The value of David Baddiel’s foreskin...

Diane Spencer gets analytical

Psychology professor Paul Bloom has written a book called How Pleasure Works, which is not a wanking manual, but a look into the psychology of what pleasure is, how we attain it and how we can inflict it on each other (I repeat, not a wanking manual).

Although it is a good read with easy popular science that does not swamp the reader, I wrestled with the chapter on Performance when I tried to apply his theories to standup comedy – but perhaps I’m attempting the old adage of pushing a marshmallow through a coin slot.

Bloom introduces the idea of 'essentialism', when it comes to objects or artworks, which is something along the lines of: the value of an item is dependant, not necessarily on the physical components that make it up, but its origins: who created it and how they did so.

For example, a foreskin in a jar of formaldehyde is just nauseating, now say that Damien Hirst created it and the value shoots up. Then say that Damien Hirst created it, using David Baddiel’s foreskin and the value goes up or down depending on what you think of David Baddiel. Therefore, when you hear a brilliant joke, if you are told that Sean Lock wrote it and it took him a few months, as a comedian, you are more likely to appreciate it than if you are unaware of its origins.

I would suggest the 'value' of a joke to the listener is a combination of originality, hilarity, mixed with personal impact in the mind of the punter, combined with that nodding people do when they say to each other 'that’s good' and they desperately try to remember that one to tell at work the next day.

Another aspect of Bloom’s theory is that the value of something increases, once the effort behind it is known. A few splashes that took minutes, are not as valued as identical marks, made deliberately over the course of time until the police were called to the scene.

Yet humour has to appear effortless in order for it to work. The element of surprise and the well-used method of 'casual' conversation enhance a heavily scripted line, even within the set of a one-liner/puntastic comedian. A snappy rebuttal that rolls off the tongue, a seemingly 'off-the-cuff' remark learned from years of the same, unimaginative heckle appears fresh out of nowhere to the crowd. Thus hack put-downs can be appreciated more than some genuine rough diamonds forged in time stuck on trains and in coffeeshops.

A stand-up audience can often get more delight from the apparent spontaneity of the event, and the lack of pre-prepared material, which admittedly is a farce we all appear happy to go along with, because most of them know the routine is scripted.

The idea of effort does work when it is applied an already established performer who has paid their dues, and the discovery that a successful stand-up spent several years in debt, dragging themselves around the country, increases the value of their current success, but this value does not correspond to the jokes themselves. When an audience member recognises a joke, the spontaneity is broken. How many times have people smugly turned to their laughing friends and whispered 'I’m not laughing because I heard him tell that joke two years ago…' and the value of the moment, and the joke, decreases.

Joke theft is akin to stealing someone’s essence. If a joke or a persona is stolen then, by Bloom’s theories, the value of the joke should become lower. However, this is not necessarily true. A painting by Picasso is worth thousands more than the identical painting by a forger, but this luxury is not necessarily afforded to the original, creative comedian.

The speaker of the joke is imbued with the sense of 'power' from a good, well-crafted joke told in that instant. The same 'effortlessness' and casual delivery of humour, causes the instantaneous appraisal of the value of the joke and therefore the comedian.

Thanks to the lack of a guide to the origins of jokes, Carlos Mencia has a career, and most worryingly of all, when an audience member does realise the theft, sometimes they simply do not care, being more concerned with their gains – the laugh.

When the first significant boom in UK stand-up comedy occurred, the alternative comedy scene became mainstream, dragging with it the rule that you perform what you write so the essence of a joke and who created it became important. This goes back to the Sean Lock joke and David Baddiel tip jar idea – a joke increases in value if an established comedian wrote it.

Bloom touches on the idea of 'art without a frame'. The notion that if not viewed in the correct place or time, a well-establish masterpiece of art or a musical performance by a world famous player can be glossed over and ignored as ‘ordinary’ if it is not in the right setting.

The alarming idea then, that the words alone do not make it, and perhaps in order to be 'more funny' you must be performing in places that support that idea. You may be stood on a reputed comedy club stage, but have one solid group of hecklers that want to defy your authority (which incidentally some comedians play on never having), and refuse to see you as fitting into the 'comedic frame', no wonder it is such a soul-ripping blow.

This gives rise to the terrifying idea that perhaps a show in a flash venue is perceived as better than an identical show in a poorly run venue, something that often plagues the minds of many comedians at the Fringe.

This has only been a deconstruction of the chapter on Performance, but I'd recommend this book. The next chapters are Imagination and Safety And Pain, so I may be proved wrong on the 'not a wanking manual'front.

  • Diane Spencer: Exquisite Bad Taste will be on at the Gilded Balloon at 17:00 during the Edinburgh Fringe

Published: 12 Jul 2012

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