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Jullan's margin notes and scribbles

"How to tell a joke" by Cicero

by Cicero (106 - 43 BCE) and Quintilian (35 - 100 CE).

Introduction, translations and annotations by Michael Fontaine.

Takeaways

  • Main theme: Can humor be taught or is it a skill you’re born with?
    • It is difficult to make a set of rules for stand-up because stand-up is about breaking the rules.
  • The perilous line between being a stand-up comedian and a politician speaking in public.
  • Humor can be a source of power.
  • Jokes belong to rhetoric, not philosophy.
  • Distinction between a “shtick”/stand-up vs. “sick burns”/street-perfomance comedy.
  • Every funny remark derives its funniness from its language and/or from the thing itself. It’s often an advantage to have a combination of both.

Language-based jokes

These include puns, but there’s a lot more going on than just that. Cicero provides examples to these in p. 73-93.

  1. Switcharoos and puns (?).
  2. Slight modifications of words (greek: paronomasia): “Mr. Bickle? Pfft! Mr. Fickle.”, “Scandic? More like Scamdick.”
  3. Intepretations of words or names: “Cassius? ‘Cash’-ius”
  4. Slipping in a line of poetry, either verbatim or slightly tweaked.
  5. Proverbs with the added element of humor and timing.
  6. Taking something that is said literally instead of in the way it’s actually meant.
  7. Adapting an utterance or saying to the circumstances. “As you sow, you shall reap.”
  8. Twisting a word.
  9. Inversion of verbal attacks, “verbal jujitsu”.
  10. Making words twist off against eachother.

Thing-based jokes

Cicero goes through 20 categories of jokes and gives examples of them. He conjectures that there are nearly an infinite number categories which he isn’t able to mention.

  1. Things that are surprising.
  2. Making fun of other people’s quirks or giving a funny clue about our own.
  3. Comparing a thing to something worse.
  4. Disingenuousness,
  5. Non sequiturs (nonstarters)
  6. Criticizing stupidity.

The Five Fundamental Questions about laughter

  1. What is it?
  2. Where does it come from?
  3. Should an orator want to make people laugh?
  4. How far should an orator take it?
  5. What are the different types of jokes?

Or more in depth:

  1. What is laughter itself, how is it evoked, where it dwells, how it arises so suddenly that we can’t stop it even though we want to.
  2. The boundaries of its home. It’s should be targeted at “Disgraceful ugliness”. Most things that warrant laughs are jokes that call out and stigmatize some disgrace in a graceful manner.
  3. It is in the orator’s interest to make people laugh because of several reasons
    1. People side with you reflexively
    2. Everyone admires a zinger, concentrated in a single word, especially in comebacks.
    3. It crushes an opponent and trips them up, ridicules them, deters them, defeats them.
    4. It shows that the orator themself is sophisticated, educated or urbane.
    5. It eases hurt and breaks the tension. Problematic facts can sometimes be eradicated with a joke or laugh if arguing doesn’t work.
  4. The length of a joke should be moderated and be scrutinized with care. Don’t make jokes about obvious and criminal evil, or misery. Do not punch down on those that are less fortunate or with lower status unless harshly provoked to so. Jokes should have a sense purpose and not be cracked just for the sake of being funny.
  5. Five categories of jokes
  • Jokes that only try to maximize laughs and serve no other purpose. Cicero (Caesar) describes them as “too cynical, gullible, paranoid, virtue-signaling, stupid” and does not endorse them.
  • Mimicry, that should only be done every-so-often, on the fly. Can quickly be overused.
  • Distorting the face like a clown.
  • Obscenities. Discouraged. If used it should be used sparingly.
  • The best jokes are the ones that are based on the thing itself and/or some elements on the language related to the thing.
    • Thing-based jokes: you can convey the joke in any way you want and they won’t stop being funny
    • Language-based jokes: change up the words or other linguistic structure of the joke and they cease being funny.
    • Thing- and language-based jokes, best of both worlds.

Quotes

Styles of translation vary. Some are literal, others go for the gist. This one goes for the jest, and it can claim a good pedigree.

  • A note on the Translation, p. 30

My job as a translator, is not to be a bank teller, counting out coins for readers; it’s to compensate them for the weight.

  • Cicero, p. 30

It’s crucial to observe those restrictions when joking. They suggest that the softest targets are those that don’t deserve deep hatred or extreme pity - hence, all the material that is available for jokes lies in the life probles of people who aren’t highly respected, tragically afflicted, or fit for a hanging. Tease those problems cleverly, and people laugh.

Remember, though, that when it comes to observations, pretty much any observation I make and share for laughs can be used to make a serious point, too; the difference is that seriousness appeals to honor and important matters, while a joke appeals to slightly disgraceful, practically ugly ones.

  • Sec. 20, p. 59

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