Editing Humour (section)

==Formula==
[[File:Cyklisci dk ubt.JPG|thumb|[[Surprise (emotion)|Surprise]] is a component of humour.]]
Humour can be verbal, visual, or physical. Non-verbal forms of communication–for example, music or visual art–can also be humorous.

===Root components===
* [[Observational comedy|Being reflective]] of or imitative of reality
* [[Surprise (emotion)|Surprise]]/[[Misdirection (magic)|misdirection]], [[contradiction]]/[[paradox]], [[ambiguity]].

===Methods===
* [[Farce]]
* [[Hyperbole]]
* [[Metaphor]]
* [[Pun]]
* [[Framing (social sciences)|Reframing]]<!-- This is not about the NLP-type of reframing. Do not make this a wikilink to that [[Reframing]]. -->
* [[Self-deprecation]]
* [[Comic timing|Timing]]

===Behaviour, place and size===

[[Rowan Atkinson]] explains in his lecture in the documentary ''[[Funny Business (TV series)|Funny Business]]''<ref>Rowan Atkinson/David Hinton, ''Funny Business'' (TV series), Episode 1 – aired 22 November 1992, UK, Tiger Television Productions</ref> that an object or a person can become funny in three ways:
* by behaving in an unusual way,
* by being in an unusual place,
* by being the wrong size.

Most [[sight gag]]s fit into one or more of these categories.

===Exaggeration===
{{Main|Exaggeration}}
[[File:Oscar Wilde Caricature by James McNeill Whistler A.jpg|thumb|right|An exaggerating caricature of [[Oscar Wilde]] by [[James McNeill Whistler]]]]
Some theoreticians of the comic consider exaggeration to be a universal comic device.<ref>Emil Draitser, ''Techniques of Satire'' (1994) p. 135</ref> It may take different forms in different genres, but all rely on the fact that the easiest way to make things laughable is to exaggerate to the point of absurdity their salient traits,<ref>M. Eastman/W. Fry, ''Enjoyment of Laughter'' (2008) p. 156</ref>