Deadpan Humour

Comedy has always been a great source of entertainment. The gift of making people laugh is one of the best gifts that a person can be blessed with. Some people have the uncanny ability of making people laugh by having a good ability to make them laugh. Out of all the different types of humor, there is one particular style, which is not only difficult to master, but most people find it difficult to even identify with it. It is the dry humor.

Deadpan, made up of two words dead and pan meaning "playing a role with expressionless face".Deadpan,dry humorordry witis the display of a lack of or no emotion, commonly as a form ofcomedicdelivery to contrast with the ridiculousness of the subject matter. The delivery is meant to be blunt,ironic,brief, or apparently unintentional.

Characteristics:-

• A deadpan artist uses words and phrases which are commonly used and understood by layman

• There is generally, minimal or no use of facial expressions, body language, props or any other tool to get the point of the joke across.

• The person states absurd and hardened facts in such a blatantly honest matter that it becomes hard not to laugh.

• All through the jokes, the person maintains a very monotonous demeanor.

• Sarcasm and cynicism are key factors in the development of dry humor.

• The term pokerfaced gets a new meaning when you see a person using dry humor. Expressionless faces are its highlight.

• Most people would consider deadpan humor to be rude, because they might not understand it OR because, in order to be good at delivering it, the person takes up a snooty personality for better effect.

• Generally, British humor is considered to be dry, as it has a stuck-up and uppish air to it.

• Simple facts and ideas are stated extremely plainly. This is what distinguishes this type of humor, which inherently and very obviously state the 'joke' in a statement.

• It has a sense of irony too.

Examples:-

• "Our bombs are smarter than the average high school student. At least they can find Kuwait." ~A. Whitney Brown

• "I've never been married, but I tell people I'm divorced so they won't think something is wrong with me." ~Elayne Boosler

• "A cop stopped me for speeding. He said, 'Why were you going so fast?' I said, 'See this thing my foot is on? It's called an accelerator. When you push down on it, it sends more gas to the engine. The whole car just takes right off. And see this thing? This steers it." ~Steven Wright