Surprise
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#01
Only a Joke Can Save Us: A Theory of Comedy · Todd McGowan · p.20
The Similar and the Dissimilar > Repeating Funny Jokes
Theoretical move: Comedy requires an initial dissimilarity between elements, and surprise marks the moment that dissimilarity is bridged; repetition can sustain rather than exhaust comedy when the disparate elements remain genuinely distant, because the enjoyment of a joke is also mediated through the Other's enjoyment — an insight McGowan anchors in Freud's kettle-logic joke.
Repetition eliminates the element of surprise that comedy requires. Surprise indicates that we initially take the two elements as disparate and unrelated.