…………………………………..161 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….187 Works Cited………………………………………………………………………………...200 Vita………………………………………………………………………………………….205 ii Abstract In Spite of Yourself: The Asignifying Force of Humor and Laughter calls upon the interruptive moments of uncontrollable laughter to challenge rhetoric’s historical treatment of humor and laughter. Anyone who has ever suffered a fit of hysterical laughter at precisely the wrong moment, or has begun to laugh spontaneously at an inappropriate joke before stopping short, can attest to laughter’s uniquely uncontrollable force. Beyond all reason and control, laughter interrupts us and reminds us of the limits of the human subject. Because laughter does not signify meaning in the traditional communicative sense, it exerts an asignifying force irreducible to the questions of truth, understanding, and presence. While rhetoricians like Aristotle, Cicero and Quintilian attempt to confine laughter’s force to calculated aspects of persuasion, their approaches simultaneously reveal an understanding that laughter’s effects lie beyond the rational control of the orator. By tracing the often- unintended effects of humor through a range of comedic performances including stand-up comedy, radio, and film, this project ultimately argues that laughter’s rhetorical power resides not in what it means, but in what it does. Ultimately, because laughter is not a signifying language, yet it still produces rhetorical effects, taking up laughter’s asignifying force provides a chance to expand the field of rhetoric in ways beyond the reason, beyond signification, and beyond the human. iii Introduction A fiery crash leaves three people dead. Police in Nebraska say a rental truck [voice starts to quiver] carrying two people lost control, crossed the median, and collided head on with a semi truck. Both trucks burst into flames, and witnesses say there were [voice quivers again] several explosions. Two … [uncontrollable laughter, three seconds] … Excuse me. The two people in the roo … [uncontrollable laughter, four seconds] … The two people in the rental truck and the … [uncontrollable laughter, two seconds] … driver of the semi [spoken while laughing] … This is a sad story, excuse me [spoken while co-anchor laughs uncontrollably off camera] … were killed. Crews say they had fires contained in about ten minutes [spoken while laughing, co-anchor continues to laugh uncontrollably off camera]. - TV News anchor Jay Warren, WSLS News 10, reporting live on air Consider the following scenario: You find yourself in a formal meeting at work concerning an issue of extreme import to your job. Maybe you are on a committee that is deciding which department will be dissolved due to impending budget cuts, or you are called in to help brainstorm a new direction for the company after extremely disappointing sales reports, or you are at a contentious union meeting listening to impassioned speeches arguing both sides of whether or not a strike should be called. Obviously, the details of such an issue will vary widely depending on your line of work, but, suffice it to say, one constant will remain no matter the particulars: this is no time or place for joking around. Certain contexts demand from us a seriousness that calls upon us to put our most rational face forward, and to maintain a logical, professional, controlled manner that can help all those involved get the task at hand accomplished in the most productive and efficient manner possible. Even if you are more slacker than go-getter in such a circumstance and have no intention of getting your hands dirty, preferring instead to lay low until the present tempest blows over, your tactic will still take some form of quiet thoughtfulness: you need to demonstrate that you know things are serious by projecting an ethos that accurately reflects the grave tenor of the moment. Regardless of your style of engagement – whether you want to play a role in 1 shaping the scenario’s outcome or simply want it to go the hell away without bearing the trace of your fingerprints – you will undoubtedly enter into the situation with every intention of appropriately controlling yourself and your actions. But yet, as all of us know from personal experience, this doesn’t always happen. This seemingly logical approach – to set your rational mind to controlling yourself in a context – can fail. In the scenario described above, a nervous errand boy could enter the room and promptly spill half-a-dozen coffees all over the conference table. A distinguished older gentleman presenting an urgent speech to the group could utter an accidental phrase that conjures up a sexually tinged “That’s what s/he said!” double entendre in your mind. A superior who views herself – rather exhaustingly – as the exemplar of stoic, professional conduct could forcefully break wind just as the tension in the room reaches an apex. The catalyst that sets you off in these situations is largely incidental; what matters are the unintentional, uncontrollable, and, in this instance, wholly unfortunate effects of that catalyst: laughter. It strikes in an instant with a sucker punch to your stomach. Direct and unforgiving, laughter seizes control of your chest and the very air you breath before it surges up your body, where it contorts your face into a grimacing smile visible to anyone who can see you, the last physiological warning before your sense of self-control is completely betrayed in a full blown, eruptive laughter that overwhelms your rational being. Sometimes, however, in the brief moment between a simmering laughter and a laughter that boils over, you can consciously catch yourself. The initial jolt that slipped past your logical self- defenses may have gone un-checked, but sometimes you are able to temporarily regain a modicum of composure, desperately aware that an all hands on deck, code red rational response is required to avert a disaster. Sometimes you can hold your breath, bite your lip, 2 and clench every muscle in your body as tightly as you can until something else comes to mind – parking tickets, genocide, academic discourse, the fact that you’re about to make an ass of yourself in front of people who have a significant stake in your material existence – anything that can help force the feeling away and reinstate you again as the rightful liege to your self control. Sometimes this works, and your reasonable side – thank god – wins out. Yet, regrettably, at other moments, no matter how hard you try, no matter how hard you want to resist, your rational side isn’t enough. Perched at the tipping point, you fall over the cliff, surrendering all control of your being in an uncontrollable release of rollicking, euphoric spasms. It breeches your levees, seizes the moment for its own, shattering the presupposed notion that a complete and stable presence resides at the origin of the experiences collected under your name. You are laughing your ass off, and there’s nothing you can do about it. As much as we might wish it were the case, where you are and whom you are with does not always create a strong enough boundary to keep you firmly contained in your own wheelhouse, the unconditional captain of your own subjective ship. Sometimes – no matter how seriously you intend to carry yourself, no matter the solemnity you may rationally feel toward the context you find yourself in, no matter how much the stakes of your future are connected to your personal behavior at that moment – sometimes … you just crack up. Laughter does not always obey our rational intentions, and anyone who has ever laughed uncontrollably has experienced a loss of self. Like paroxysms of coughing, uncontrollable laughter is the experience of being overtaken by what Héléne Cixous describes as “the rhythm that laughs you”; in other words, you laugh uncontrollably, in spite of yourself (“Medusa” 885). In a scenario such as the one explained above, laughter interrupts the notion of who we believe we are in the eyes of other people, and, more 3 significantly, in the eyes of ourselves.