Chapter 45

In this chapter, William F. Fry describes humor as play: "an interpersonal process or communication which either starts out contained in a play frame or which is suddenly caught into such a frame from behind when the episode is at the point of termination". The play frame means that the process is unreal and the meaning is different compared to the abstract laughter that follows it. A punch line may be expressed by any way that a human can communicate. A punch line is very important for any play. A joke is considered a play with a climax. The punch line is what combines communication and metacommunication. Metacommunication is communication about communication. When the punch line is delivered, the audience is able to differentiate the humor from play, dreams, etc. 

William Fry is a Stanford psychiatrist who has studied many different effects of humor. He informs people that no matter how crude a joke may be, there is always intended humor behind it. This is where the punch line comes in. The punch line is a big suprise in the joke and is what helps the audience interpret the humor. For example, the African American or blonde jokes people tell can be taken offensively and are quite crude and stereotypical, but there is always humor behind them which can be taken the wrong way. The punch line is supposed to help portray the humor. Freud argues that humor involves "masked or hidden agression". Sometimes this can be true, but with all the silliness and fun spirited people we have in our world, I don't think we all have anger issues. Other theorist, such as Aristotle and Hobbes, "argue that humor is based on a sense of superiority, and we laugh at people who have been made (or who make themselves) ridiculous. This can also be true at times, but there are very many people who are just genuinely funny and entertaining. 

On page 128, Berger includes a list of techniques of humor in alphabetical order. These forty-five techniques are what he thinks are the building blocks of humor. He believes that these techniques can be used to find out what mechanisms are at play in jokes and other forms of humor. Humor is used in our everyday lives and it is a very important aspect of communication when used in an appropriate circumstance.