Humor in HP

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 186545

Carol earlier:
> > I was thinking strictly of the books and JKR's own sense of humor <snip>.
> > 
> > Sometimes, it's visual humor that depends on the image the reader conjures up in his or her imagination (Grawp patting Hagrid on the head, for example). But you're right about some of it being situational and character driven. <snip>
> > 
> > I do think, though, that JKR's ability to find comic moments in tragic or potentially tragic moments is one of her strengths as a writer. <snip>

> > Carol, who doesn't have access to Britcoms and is still somewhat at a loss regarding understated British humor (maybe I should look for it in Jane Austen!)
> >
Steve replied:
> 
> I found a lot of things funny in the Harry Potter books. Ron and the twins for example are hilarious.  Some of what they said and did offended some, but not me, I loved it all. Luna was my absolute favorite, as was everyone's responses to what she would say and do.

Carol again:
Oh, yes, Luna! Absolutely inspired lunacy most of the time (with an element of pathos as well). I didn't care for her much on first acquaintance (the Spectrespecs, etc.) but, as Ron says, she grows on you (well, me). I wasn't amused by "Loser's Lurgy," but I thought that the Rotfang Conspiracy was one of the funniest ideas in the books. I also thought that her reference to a Hufflepuff player as something like Bibble or Buggins and McGonagall yelling "Cadwallader!" was hilarious. Again, the reason it's funny seems to be incongruity and the element of surprise.

Steve wrote: 
> And for me at least, certain characters were simply comical on their own merits, w/o saying anything funny.  Crabbe and Goyle crack me up just standing behind Malfoy like grouchy gargoyles waiting to pounce.  Hagrid trying to squeeze through the doorway at the Burrough. Umbridge being carried off by the centaurs. Students in the common room puking up stuff as part of the twins experiments next to other students studying as if nothing strange is happening next to them. Kreacher hitting Mundungus w/ a frying pan. Ginny's favorite spell being bat boogies.  Gnomes being thrown out of the garden.

Carol responds:
Of all those examples, the only one that's funny to me is Kreacher hitting Mundungus with a frying pan. I don't generally like slapstick humor, but that particular instance--again, perhaps, because it's completely unexpected and at odd with my expectations for House Elves in general and Kreacher in particular--made me laugh out loud and want to read it again.

Steve: 
> There's a lot of tension at times in the novels. Humor is one of the best ways to alleviate tension and give the readers a chance to relax and move forward again. JKR created many characters that were real enough to be funny at times.  Those of us who appreciate that humor enjoy the books on a level others are unable or unwilling to.

Carol:
I agree with regard to the way humor functions in the novels, but I suspect that almost any reader will find something funny in them even if we don't all laugh at the same things. I'm "unable or unwilling" to laugh at Dudley Dursley and the Ton-Tongue Toffee, for example, but I'm delighted to laugh at Luna and sometimes Ron (when he's not being crude), but hyperbole and slapstick are usually not funny to me.
 
Steve: 
> Steve, who loves British comedies, especially Monty Python, Red Dwarf and Faulty Towers, but wishes anyone good luck in finding it in Jane Austen.

Carol:
I think you'd be surprised with regard to Jane Austen, who is one of JKR's favorite authors and, IMO, influenced her writing, especially with regard to misdirection and irony. But, of course, Austen's humor is much more subtle. 

Carol, who definitely needs to see Monty Python and/or "Fawlty Towers," as I think it's spelled, if only to get more in touch with British popular culture