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Humor and Halloween


I'm pasting in here material I first posted in this blog years ago, when I was thinking (with ironic seriousness) about the philosophy of humor,  Now, less serious, I simply post it as appropriate to this time of year.

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The Simpsons a few years back did a Halloween episode set in the 1930s. The town of Springfield was ripped apart by panicked mobs after a radio program put together by a young Orson Welles that presented fake news reports of a Martian invasion.

The next morning, Orson Welles is on his way out of town. He is met by the police chief who has just been surveying the damage done by the riots. This dialog ensures:

Chief Wiggum: Why shouldn't I punch you in the nose, bud?!

Orson Wells: (muttering to himself), Nose bud? Hmmmm.

Is that funny?

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  1. HenryOctober 31, 2024 at 8:24 AM

    Mildly. It's too contrived to be funnier than that. But it reminds of a book review I started the other day on a book on the philosophy of humor: https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/wisecracks-humor-and-morality-in-everyday-life/. I didn't find it interesting enough to finish. Steven Gimbel, the author of the book under review wrote his own book on the subject: https://ndpr.nd.edu/reviews/isnt-that-clever-a-philosophical-account-of-humor-and-comedy/.

    Back in 2012, Gimbel published "Einstein’s Jewish Science: Physics at the Intersection of Politics and Religion," which I read and enjoyed, and I also took an evening class with Gimbel on the subject. He was an entertaining teacher, being a stand-up comic when he's not doing his day job as a philosophy professor.

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