Secrets of Humor by Buster Keaton (Pour Vous, July 28, 1932)

Editor’s note: originally published (in French) by the French magazine Pour Vous, July 28, 1932. Recently republished in La Belle Equipe – translation by Google Translate.

To pay tribute to Buster Keaton for the 50th anniversary of his death on February 1, 1966 , we have decided to put online this text published in the magazine Pour Vous  on July 28, 1932 in which he gives us “the secrets of humor” .

The secrets of humor or the law of contrasts 
by BUSTER KEATON

The expression “sense of humor” is one of the most common and silliest in the world. The individual who has a sense of humor is the one who laughs in circumstances where people, less fortunate, can only nod their heads. A man who is capable of such an attitude has the reputation of possessing a sense of humor, unless he is called crazy.

A man who always laughs, even though nothing laughable is happening, is intolerable in society. A friend of mine had the habit of peppering me with ridiculous jokes when I happened to make some blunder. We remained on bad terms because, for three consecutive days, he happened to find fault with me three times and we no longer spoke.

I don’t know which is worse, the one who laughs at everything or the one who always moans for no reason. There’s nothing more stupid than a stupid laugh. He who bursts out laughing when he sees someone getting angry, falling down stairs or being splashed by an automobile, should be plunged up to his mouth in the mud of Dante ‘s Inferno , and there condemned to laughing perpetually with your mouth open.

A cynical Frenchman—the Duke of Rochefoucauld , I believe—said that all men secretly rejoice in the misfortune of their friends. It’s perfect, as long as this pleasure remains secret; but the friend who displays his pleasure in the presence of the misfortunes of a friend deserves that these misfortunes happen to him himself.

I have heard that lack of humor generally goes hand in hand with lack of tact and a lack of sense of proportion. 
That’s right.

When I started writing this article, I intended to tell you the funniest story I have ever known. She often made me laugh. It’s truly a gem. It’s a guy’s story…but why would I spoil it and why disappoint you? You would find her much less funny than I do. As I write it, I suddenly realize that it’s not so funny after all.

What is humor? At the risk of sounding stupid, I would say that it’s something that makes you laugh, and what makes you laugh best is the contrast. If you laugh when someone slips on a banana peel, it’s the contrast that amuses you. The stronger the contrast, the more laughter increases. If the individual is impeccably dressed, if he is particularly elegant, if he has a pretentious gait, the disaster will be all the more laughable.

What is Charlie Chaplin ‘s humor ? 
It is his air of confidence, the easy demeanor and the “know-how” that he adopts that contrasts so strangely with his patched clothes. The wanderer, the eternally unlucky person that Charlierepresents to us is not, in himself, particularly laughable. But when this vagabond lights the butt of a cigar, places his filthy hat on his ear, twirls his cane and seems, in a word, to want to go about life with the air of a great lord, he immediately becomes comical.

One of the greatest bursts of laughter in history occurred more than a hundred years ago at the Congress of Vienna. A certain Napoleon had then destroyed the harmony of Europe. 
The members of the European concert decided to put a stop to his actions, seized his person and locked him up. They then met to decide on the program for the following season. This was delicate work, because they all conceived it in a different way and all wanted to establish it in such a way that Napoleon ‘s friends would no longer come to trouble them again. After talking, shouting, and quarreling among themselves for three months, the agreement was finally made. Everyone shook hands and rejoiced when a messenger arrived who told them that Napoleon had left the places assigned to him and was preparing to start his jokes again. What did they do then? They could only sit down and burst out laughing. It’s in every history book. This is how the Congress of Vienna ended. The contrast seemed so great to them that it seemed to them that, while discussing the fate of a dead man, the body of the deceased suddenly revived had come to ask them what they were doing.

There is humor in the most serious things in life. For the ordinary man, the fall of Napoleon or Caesar is a fact that inspires fear and leaves him breathless. The contrast is too great to laugh about. But, for the great spiritual geniuses of the world, a Napoleon and a Caesar are only small fry. The great spiritual geniuses transcend the humor of the world. Their laughter is the laughter of the Gods. They see Napoleon and Caesar as a simple man sees Charlie Chaplin , a little creature who swaggers and behaves in a too-short jacket and worn shoes. 
“ Man ,” said one of the greatest among them, “ like an angry monkey, does such fantastic mischief under the heavens that he makes the angels cry .” »

Swift , another great humorist, achieved the contrast by endowing the dwarves of Liliput with the customs and pomp of full-sized humans. He then transposed the comedy onto ourselves by transporting us to the land of the giants. “ How frail is mortal grandeur,” the king of the giants philosophizes, holding a poor little human being in his hand, “when such puny creatures are afflicted by it! »

A favorite form of humor is burlesque: a serious or tragic story presented in a ridiculous and common way, or the opposite; a ridiculous and common subject treated in a serious or tragic style.

For You from July 28, 1932

My personal brand of humor is wooden face. On screen, I maintain an impassive mask in all circumstances, whether it is love, marriage, funeral or baptism. Around me, people are quivering with joy, trembling with fear, affected by tears. My face remains wooden. On screen, I’m the guy who doesn’t have a sense of humor. My mask remains impassive, while I make everyone laugh.

It is in the contrast that the comedy lies. 
A man who is abnormally short or tall, immediately becomes comical, but it is always prudent to remember that in the reality of life he cannot realize this himself. 
Buster Keaton

Source: Digital library of the Cinémathèque de Toulouse