Stop Me If You've Heard This: A History and Philosophy of Jokes (edit title)

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Liked It Rated 4 stars ““There are several reasons why philosophers might be reluctant to take up the problem of humor. First there is the general principle that the more interesting ‘x’ is the less interesting the philosophy of ‘x’ tends to be, and conversely. (Art is interesting, but the philosophy of art is mostly...” see full review » see other reviews »

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  • Rated 4 stars

  “ “There are several reasons why philosophers might be reluctant to take up the problem of humor. First there is the general principle that the more interesting ‘x’ is the less interesting the philosophy of ‘x’ tends to be, and conversely. (Art is interesting, but the philosophy of art is mostly boring; law is boring, the philosophy of law is pretty interesting.)” (pp. 67-68)
  
  Perhaps cognizant that this warning applies to essayists as well as philosophers, Jim Holt takes a very light touch in this slim volume; by weaving in character sketches and diverting anecdotes alongside the historical facts and theories, the author quickly takes us through the high points of the history of humor from Poggio to Sarah Silverman.
  
  I just finished reading G. Legman’s epic “The Rationale of the Dirty Joke” last week, and was delighted to see that Hunt uses Legman as his jumping off point, as previously I could find very little reliable information on Legman and was still reeling a bit from the whole experience. Mr. Holt put Legman’s analysis in the context of a broader history of humor, and like me seems torn between being struck by the sheer volume of Legman’s scholarship and feeling like he was “trapped in the men’s room of a Greyhound bus station of the 1950s.” He nicely summarizes Legman’s main points, and there is a sketch of Legman the man and a debunking of some of the myths. And so, in addition to its other merits I would recommend this book as a sort of companion piece for non-expert readers of “The Rationale,” even though the section on Legman is just minor part of the book.
  
  Mr. Hunt presents various theories of humor, and presents a few (relatively clean) jokes as exemplars. A warning to those reading this review who might be misled by the title: although “Stop Me If You’ve Heard This” is gently humorous in its own right, it is not intended as a joke collection, and it will surely disappoint anyone looking for a ‘how-to’ book of humor.
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  Laura and Eric wrote this review Monday, August 4 2008. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No