The Art of Sarcastic Humor

Source:Picture Quotes- Would life even be worth living without trouble, tragedy, and comedy?

"Mickey : You don't know what you're saying. You don't.

Eddie : I do.

Mickey : No. I know you think you know what you're saying, but you're not saying it.

Eddie : No, I know what I'm saying. I don't know what I mean, but I know what I'm saying. Is that what you mean?

Mickey : Yeah.

Eddie : Right. But it's not like anybody knows what anything means, right? It's not like anybody knows that. So at least I know I don't know what I mean, which is better than most people. They probably think they know what they mean, not just what they think they mean.

Mickey : What kind of tone is that?

Eddie : What kind of tone is that? That's my tone.

Mickey : Yeah, but what does it mean?

Eddie : My tone? What does my tone mean? I don't have to interpret my fucking tone for you, Mickey. I don't know what it means.

Eddie : Flip is sarcastic.

Mickey : No, it's not. That's crazy. Sarcastic is mean, it's heavy - it's funny, sure, but it's mean. I do both, but this was flip."

Source:Alamy- Sean Penn and Kevin Spacey: in HurlyBurly 

Source:IMDB

Source:Ted Talks

"Using comedy to address serious social issues and educate people in a light manner. Will also perform a small sketch.

Junaid Akram is a powerhouse of wit, humor, sarcasm and satire. A stand-up comedian and now a popular social media figure, Junaid Akram has an opinion about almost everything. It really doesn’t matter if you agree with him or not, but he sure knows how to make you laugh."

The Eddie and Mickey conversation was part of a scene from the movie HurlyBurly from 1998. If you're not familiar with that movie, I don't blame you for it, but it's basically a dark comedy about life in Hollywood and people who work in the Hollywood industry deal with that life and that lifestyle. Eddie ( played by Sean Penn ) and Mickey ( played by Kevin Spacey ) are both professionals in Hollywood and they're talking about life in a very entertaining and I would add humorous way.

Especially Kevin Spacey, who is a master at comedic dialogue with a late night talk show host or standup comedian sense of humor and comedic mind. A good late night talk show host and standup comedian sense of humor and mind. Not some guy who sounds like he's delivering a speech to the Congress, that's supposed to be a monologue, where there are nothing but straight faces in the room and people who look like they're about to fall asleep, who are supposed to listen to this monologue.

If you listen to the Eddie-Mickey conversation in this movie, Spacey is very quick and to the point and very funny in the conversation and just not taking the Eddie character at all to the point that he's being very flip about it. And Eddie accuses Mickey of being sarcastic, with Mickey and I'm paraphrasing: "no, I'm not sarcastic, I'm flip and there's a big difference. Sarcasm is mean, funny sure, but mean. I'm sarcastic."

This is not a Webster's definition, but when I think of sarcasm, I think humor that's intended to make a point and even used to be critical. Critical humor is how I look at sarcasm.

Instead of calling someone fat or stupid, or lazy, or saying no shit, Sherlock when they state the obvious, you instead tell a fat person: "you don't need to eat so much. Why don't save some food for the rest of us, or the rest of the world even. A little exercise never killed anyone, but the way you're going standing up might become too big of s strain for you. "

Instead of calling someone and idiot, you say something like: "when God was handing out brains, you missed that meeting because you overslept. And God didn't feeling like sending you a brain." Or something like: "your IQ is so low, that it doesn't even register. No wonder the National Society For Morons keeps reelecting you as President and no one ever even runs against you."

Instead of saying no shit, Sherlock to someone when they state the obvious, you can say: "you don't say, you figure that out all by yourself, or did you have to conduct an investigation." Any child you can use one word insults and the bully might be the master at those ( and an idiot when it comes to everything else ) but the quick-witted sarcastic person can use humor to not just make people laugh, but to show them where they come up short and even make them laugh at themself at he same time.

Some people say that life is a comedy and some other people say life is a tragedy: I'm in the camp that says life is a highway or rollercoaster with a lot of ups and downs and what doesn't kill you or puts you into a permanent coma can only make you stronger and better, if you not just learn from your experiences, but use them to your advantage. Like being able to not just laugh at the people and what's going on around you, but most importantly laugh at yourself. The only people who can't laugh at themselves are narcissistic bullies who believe the world evolves around them and therefor are indestructible. The rest of us should look at life and as ourselves as great comedians who can't always get a good laugh especially when we need one.