Physical Comedy

The clown Grock is sitting in front of the piano and tries to reach the keys but he sits too far away. So he gets up, rolls up his sleeves… walks around the piano and tries to push it nearer to his seat.Source

DEFINITION OF A JOKE: “A joke conveys information in a funny way.”

Content of the Joke: Grock needs to reach the keys on his grand piano but instead of moving his chair, he tries to push the grand piano nearer to his seat.

In a funny way: I would say so yes.

MECHANISM OF A JOKE: “A joke adds information in a way that triggers a sudden cognitive shift.”

The information that triggers the cognitive shift are Grock getting up and walking around the grand piano and starting to push.

THE FORMULA: “Disappoint an assumption by fulfilling a second assumption in a surprising and satisfying way.”

Assumption: That Grock will do what any normal person would do: Move his chair.

A second assumption is fulfilled: Yes. A clowns solution to problems can be at the same time be ineffective yet clever yet dumb.

Surprising: Yes, because his doing more work than he needs to.

Satisfying: Yes. Because it fulfills all three conditions (Humorous, Harmless, Compatible).

Humorous: Yes.

1) Behavior (The tendency to laugh or to grin): Yes.
2) Cognitive (Something is intellectually perceived as “funny”): Yes.
3) Emotional (The positive feeling of amusement): Yes.

Harmless: Yes.

Harmless according to the Benign Violation Theory: The norm of how we would solve the problem is violated but it is harmless.

Is it still in a way compatible with the original assumption: Yes. Because in the end Grock is able to play the grand piano.

Unexpected Change that turns out to be benign: Yes.