Don’t even start, you two.
It’s Tuesday, which means that we’re not even halfway through the work week. Now isn’t that a depressing thought? To alleviate some of your despair, we bring you another edition of Trope Tuesday, a weekly sojourn into the literary devices and themes that make entertainment fun (and gives us an excuse to use alliteration in a recurring segment, also fun). This week, we’re examining the Hurricane of Puns.
A sudden, protracted volley of puns. Approach this technique with caution, as viewer nausea (or a lynch mob) may be a side-effect.
In a Sitcom, a Hurricane Of Puns often appears after one or two characters have done something embarrassing and decide to not talk about it. Naturally, every conversation they have is rife with unintentional puns and Freudian Slips that go unnoticed by others but drive them to sheer panic.
On the other hand, sometimes these storms approach from the opposite direction… One person cracks a pun, another feels the urge to one-up it, and so it goes until the ammunition is exhausted and the puns fall silent.
Rarely, someone will just rattle off a string of puns for the hell of it.
Puns are a dangerous form of comedy, and it takes a good hand to make them into something that won’t incite a mass groan of disapproval. Doing this repeatedly is even riskier, as it requires an amazing level of ability to play straight on most television aimed at mature viewers.
Normally, I hate puns. That’s a product of having grown up with friends that loved them. I hate puns because even the most innocent of conversations would give my friends a cue to drop them. You’re having a conversation about, say, The Avengers and they’ll suddenly say “Well I hope this movie is Loki.” And then they stare at you, grinning like an idiot, expecting you to be amused by their latest “clever” turn of phrase when all you really want to do is bludgeon them to within an inch of their life for dropping the eighteenth pun in the last ten minutes worth of conversation.
But I digress
I hate puns because they’re often used excessively by people and are extraordinarily forced in conversation. Now, when it’s used well, a pun can be great. Let’s look at an exchange from one of my favorite Expanded Universe novels, Starfighters of Adumar. In this scene, the band of heroes are talking to a documentary filmmaker with a camera made out of a droid’s head:
Janson grinned at her. “Some days make you just want to beat your heads against a wall, don’t they?”
Hobbie said, “Maybe not. The young lady might not have her heads on straight, after all.”
Tycho said, “Still, I think she ought to get her heads examined.”
Wedge looked at them, appalled.
Oh Wedge. I feel your pain.
