The Art of the Practical Joke

Abstract

Elliott Oring once stated that some jokes are beautiful— a statement that at first blush seems either absurd or revolutionary. But if it seems revolutionary to apply aesthetic approaches to verbal jokes, practical jokes are even more low class. Nevertheless, practical jokes, too, can be beautiful, and people regularly evaluate them in terms that go beyond questions of amusement or appropriateness. Aesthetics and personal style are also at work. Style in practical joking is not simply the product of personality and circumstance, but is the result of conscious aesthetic choices by the joker. I will introduce a case study of two practical jokers I have met, comparing their different practical joke styles and the role that these jokes play in their lives.