Submitted by Kelly McBride on Tue, 03\/03\/2009 – 2:03pmin<\/p>\n
Session Convenor:<\/strong> Kelly McBride<\/p>\n Session Reporter: <\/strong> Kelly McBride<\/p>\n Discussion Participants:<\/strong> Jos\u00e9 B\u00e1ez Guerrero, John Hamer, Jacob Kaplan-Moss, Jannet Walsh, Lori Rosolowsky, Nick Penniman, Tyson Evans<\/p>\n Humor seems to be a huge commodity on the Internet. What can we learn about humor that will help us in journalism?<\/p>\n We looked at these videos\u00a0 (Jacob will add the list)<\/p>\n Questions we asked:<\/p>\n Is the Internet replacing the funny pages?<\/p>\n What’s the difference between amusing and funny?<\/p>\n Where the Hell is Matt Video<\/p>\n It’s structured like a good joke:<\/p>\n setup<\/p>\n addon<\/p>\n punchlines<\/p>\n riffing on the punchlines<\/p>\n something unexpected<\/p>\n good storytelling – examines difference and universal<\/p>\n Having a point is not a pre-requisite on the Internet<\/p>\n Generates a huge audience (18 million)<\/p>\n People remember emotional response to information<\/p>\n Creates a MEME (a cultural idea that is mimicked)<\/p>\n repeatable, remixable, inside joke w\/a wink<\/p>\n Funny kid worried about blood video<\/p>\n Common form of family video<\/p>\n there is a punchline<\/p>\n Endearing<\/p>\n A form of realism and spontaneity that can’t be faked<\/p>\n IRAN spoof<\/p>\n Layers and layers and layers of visual and auditory jokes<\/p>\n Brazen<\/p>\n Irreverence<\/p>\n Targeted to an audience that will “get it”<\/p>\n Culturally specific, assumes underlying knowledge<\/p>\n Assumes a collective unconscious<\/p>\n Invites you to revisit it<\/p>\n If you don’t get it, you are motivated to figure out the jokes<\/p>\n the path from “I don’t get it” to “I get it” is quick and easy on the Internet, eliminating the need for the background graph so common to journalism<\/p>\n Humor is a great conversation starter. We need to be conversation starters, not conversation finishers<\/p>\n Humorous voice signals: talk about this<\/p>\n Authorative voice signals: yell about this<\/p>\n Dana Milbank’s Plouffe video<\/p>\n Accomplishes much more than a straight story, even a funny story<\/p>\n Humor endears you to the deliverer<\/p>\n Individuals are funny, institutions are bullies. Has to come from indiv.<\/p>\n The notion of staying out of the story may be a disincentive to be funny<\/p>\n As a society, when we use humor against the powerful, we use it to unsettle. When we use humor against everyone else, we use it to reinforce social expectations.<\/p>\n Maybe there’s a new idiom<\/p>\n humor\/no BS<\/p>\n new language of humor is emerging<\/p>\n relies on individuality<\/p>\n seems more truthful, but also more subjective<\/p>\n More new idioms we find, the more we connect with the audience<\/p>\n You have to be fast with your joke, the audience will click away if it gets bored<\/p>\n What’s your goal with humor? to be popular? to provoke? add perspective? document? truth?<\/p>\n Self-deprecating works well. Can journalists take it as well as they dish it out?<\/p>\n Final video: Business reporting spoof<\/p>\n Why is swearing so funny?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Submitted by Kelly McBride on Tue, 03\/03\/2009 – 2:03pmin Session Convenor: Kelly McBride Session Reporter: Kelly McBride Discussion Participants: Jos\u00e9 B\u00e1ez Guerrero, John Hamer, Jacob Kaplan-Moss, Jannet Walsh, Lori Rosolowsky, Nick Penniman, Tyson Evans Humor seems to be a huge … Continue reading