Stephen Colbert and Philosophy - Aaron Allen Schiller [84]
Can the question of what makes something funny be answerable through a philosophical account of humor? Through the lens of the philosophy of Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), we can come up with a robust theory of humor that will answer these questions and many others, but not, unfortunately, why my Uncle Larry insists on wearing his trench coat to dinner.
Café au Laugh
On Tuesday, February 26th, 2008, Starbucks closed its shops for three hours to retrain their baristas to perfect the making of espresso shots. This event from the ubiquitous coffee conglomerate made the headlines. While reporters mentioned what went on in the training sessions, talked about the press release from Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, or how the closing impacted local mom and pop coffee shops, The Colbert Report did something a little different.
The Starbucks event was declared the number one threat facing America.142 Stephen Colbert reported how the closing personally affected him—a special, self-interest report. At five thirty we see a frustrated Stephen Colbert trying to open a door to a closed Starbucks. Then we see him drinking out of a café au lait coffee cup with ten tea bag tags dangling from the sides. The next clip shows a sweaty Stephen Colbert on an exercise machine, exaggerating his movements and then posing as if in slow motion.
The camera zooms in on the clock that now says six. Stephen Colbert digs through the trash and finds a used Starbucks coffee cup, throws his head back and attempts to drink any last drop. Failing, he takes the end of the paper cup and burns the edge, using his cupped fingers to wave the burning aroma into his nostrils.
Next scene, we see a disgruntled Stephen Colbert at the office, yelling “I hate you” to a fellow co-worker. As he walks down the hall towards the camera, he pushes anyone aside who gets in his way. Camera shot to the clock now says quarter to eight. Stephen Colbert is in an undisclosed basement, tied up and choking, acting like a rabid man. Clock now says eight-thirty and we see Stephen Colbert finally entering a Starbucks.
Last scene: Stephen Colbert taking a shower, about to drink from a Starbucks coffee cup, and instead, he pours it on his head. He takes another Starbucks coffee cup, takes off the lid, dips his four fingers in the cup and takes out whipped cream, and smears it all over his chest and presumably his genitals. Finally, he takes a shaker of pumpkin spice and sprinkles it all over his chest.
Three Overused, Outdated, and Overrun Philosophical Theories of Humor
There are numerous theories of humor that could explain why we find Stephen Colbert sprinkling pumpkin spice on his chest funny, but the three main contenders are:
• superiority theory
• relief theory
• incongruity theory
Superiority theory is often attributed to Plato and Aristotle but was first explained by Thomas Hobbes in his Leviathan (1651) and Human Nature (1650). Relief theory was first described by Sigmund Freud in his book Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious (1905). Incongruity theory has its origins in Francis Hutcheson’s Reflections Upon Laughter (1725).143
Superiority theory claims that the cause of our laughter is due to the feeling of superiority we have to the object of our laughter. So perhaps we laugh at Stephen Colbert sniffing the fumes of a burning Starbucks cup because there’s nothing funnier than watching a junkie suffer.
Relief theory holds that we laugh because we have repressed desires that need to be released. So maybe we laugh when Stephen Colbert drinks from the many-tea-bagged cup because of our own fear of coffee withdrawal or a grumpy boss. Or, as Freud would claim, we might have some pent up sexual anxiety that is related to caffeine withdrawal and seeing the many tea bagged cup over-stimulates our libido and causes us to laugh.
The incongruity theory explains that we laugh because we expect one thing to happen, and then something else happens. We may have laughed when Stephen