A Study on Humor in Sitcom Friends

王宜

【Abstract】Humor plays a very important role in our life. It can adjust social relationship， amuse ones mood， enrich ones life and exhibit ones wisdom. Sitcom is one of the most popular programs in modern society and in it humor plays an essential role. This study investigates the humorous dialogues in the American situation comedy Friends， and discusses how the humor is generated.

【Key words】humor； sitcom； Friends

Introduction

A situation comedy， or sitcom， is a genre of comedy telling the stories of characters who share a common environment （home or workplace） with often-humorous dialogue. It is originally devised for radio but today typically found on television. As is indicated by the name， situation comedies intend to be humorous so as to amuse the audience. This thesis aims at investigates humorous language in the American sitcom Friends and discusses how the humor is created.

1. Literature review

1.1 Situation comedy and its main features

The Wikipedias definition of a situation comedy is “a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment， such as a home or working space， with humorous dialogue.” Situation comedy， originated in U.S. radio in the 1920s and later took the form of television shows.

A sitcom in its nature is a comedy and is meant to be humorous. Sitcoms usually revolve around a same cast of characters and the stories take place in a common situation. Another important feature is the laugh track. To reduce costs， some producers may not use live audiences when shooting and use pre-recorded laughter instead. Sitcoms is also fixed length of episodes. Each episode is from 20 to 30 minutes. For American sitcoms， each season usually contains 23 to 24 episodes .

1.2 Definition of humor

According to Attardo （1994）， the English word “humor” or “humour” is derived from the Latin word， in the beginning it is a medical term which originally means “liquid” or “fluid” or “moisture”. In early Western physiological theory established by Hippocrates （460-370 B.C）， humor was regarded as one of the four fluids （blood， phlegm， choler， melancholy） of the body which were considered to determine a persons features. However， as time passing by， “humor” gradually loses its original meaning and gets meaning in the field of aesthetics and literature with sense of modern humor. At the end of 18th century， in Oxford English Dictionary， “humor” already had the modern meaning.

In the authoritative English dictionary MacMillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners， humor means the quality that makes a situation or entertainment funny， or the ability to know when something is funny， and to laugh at funny situations. In this thesis， the humor we talk about is of this meaning.

1.3 Humor in situation comedies

In sitcoms，humor is an important factor. In our daily life， it could be argued that most humor is unintentional and unconscious.But in sitcoms， humor doesnt result from conscious intellectual endeavor， even if it sometimes comes in the pretence of spontaneity.

2. Verbal humor in Friends

Verbal humor refers to humor created by the use of language. According to Prof. Li Junhua （1996：10）， 90% of humor is conveyed through language which is a genetic part of human beings， culturally loaded like traditional value orientations and habits （Salzmann， 1998：352）. It can be further divided into： humor of invention of new words or new usage， humor of sound & rhythm.

2.1 Invention of new words or new usage

Some humorous dialogues in Friends are created by the invention of new words or the new usage. It can be the combination of several existing words or the split of a word or phrase. The following are some examples.

Joey has to wear a tuxedo with a bow tie at the surprise birthday party for Monica. The tie hurts his Adams apple and he constantly takes it off. Chandler tells him to put it back on. The dialogue is as follows：

Chandler： Would you put that back on. Monicas gonna be here any minute.

Joey： But it hurts my Joeys apple.

Chandler： Okay， for the last time， its not named after each individual man.

The joke plays on the word “Adams apple”. Joey thinks it is named after each individual man and calls his Adams apple “Joeys apple”.

2.2 Sound & rhythm

Humor of sound & rhythm might involve the use of wordplay， but the humor is mainly produced by the general rhythm of the utterances. The creation of this type of humor is closely associated with the pronunciation features of the English language especially the rhyming sounds of consonants.

At one scene Pheobe explains the reason for refusing a job as a broker in the stock market. The conversion is as follows：

Pheobe： Because at that time， I thought everything that rhymed was true. I thought if I worked with stocks， I'd have to live in a box， and only eat lox and have a pet fox.

Humor of this case， as Pheobe says， lies in the overall balance of rhythm as well as the use of rhyming words （paronymy）.

3. Non-verbal humor in Friends

Non-verbal humor means humor created by the use of non-linguistics methods and is another important part of humor in Friends. It can be subdivided into： humor of body language， humor of shared language， humor of imitation.

3.1 Body language

Body language refers to characters expressions， gestures and movements， most times such humor does not contain culture-specific elements and is instantly comprehensible to Chinese viewers. The following are some examples：

Image 1 （Phoebe is giving Joey a haircut， E09）：

Image 2 （The three guys are doing a facial. E17）：

3.2 Shared knowledge

As a part of culture， humor deals with knowledge shared by a group of people. Therefore， humor of shared knowledge refers to humor created either by means of deliberate mentioning of a known item， figure， place， or event， or by means of allusions which is “an implicit reference， perhaps to another work of literature or art， to a person or an event”（Cuddon， 1991：29）. In the case of American humor， the items， figures， places or events mentioned are commonly known among people in the USA.

This type of humor can be subdivided into： humorous references of celebrities ， humorous references of daily knowledge ， and lastly humor of quotation. Here are examples of humor arising from reference of shared knowledge：

1） Humorous references of celebrities； in Episode 923-924， When Ross says he has met somebody famous， Joeys first guess is Britney Spears who is one of the most famous pop singers in the world. But apparently， Joeys guess is absurd as they are in Barbados to attend a paleontologist conference which pop stars such as Britney Spears is unlikely to attend.

2） Humorous references of daily knowledge； the life style and habits of American people are different from those for the Chinese. Hence， the American humor created out of such contents （daily knowledge） can be new or confusing for Chinese people.

At one scene， Rachel runs into the coffee shop in her wedding dress. She is wet and excited. The waitress wants to serve her some coffee. The conversion is as follows：

Waitress： Can I get you some coffee？

Monica： Decaf.

Drinking coffee is a daily habit of most westerners. Decaf is a term of coffee culture， short for decaffeinated coffee. Such coffee does not contain caffeine which will not refresh people with energy. Monica purposefully orders Decaf to remind Rachel to calm down. After Monica says Decaf， Rachel starts to calm herself as she catches Monicas hint.

3） Humor of quotation； in Episode 520， when Ross puts the strobe light under his clothes， he thinks of the movie E.T. the extra-terrestrial. Then Ross quotes one of the most famous lines “Phone home.” while mimicking E. Ts gesture. The humor of Ross quotation will soon be understood by the Americans as E.T. and the line of “Phone hone.” are as well-known to the westerners as Monkey King to the Chinese.

3.3 Imitation

Humor of imitation refers to humor created by imitating or adapting famous sayings in a comic way. In the case of American humor， the famous sayings or lines to be imitated or adapted are popular among people in the USA. Hereby the American receivers can soon recognize and appreciate the humor.

In Episode 523-524， Joey meets a man who has identical hands as Joey. So he makes up a song of which the lyric is “this hand is your hand”. The lyric is coincidentally a parody the song This Land Is Your Land in America. According to Wikipedia， This Land Is Your Land is one of the most famous folk songs in the USA. Therefore， the humor out of the similarity of Joeys lyric and the name of the famous song is easy to be recognized and accepted by local American audiences， which is not the case on the part of the Chinese audiences.

Conclusion

As a pervasive human phenomenon， humor is extensively studied in humanities. Scholars in different disciplines have all contributed to the investigation and theories of humor. As a TV sitcom， Friends influenced a generation of young people. It has become a textbook that introduces contemporary American life. The author looks into the humor in the sitcom and discusses how it can be generated.

The study concludes that humor in Friends is either created by the linguistic strategies like the creation of news words & usages， or non-verbal strategies like funny gestures. It attempts to help the audience especially English learners to comprehend and appreciate the humor in this sitcom.

References：

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