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aCTIVITy 1.3
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my notes
Interpret the Text Using Close Reading
Got Laughs?
26 What we laugh at changes as we age. Here are some examples.
Audience
Often Likes
Young children
Slapstick, or silly physical humor
Elementary-school Children
Puns, simple jokes that play off the sound rather than the meaning of a word, such as “Lettuce all go to the salad bar”
Teens
Jokes about topics that authority figures would consider rebellious, a way to use humor to deal with nerve-racking subjects
Adults, particularly well-educated ones
Satire, which makes fun of the weaknesses of people and society
27 Generally, children laugh more than adults. One study found that adults laugh 20 times a day, while children laugh 200 times!
The Secrets of Humor
28 Certain comedic devices turn up again and again in jokes, comic strips, and filmed entertainment—because they succeed.
29 “There were tricks,” said Hiestand of his days writing for The Tonight Show hosted by Johnny Carson, “things you would see, certain things always got laughs.” One of the most popular is often called the rule of threes. That is a pattern in which two nonfunny elements are followed by a third that is funny (yet still makes sense within the context). Many jokes start off with a list of three, such as “A rabbi, a lawyer, and a duck walk into a bar.” As the joke unfolds, the rabbi says something straightforward, then the lawyer does as well, but the duck finishes with something witty or absurd.
30 Three guys were stranded on an island. An antique lamp washed ashore. When the guys touched it, a genie came out. “I’ll grant each of you one wish,” the genie said. The first guy said, “I want to go home,” then disappeared. The second guy said, “I also want to go home,” and he too disappeared. The third man suddenly looked sad. He said, “I want my two friends back to keep me company.”
31 Certain concepts seem to be more amusing than others. If you tell any joke involving an animal, and it doesn’t matter which one you use, think Donald and Daffy. In the LaughLab experiment, scientists determined that the funniest animal is the duck. (It’s not arbitrary that a duck was used in the rule-of-threes joke.)
Do Tell—But Do It Right
32 There are also known techniques for telling jokes well.
• Keep it short—Don’t include any details that are not necessary to bring you to the punch line. In the genie joke, there was no need to specify it was a tropical island or to name the castaways. The quicker you tell a joke, the funnier it will be.
• Be specific—Some comedians swear that a joke is funnier if you say “Aquafresh” instead of “toothpaste.” The attention to detail makes the story seem more real.
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aCTiviTy 1.3 continued
them that an idiom is a phrase that has a meaning that is different from each of the word’s exact meanings. Say:
Hit or miss is an example of an idiom.
It means that chances for something are unpredictable, just luck. So, for example, if someone asks me if I think my favorite sports team will win again against a good opponent, I might say, “It’s hit or miss.” Collocations are similar. They are words that often go together. An example would be, give up. We know what give means, and we know what up means. But together, the words mean something else – to quit. Display and cover the following idioms and collocations from the reading that might be confusing to students, such as comedy great, senses of humor, for a living, hit or miss, tough gig, learning the hard way, and large threshold
for pain. Then, instruct students to annotate paragraphs 8–9 as you read them aloud.
3 Collaborate: Pair students of mixed proficiency levels and have them
work together to Round Robin Read paragraphs 10–11 and annotate them. As students work, walk around the room assisting as needed. When everyone
is done, have students note words and phrases (idioms and collocations) they don’t know, names and occupations of people mentioned, and any questions they might have.
4 Because the humor of the joke in
the following section will be lost if students have to stop to figure out or look up words, prepare them with some definitions and examples before going on to paragraphs 12–15. Write the words paw and pa on the board. Ask: Which word means the foot of an animal? (paw) Ask if anyone knows the meaning of
pa. If there are no student volunteers, explain that some people use this word informally in place of dad or father. Point to the word paw and say: My cat doesn’t like to get her paws wet. Point to the word pa and say: I have to ask my pa if I can go to the dance. Tell students that a saloon was a kind of bar in the old West. Explain that saloons were often rough and noisy. Explain to students that
you will now read a sentence from the
Unit 4 • The Challenge of Comedy • Part 1: Made You Laugh 225
© 2017 College Board. All rights reserved.
© 2017 College Board. All rights reserved.