Web Divergence Activity Week #2 (Due Tuesday)

"The humorous story is strictly a work of art--high and delicate art-- and only an artist can tell it." This quote came from the reading How to Tell a Story by Mark Twain. I feel that this quote does describes the the Stubborn Ram reading as well as the Not That I Can Think of youtube clip. In the first reading, How to Tell a Story, Twain describes the different ways of story telling, humorous, comic, and witty. The main focus is on the humorous story telling in which he describes it as "gently bubbles along, spun out of great lengths, rambling and disjointed humor." Twain emphasizes that the success of the a humorous story depends on the story teller. "In many cases the teller will divert attention from that nub by dropping it in a carefully casual and indifferent way, with the pretence that he does not know it is a nub." Twain compares this way of humorous story telling to the comic way in which the the comic story teller always shouts the nub, prints the nub with exclamation marks, or any way that will let the audience become aware that he has annouced the 'nub' or joke. This reading was a great way to introduce the next reading of the Stubborn Ram. The rambling and randomness of the drunk man telling the boys the story was an example of what Twain called 'humorous story telling.' His story was disjointed and never got to the exact point & the audience was never aware of the joke or why the ram was stubborn. The youtube clip was fun to watch with the father presenting an actual example of humorous story telling. At times you can actually hear the audience snicker in the background as the story teller jumped from one story to a completely differnt category. However, at the end of the story he manages to tie the joke together by ending with 'Not That I Know Of.' Stubborn Ram and Not That I Know Of exemplified Twains idea of humorous story telling and that the way success of the story depends on how it is presented and told.

After the readings and youtube clip I feel that Mark Twains sense of humor seems open minded and unlimited. Twain manages to describe the different kinds of story telling with knowledge and he seems to enjoy each one. How To Tell a Story demonstrates to me that Twain is able to appreciate the different styles of humor.

This particular quote from How To Tell A Story supports the idea that even if Twain himself is not the funniest or best story teller, he still understands how humor works and appreciates those who have the ability to humor others. "I do not claim that I can tell a story as it ought to be told. I only claim to know how a story ought to be told" - Mark Twain

I don't really like Mark Twain's sense of humor, for one it is not very humorous...and I don't like the fact that you have to wait until the end of a speech or what not that last several minutes to get to the punch line that has to deal with what the story started with. In my opinion, hell I forgot all about the beginning of the story by the time he or the guy in th youtube video keep rambling on about god knows what. Anyways, what I got from watching and reading these articles was that you have to have a pause just at the right moment so people understand the humor of the joke or what not. Furthermore, if you don't get the pause just right your humor of a speech is basically ruined. This also goes for if your pause is to short or too long...
In addition, Mark Twain points out that a humorous story is told my word of mouth and that is the American version, and it last about 10 minutes. Furthermore, he talks about "nubs" which are used in comic jokes in which the storyteller will use this as a way to tell the audience that that is the main reason for the joke or the punch line, whereas the storyteller of a humorous joke will never use a nub but just the important pause in the right places to keep the audience in suspense or to end the story.
Moreover, when it comes the the Ram story, I was somewhat lost, because like I mentioned earlier starts with the story, then wonders and starts coming back at the end but never finishes it due to his drunken state. In addition, the boys never will understand why the ram is so called "stubborn." Twain has what I call a unique sense of humor that only some people understand. I had to watch the youtube video a couple times to understand what the guy was getting at, but he does go off of what Twain mentions about telling a humorous story with the right pause and length and so forth. The guy starts out talking about John and then tells a whole story about a guy names Sean and his wife and a deer and then stops blantly and goes, now that I think of it I don't know a guy names John and that ends the storytelling. In my opinion I don't understand this type of humor but I guess others do and its just one type of humor I don't find humorous, but dull.
Overall, Twain's humor according to what we have learned so far, would best be described as humor having different viewpoints and emphasis. Like at the start of this class, I mentioned I love sarcasm and making humor out of sarcastic statements, which is why I think I don't understand Twain's sense of humor as much, but he does put good emphasis on knowing how to tell a joke and when to pause and so forth which makes the story. Furthermore, I guess I agree with Steve in the matter that Twain has to ability to see other's perspective through his eyes and there are different perspectives when it comes the humor.

Mark Twain’s humor I think is a complex process. It is not only the punch line that is important, but the whole joke telling process. Twain told longer stories that had humorous parts to them, but not only were the words essential to the joke, but also other aspects, like pausing at certain places, or other nonverbal cues. In his piece, How to Tell a Story, Twain pays attention to these cues. According to Twain, telling a humorous story, the most difficult kind of story to tell, is a work of art. Unlike comic and witty stories, which can be told by anyone, humorous stories involve more work. Twain emphasizes the importance of starting one of these stories acting like it is just a story, unlike comic stories, which are often prefaced by saying that something was the funniest thing that a person has ever heard and then repeating it. A comic also makes a big deal about the punch line, or the ‘nub’ as Twain refers to it, and yells it, or might even explain the humor behind it after it is told, whereas the teller of a humorous story acts as if nothing is humorous about the story, even after people are laughing.

Pauses are important in these humorous stories and Twain showed this is his short stories about the wounded soldier and the golden arm. He also called attention to other things that a story teller might do, like in the case of the Golden Arm, a person might shake and shiver at appropriate times and moan like a ghost. These nonverbal cues separate good storytellers from the bad.

Twain was such a popular writer because he wrote about things that everyday people might experience, but put it in a funny way. This is very similar to how todays comedians often use things that happen or could happen to anyone, or observations of the world around them and put them in a funny light in order to amuse them. It is obvious that Twain was and still is a very influential role model in comedy.

I think that early theorist might have used Twain’s humorous stories when coming up with the different theories. He was one of the earliest American humor writers, and his work still influences people today. Going along with the Superiority theory, someone is often the butt of Twain’s jokes. In the Story of Grandfather’s Old Ram, Jim Blaine is the butt of the joke because he is intoxicated and tells a long story, supposedly about the adventures he had with his grandfather’s ram, but ends up getting side tracked several times, and no one ever really knew the story behind this ram, even though he had tried to tell it every time he got a to a particular drunkenness, and continued storytelling until he eventually passed out. In the story of the Golden Arm, the girl that is targeted at the end of the story to scare is who the joke is aimed at, similar to elaborate situations that we might be able to relate to in order to scare or play a prank on one of our friends.

I think that Twain is overly critical of other types of humor besides humorous story telling. People enjoy one liners and short jokes just as they enjoy longer stories, but Twain believed that these comic stories might as well not even be told if they aren’t going to be told in the format that he thinks stories should be told. I think that in today’s society, if people aren’t interested quickly, all interest and attention will be lost and people will not even get to appreciated the humor in the story. Just like how it takes effort in the story teller to be able to communicate a good story, with longer stories it often takes effort on the part of the listener to be able to follow the story and then realize what is humorous about it, where shorter jokes it is usually more obvious. I felt that although these stories and the YouTube clip were humorous, they got to be a little long, and although I was paying attention for this assignment, I can’t say that I still would have if I were just looking for a laugh.

I was never really a fan of Mark Twain’s work, however, I can see where he is a great writer. In his work How To Tell a Story, it is no different. His opinions on the different types of funny stories have been well thought out, and are well explained.
Comic and Witty are the two types of the humor, and are presented as undignified, almost barbaric. The funniness is dependent on the content and the punch line is not snuck in, or surprising but ‘shouted’ or announced. The teller is usually the first to laugh, in, what Twain presents as an almost obnoxious way.
According to Twain, humor is the most dignified of the three types. He believes that it is ‘owned’ or perhaps told best by Americans. Humor is a ‘work of art’ because it requires acting and skill on the joke teller’s part. The level of funny depends on the finesse of the person telling, the need to almost sneak in the funny part, in a way that it surprises and if funny. In humor the audience is the first to laugh, because the joke teller plays innocent and waits for everyone to get the joke.
Both the story of the ram and the youtube clip Not That I Know Of are categorized as humor, according to Mark Twain’s definition. Both are told innocent of the laughter, where the punch lines are not shouted, but hidden within the text. Neither stories are short and to the point, as comic and witty are. Both stories, in fact are the long, meandering stories which Twain describes, just kind of circling and going where they please before ending at the humor. In the story of the ram, Twain is dying to hear a story his friends have promised him is hilarious. After a long time of trying to his friend’s father in the right mood for this story, he is finally there, and he begins telling this apparently hilarious story. What I believe is the punch line to the readers is that the grandfather trails off and falls asleep in the middle of the story, and the end is never told. However I think that Twain and his friends are laughing at the grandfathers expense, at the way he is telling the story.
The youtube clip is clearly not a professional comedian telling a story. It is a conversation that begins with him not knowing someone, and then telling a story about how he has not seen someone entirely different since they broke a bed and caused utter chaos in a furniture store. While the entire story is meant to be funny, the punch line is that this entire, funny story was told just to reiterate that the teller does not know the other person.
Twain's humor could be considered aggressive. It is at the expense of others in The Story of Grandfathers Old Ram. In How To Tell a Story there are aggressive situations. Although the story of the wounded soldier is an example of making a funny situation out of a serious one. In Twain's opinion, humor is the best of the three types he talked about, and if his funny stories are all like the one told by the grandfather, then he most likely tells more humor than comic or wit.

I love Twain's satire in the first piece presented. Mark Twain's satirical view on culture can be found in even his most mainstream books (Huck Finn, Prince and the Pauper, and Tom Sawyer) Even though satire isn't a heavy theme in these books, it's definitely there. The following two pieces only expound upon his idea of "How to Tell a Story".

The satiric genius comes through when Twain goes on to speak about the farmer, and how he fumbles and muddles the comic joke about the wounded soldier. Nobody thinks people who tells stories like that are funny, we think their dirtballs because they messed up a good joke. That, to me, is Twain's point.
“The humorous story may be spun out to great length, and may wander around as much as it pleases, and arrive nowhere in particular.” Twain's illustrious writing at work again, but this is pure bs on his part. He touches on the idea of why people find humor a necessary way to incorporate themselves to be a valuable part of society.

In the video of the man rambling on and on about frankly nothing, we see Twain's point shine through. The title really explains everything we need to know about the story. "Not that I can think of" is kind a of satiric play of words about what's to come, as the man just keeps going on and on and on. It's not funny, not at all, the joke is that your supposed to get the underlying jest of people who tell really long, hum drum stories. The cello is a nice, biting sarcastic reminder of that also. *Bum bum - talk talk talk talk talk talk - bum bum*

Twain's humor could relate to this class as is it kind of ironic/sarcastic. I'm still having trouble trying to define if it's situational humor or some other kind. The first piece seems mean-spirited, mean-spirited in the fact that his writing is almost flawless and it leads you to believe he's being serious. Maybe it's a kind of deprecating humor in where he finds it funny to trick people. I believe Mr. Twain would be having a good laugh right now if he knew people had taken his word for truth

In Mark Twain short story “The Story of Grandfather’s Old Ram, Roughing it” and his essay “How to Tell a story”, Twain emphasizes the importance of the physical aspect of telling jokes/stories. Twain points out that timing and body movement of the story teller is key, as well as the volume and tone of the delivery to the audience. Thus it is not only the joke itself; it is the communication and connection between the teller and the audience.
In his essay, Twain groups wit and comic stories together as charming, but unintelligence and lower quality. They are short and abrupt, aimed for a cheap laugh at any moment from a teller. It does not matter if he gets elements of the joke wrong or fails to get a connection or good laugh out of people besides himself. On the other hand, Twain states that humorous stories are more complex and superior in many ways. Twain believed there were certain elements which made a story humorous, Some of which were atypical punch lines and well-timed paused before such punch lines. Furthermore, there is what Twain describes a “thinking aloud” element, or what I would call rambling. This, I believe, is necessary in building up tension of the joke.
The example of a humorous story, “The Golden Arm” within the essay and “Old Ram” carry many similarities but also differences. In both of them rambling is involved. In “The Golden Arm”, the joke starts out building up the audience. Perhaps the slang brings people to listen intently to what is being said. Furthermore, the element of horror brings up the tension. Then the punch line comes as a singled out surprise to one person, which everyone gets a laugh out of. The punch line to the “old ram” story is different in that there is none. Tension for the narrator was built up by others, and then the tension increases as the narrator impatiently listens to all elements of the Jim’s story to get to what happen with the ram, then nothing.
Both of these stories remind me Freud’s description of “Comic”. The physical element of surprise is present in both punch lines; the reaction of the audience to the lack of punch line in both is the cause of something unexpected. From what I gather from other posts (it won’t work on my computer) video is a modern example of this story telling which Mark Twain emphasized. The buildup of tension in the audience creates the punch line. Perhaps it is something to do with the investment that the audience is making to the joke. In the stories the all the audience members listened intently. I believe the laughter comes as a release of this tension in something unexpected.

The focus of these websites is on the type of routine Twain calls humor. Twain distinguishes humor from wit or comic. He says that anyone can tell a comical or witty story but it takes someone creative and talented in the art of storytelling to tell a tale of humor. Twain describes stories of wit or comic as being obvious jokes with pronounced punch lines. In these stories, it is obvious to the audience that the teller is “trying.” Stories of humor are stories in which the teller begins with one topic but then goes off on tangents and the story becomes somewhat random. When this happens, either the teller never reaches the point of the story or the point is reached at the very end and all of the previous ideas in the story were unnecessary. The teller must act as though they are unaware of the audience’s confusion. I’m not sure is confusion is the correct word but the teller must not react to the audience. It has to be like he or she is in their own world while telling the story.
Twain also points to the importance of pauses in telling, not just a humorous story, but a good story. He gives the example of “The Golden Arm” story. In order to surprise the audience in the end, the pause before the last line is crucial. If you don’t wait long enough then the last line is not enough of a surprise. If the pause is too long, the audience realizes what is coming.

As the text says, today we use humor as an umbrella term for anything that is funny. Twain refers to this specific storytelling routine as a humorous story. Today, most of us would say a humorous story is one that makes us laugh. I do not agree with Twain that “humor” stories are the funniest and require the most skill. I did not find these stories funny in the slightest. What Twain described is a style of storytelling that he personally found funny and to be the most difficult to master. I think these stories are funny when they are not rehearsed, planned, or set up. For example, I think that if I would have been present for the “Old Ram” story, it would have been funny as it was to the boys that were there. I can compare the artificial humor story to aggressive humor in that it could be taken as making fun of someone old, impaired, or not very smart. I could compare the authentic humor story to accidental humor because the storyteller, in this case, does not realize the funniness of the story.
I feel like I might add more to this post in the near future. I just need to find a way to write out what I’m thinking. Something about linking this specific humor with the times and geographical area and the fact that Twain says the humor story (orally passed down) originates in America. I’ll figure out my thoughts and get back.

While looking over the websites assigned I realized that I don't think Mark Twain knows what funny is. I understand that everyone has a different sense of humor and that everyone's opinion is valid but I really think he missed the mark on the stories that were told. I understand Twain's ideas from "how to tell a story". Twain is correct on a few things a humorous story if told correctly can be wonderful. Maybe my issue with his ideas was that the stories that were told were completely boring to me. I've seen humorous stories told in the way Twain describes them. They use the correct pausing and draws the story out and with the right story and the right person it can be very humorous. However, I was a little offended with Twain's view on the other types of humor. Comic and witty stories can be just as funny if told correctly. Twain's "Golden Arm" story is one that I've heard several times but never in the context of a humorous story. I've heard it told as a ghost story, meant to scare whoever they yell the last line at. Twain even mentions that the point is to make someone jump out of their seat at the end. This reminds me of our chapter 2 reading about aggression in humor. Come to think of it, both stories that I read in "how to tell a story" are aggressive in nature.

There are obviously several different types of humor. How you tell a joke is extremely important and is often what makes it funny. Twain used his experience in listening to and telling humorous stories. My husband often draws out his stories to a length that I find ridiculous. When I say something he always tells me that I don't watch the audience enough, he tells a story by "reading" the audiences reaction. As long as they are laughing he draws the story out. I think this is kind of what Twain was referring to.

The first Mark Twain piece “How to tell a story” was centered on the points necessary for the art of good storytelling in a humorous context. Drawing from experiences from hearing others do this, Twain says there are elements which may capture or lose the audience in how the story is told. He states that humorous stories are the most difficult to tell and unlike others which are comic and witty, the humorous story is American. He also voices his distaste for the comic story telling which he claims are pathetic to see because they emphasize the parts of the story which are supposed to be funny over and over, and sometimes the person telling the story is the first to laugh at the end. Twain also states that humorous storytelling is a beautiful work of art in order for it to be just that there are certain features it must encompass; it must string incongruities and absurdities together in a wandering way, contain slurring of the point, it must drop a studied remark as if one were thinking aloud, and it must also has a pause. The pause is very important, according to Twain, for if done incorrectly, it could change the course of how the story is presented and take away the meaning; if done incorrectly, the pause may contribute to failure of the intended storytelling.
The second Mark Twain piece “Roughing It” is a little more difficult to follow because it goes from one topic to the next and there is no main point. The story is narrated for the most part by Jim Blaine, who is intoxicated; the story is originally intended to tell about an old ram that belonged to Jim’s Grandfather, which he does state briefly in the beginning however he ends up on so many other tangents about town folk and their lifestyles that he eventually ends up falling asleep before he can get to the actual story about the ram. The second story is somewhat more entertaining because of all of the funny details (for example, Miss Wagner and the borrowed glass eye; completely irrelevant to the story, but definitely funny).
The third piece involves a man rehearsing a story in front of his audience while his son plays what appears to be a cello. He tells a humorous long winded story in which a rhetorical “no” could have answered the question. Instead he eventually goes on to tell a funny story involving a heavy-set man who is mattress shopping at the time that a deer happens to get into the store. As he tells the story, he asks his son if he remembers certain people, events, and time frames. The boy is pretty young, so it is obvious some things he doesn’t remember, and he responds with a simple head nod either way, which makes this more humorous because the man telling the story rambles on to the end regardless.
Based on what I have learned so far on the psychology of humor, I would have to say from the first piece Twain agrees with the text on how it is necessary for a story to have certain elements which allow it to be humorous to an audience. Twain also makes a distinction between comic, wit, and humorous stories in that with comic and with they must be brief and end with a point, where the humorous story wanders. The text also makes distinctions between wit and humor in the context in which they are used. The second piece is harder to distinguish in terms of humor because although it is funny when talking about the people involved, I found myself forgetting what point it was trying to make, thus it was a little confusing, and at the end when I realized why it was supposed to be funny (because the storyteller fell asleep before finishing) I was still trying to piece together how the characters in the story all related to each other with what was happening. Thus, this type of humor seemed drier to me; it wasn’t what I expected. It was especially evident in the second piece to absorb everything that was happening or it was easy to lose track of who the storyteller was referring to. Twain definitely has a different spin on the concept of humor; how to tell a humorous story and how one is told through narration. The Jim Blaine narration is unique in the sense that it’s not just about an initial punch line as with comic and joke humor and I found it more humorous reading it a second time when I was able to understand how the rambling and absurdities came into play. This made me laugh throughout, not just at the end of the story. The third piece is told much the same way as the second in that the original point of the story becomes a collection of another drawn out story entirely. It made me realize by watching the storytelling instead of just reading about it brings it to life, and Twain’s way of capturing how a character is able to provide such detail in these stories allows me to see this unique side of humor. I actually laughed a little throughout the whole video.

Before reading these pieces “Old Ram” or “How to Tell a Story”, I used to think of Mark Twain as the man who wrote Tom Sawyer, a story that has clever one-liners, uses satire from Tom’s point of view, and requires the reader to travel back in time (if their an adult) to remember what it was like as a child (and he even asks this of his audience before the story begins). No, it’s never made me burst out laughing, but it still makes me chuckle a little, or beam at an idea or line. I find it hard to feel the same way about the “Old Ram” or “How to Tell a Story”. I never really laughed.

In “Old Ram,” it is hard to recognize the different forms of humor. If there were any obviously identifiable, I would say it could be type 8) Clever replies to serious statements. To start off, the character must be completely drunk (the reason he rambles) to be able to tell the story. Why? It is because he lacks the ability to tell the story sober because of embarrassment, or is it because the right amount of beer can clear his senses. Maybe it’s because I’m not a fan of the idea of ‘being drunk is the only way to have fun.’ Mark Twain would write specific work for the specific audience.
Perhaps Jim Blaine’s rambling would be funny if this were to be performed live, on stage, but to actually read it... It reminds me of when a grandparent wants to tell their grandchild something, but ends up on a tangent, and just rambles and rambles until the idea goes foggy until they ask the grandchild “What was I saying again?” Such things remind me of human mortality.

In “How to Tell a Story”, I agree with some of the users on here. Since language and word definitions change over time, maybe the ideas of the differences between humor, comedy, and wit have changed too. I agree with Missy that the two types Twain finds unappealing (because obviously everyone can perform comedy or wit according to Twain) can be just as funny as humor. But was “The Wounded Soldier,” at a point in history, actually funny? In that time, maybe, but the idea of what makes people laugh changes over time. If this story were to be told by a stand-up comedian today, various salad bar vegetables and condiments would be used in an orthodox fashion. I doubt the audience would be bent over with laughter in their chairs. And seeing as the civil war was such a bloody, long war with many casualties, I would think the narrator would not burst “into explosion after explosion of thunderous horse-laughter, repeating that nub from time to time through his gaspings and shriekings and suffocatings.”

Atter reading these pieces, it’s kind of hard keeping Mark Twain up on that pedestal of All-Time-Great-Authors. Reading some of his work is rather un-thrilling and un-funny. It’s probably for the best that he’s known for more his Tom & Huckleberry characters than these pieces.

-Michelle L. of Author Seminar: Mark Twain class.

I had never read Mark Twain’s stories, “The Story of Grandfather’s Old Ram, Roughing it” and his essay “How to Tell a story” and I must say, I found mixed emotions about them all. I definitely felt “tricked”, especially by the end of the Old Ram story. I really wanted to know the story and felt completely naive when I came to the end of the story and that silly drunk old man passes out instead of getting to the point. I will admit, I laughed out loud, finally fully understanding the joke. I was the silly one who did not even see it coming, even though it has been the theme in class the previous day! I loved incorporating the utube video because I felt that was a great way to illustrate another example as to how this sort of humor works. The crowd or audience sits on the edge of their seats waiting for the story to circum to a point but that point is, there is no point. (ha, ha, right??) To some people, this could drive them away from letting Mark Twain “trick” them again into reading another long drawn out story about nothing, but others embrace his cleverness and awe in satirical comedy.
I do feel that Twain does have a point in the essay, “How to Tell a Story”, in which anyone can tell a joke, a joke that does not even have a very good punch line. The point is to get everyone together and for the joke teller to feel like an intricate part of a social crowd, which is why jokes are important to begin with. He also is correct when stating that it is all about the delivery of the joke. The story of The Golden Arm is a great example of a story that has been told over campfires for hundreds of years. I can honestly remember being told that story by my mother in the dark and screaming at the top of my lungs when she grabbed my arm. The funny part of the entire story was my scream. That is another strong point with the humor of Mark Twain, it is ok to laugh at the expense of other people. He does not mean this in a cruel way, however if the opportunity is there, it is our comedic duty to fulfill the Golden Arm scream from a timid looking girl in the audience. The point is to captivate that audience and end with them all laughing, forgetting what the story was really about, only remembering the scream from that innocent audience member. For me personally, reading the story of the Old Ram was totally worth it. Twain made me laugh at myself, which is just plain funny.
Amanda D. Kliegl
Mark Twain Seminar in Literature

Reading Twain's tall tales has been interesting for me because, while I have never read them before, I have seen them performed. About 8 years ago, I saw Hal Holbrook's performance of Mark Twain and laughed so hard I cried. Now, reading them for the first time, I find drawing on the memory of the performance helps me find the humor in the tales. I find myself putting in pauses and creating a performance in my head. I believe this is the key point Twain is trying to make in "How to Tell a Story." Twain is emphasizing the performative nature of story telling, mocking those who don't see the art in it. He points out that when a person tells a comic story, he "tells you beforehand that it is one of the funniest things he had ever heard...." If you have to tell someone you are going to be funny in order for them to know they should laugh, where is the subtlety? Where is the art? The Psychology of Humor textbook chapter explains further by defining the difference between a joke and spontaneous conversational humor as contextual and relying on "nonverbal cues indicating a humorous intent."

Twain's tall tales were clearly meant to be performed. Of course, performance requires an audience and, as Twain points out in "How to Tell a Story," the listener has a responsibility in creating the humor of the story by remaining alert and looking for the humor hidden amid the absurdity. When performed well to a receptive audience, the rambling nature of the humorous story draws the audience in, rather than losing them. I think we saw this demonstrated when we watched the Hal Holbrook performance of "The Old Ram" in class. Watching the audience, people were leaning forward in their seats, paying close attention to the performance and laughing, hard. Often, it was the pauses or the facial expressions that made people laugh, not the words of the story. To use the psychology term, the "nonverbal cues" indicated the humor. To use Twain's terms, the "manner of the telling" made the story humorous, not the "matter" of the story.

Deb Young

I am beginning think of Twain as something of a researcher. To an extent, I would say that all writers are researchers of some subject, and Twain's is research into the very particular subject of humor. How does one evoke a laugh or draw out a smile? How does one use her voice, her intonation, her body to signal to someone else that something should be perceived as funny? The Psychology of Humor introduction discusses the fact that, although cultures can perceive humor differently, the "sounds of laughter are indistinguishable from one culture to another" and "there is evidence of specialized brain circuits for humor and laughter in humans" (page 3 in the copy). So, although Twain now occupies a position in people's minds as the quintessential American humorist writer (and without suggesting that the following was Twain's active, conscious goal), I wonder if it would be too much of a leap to suggest that Twain's goal, bringing about that laugh, is a cross-cultural endeavor. Everyone laughs, and those people who specialize in producing that laughter are researches exploring ways to draw out what the psychology text suggests is an essential piece of being human.

The most obvious example of Twain as a researcher testing observable human reactions is his essay "How to Tell a Story". Although he begins the essay by breaking down what he believes are the three categories of humor, I think the really essential part of the text is actually the story of "The Golden Arm" because it focuses on the very specific actions and intonations of the story-teller that result in very particular, very calculated reactions. It is not necessarily a humorous tale, but it provides the building blocks, those crucial signals, for telling a funny story. Try telling the story without the suspense that Twain instructs the speaker to have. It does not amount to much. This portion of the essay explains why someone can say something that leaves everyone rolling on the floor and someone else can say that exact same thing and get crickets.

It is his focus on the action/reaction (sort of like the evolutionary gesture-call system)that makes Twain's work funny and impacting. He sends the right cues. I think he attempts to send these cues and instruct his audience even in nonverbal situations such as written tales like "The Story of the Old Ram". We see in this story the use of em-dashes, italics, and, near the end especially, a peculiar way of stretching out the narrator's words letter by letter. All of these things are a result of Twain's observations into the ways people respond to body language and vocal messages.

Alissa Cornick

I think it is easy to have misconceptions about what you will experience or get from reading Twain. I know I certainly have. I felt more amused than anything when reading "How To Tell A Story" and "The Story of the Old Ram". They were not the kind of stories I had expected to hear and while I didn't laugh outlout I found them to be somewhat humerous. It has made me wonder quite a bit if the humor of Twain is somewhat lost for us in this day and age. But it is also possible to see, given the example of the Youtube clip, that Twain's humor can act as template so to speak for other writers or humorists.
My ideas of Twain have definetly grown and changed especially since reading Innocents Abroad. To those of you doubting Twain's ability to be funny, I would definetly reccommend reading this. I found myself laughing outloud frequently. My question of whether or not his humor was lost for us in this day and age was answered with an uproarious "no". The humor is most certainly still there.

Whintey Judas
Seminar:Mark Twain

I think that what makes Twain's style of humor particularly interesting to me is the way he empahsizes the use of pauses to illicit laughter from his audience, yet obviously he does not insert those pauses into his writing. He simply tells the reader that when the story is told those pauses should be inserted. I find it interesting that his stories are funny when read without the pauses but not very funny when spoken without the pauses.
I think that the psychology of humor chapter addressed Mark Twain's humorous irony well. "The Story of the Old Ram" is funny because the story has nothing to do with an old ram; nothing to do with anything really. However, I think that the psychology of humor chapter did a poor job of addressing how social norms influence what people laugh at. I think social learning is at the root behind Mark Twain's use of the pause in comedy. The pauses are funny because they make people uncomfortable and they then fall back upon humor as a way to restore social normality.
Todd Dralle
Mark Twain Seminar

I'm gonna do as many people have already done and discuss the Twain short story "How to Tell a Story" I really enjoyed how Twain described the proper way of telling a humorous story because it reminded me of how many comedians are. In fact not too long after the show I began watching a few of my favorite stand up comedians and noticing how they pause for effect, just as Twain describes in his story.

Another thing I noticed with many comedians is that as Twain described in his story of a proper way to tell a humorous story describe how usually a humorous story it is told gravely, and tends to finish with a "nub" as Twain calls it and that
"the listener must be alert, for in many cases the teller will diver attention from that nub by dropping it in a carefully casual and indifferent way, with the pretense that he does not know it is a nub." (Twain 391-392)
I found this to be similar to how many comedians will act as the are telling a story, usually a comedian will tell the story and drop in a funny one-liner and go on like he or she never even realized it was funny.
Anyway this is what I observed after having read that short story.

Amanda Chavez
Mark Twain Seminar

I find that Twain fellow quite hilarious. His stories remind me of a time when I was helping my old next door neighbor, Willard, feed fish in his koi pond. Now, Willard was sort of an interesting gentleman. He had a creaky metal knee that made the most awful noise when he hobbled -- something akin to the sound cats make when you swing them against the side of a barn -- see, the problem with old man Willard was that every time he intended to feed his favorite koi fish, his squeaky limbs -- groaning and wailing like a great iron castle gate would sound like, I imagine -- would frighten them all away; so, he would have to sneak up on them real slow in order to keep them in proper health. This was a peculiar sight for a young boy, such as myself. You see, I had all ready observed that the elderly are not individuals that perform rapid movements and feats of agility. Here I am, staring out my window, wondering why the old hermit across the street seemed to be playing "Red Light, Green Light" with his fish! I thought: "I didn't know Willard's fish could play games!" I'd always assumed that the crone's favorite fish, Spot, was probably the most intelligent, considering that smart fish would come up to the old man's hands and rub against his fingers, every time Willard stooped to dip his hand in the pond. But, I never imagined that Spot could be good at children's games! You know, that reminds me of a children's game that I used to play, but it often required physical contact with persons of the opposite sex. Lord knows at that age the last thing I wanted to contract was "cooties" from some empty-headed female. "Red Rover, Red Rover" was a particularly dangerous sport that involved me flailing my body through boatloads of other appendages. I never much did care for that game, especially when Katie Hegland was across from me. Oh! Her sweet smile and soft auburn hair sent shivers through my spine, up and down my body, captivating the very essence of my being! Not that I'd ever say that out loud. She still had cooties. You know, I came clean with Katie in the eighth grade, but I don't think she was too keen on it, on account of her contorted facial expressions. It sort of looked like she was hit in the face with a big ol' wad of spoiled meat. I mean, not that she looked ugly or anything. No, she was extremely beautiful. But she still had cooties.

Derek Grote
Mark Twain Seminar