1. Comedy is based
on irony.
2. Awareness of irony
is an intellectual, not emotional process
3. Comedy lifts us
out of our emotional responses
4. With emotional
defenses down, our mind can see the need for change in a comic character.
5. Typically the
comic character is blind to his misperceptions but repeats the rigid behavior.
6. Good comedy
allows us to feel superior to the characters.
7. Despite our
superior position, we see similarities between the comic characters and
ourselves.
8. We sense our own
rigidity and blindness are like the comic fool’s and note the laughter the
comic fool arouses.
9. Comedy acts as a
way to change the individual or the society using laughter.
10. Satire, ridicule, burlesque often work in the service of
change.
11. Comedy uses exaggeration, understatement, role reversal
and generally the devices of irony to make us laugh and compare.