The Incongruity Theory

When two different random concepts come together and cause us to laugh yet leave us feeling confused we call this the incongruity theory. The incongruity theory is one of the three main types of humor and it examines why we find humor in things that are completely random and bizarre. The other two theories are the superiority theory and the relief theory. In this specific reading, I agree most with Kant Schopenhauer's theory. In the reading, Kent expresses that, “Laughter is an affection arising from a strained expectation being suddenly reduced to nothing”(Lippitt 1).

An example that I found best represents this theory is the humor of a popular YouTuber Emma Chamberlin. Many of Emma Chamberlain's jokes follow the theory of incongruity and leave us feeling so confused that we find humor in them. In this particular example, Emma tweeted
“Words to use when describing food:   
1. Stretchy”
There is incongruence found in this tweet between the two concepts of food and the word stretchy. At first, you are lead to believe that Emma is going to use more relevant words that are frequently used to describe the state of food such as, “Hot” or “Delicious”.

When examining each type of humor I do not think that one gets closer than the other in finding the essence of humor. All three theories on humor are each significant in different ways. Some people may not find certain examples of the three theories funny because some jokes can come off as offensive. As discussed in the reading on the incongruity theory, one must find incongruence in a situation in order to find it funny. The example that uses homosexuality would only be funny to someone if they found this concept to be “abnormal”. The reading discusses that “If none of these beliefs are held, then it will not be possible for the hearer to perceive or understand the incongruency the intended incongruity of the joke” (Lippitt 4).