Humour and Incongruity

While reading Humour and Incongruity by John Lippett, Alexander Bain's concept stuck out to me the most. The theory that not all incongruity is expressed or showed through laughter but also through pain, sadness, and anger is most agreeable to me. Because incongruity may be taken in many different ways, Bain focuses the idea on the fact that all humor is based on the content, and the attitude of the listener. While he agrees that incongruity is funny at times, he also reflects that based on one's personal beliefs the humor could be misinterpreted. Unlike Schopenhauer, Bain acknowledges that the makeup of the joke is largely focused on, and not the content which is what leads to inappropriate incongruity. An example of incongruity that could be miscomprehended would be someone making a joke about impaired people, but there being someone in the room or nearby that happens to be impaired and didn't find the joke amusing because of the context. The three theories don't describe the different types of comedy, but show the structure of many works and the intended humor behind it. Incongruity, superiority, and relief jokes aren't always funny to everyone because one's norms and beliefs and attitudes differ from person to person.