Laughing at Ourselves

There are a few different rules of humor and I want to address one imparticular: the idea that the one being joked about has to be outside of the group. In one of the pieces we read, “The Sotweed Factor” this is certainly the case. Ebenezer Cook considers himself a Brit even if he does come to live in American for a time to gain his fortune (or at least attempt to). This is a little strange for reasons I will address later. Because he considers himself a Brit, he is therefore on the outside and America is “the other” being joked about.
Now the funny thing (not haha funny, but funny strange) is the way that Cook describes the Americans. The attributes that he ascribes to Americans, both directly and indirectly seem to imply him as an American in a few ways. He describes Americans as the antithesis of rudimentary people. They have adjusted to food and comforts subpar that of the Brits. He describes them as poor, outcasts who couldn’t make it big (and many times at all) in England, and so they have come here to try their luck. A modern day equivalent to England, at least business-wise, is New York. New Yorkers like to say, “If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.” By this statement it also necessarily follows that if you can make it in another place you cannot necessarily make it in New York. It elevates New York above every other city. Cook himself however kind of fits into this category. If he could make it big in England, we get the impression he would have because of how much he likes England and detests Americans. Cook is trying to gain a fortune, which might lead us to believe that he is superior in some way. Another factor of funniness that we have discussed is superiority and inferiority. Cook does have some measure of superiority, even though he may or may not fit into his own general description of an American, thus making him fit into at least one “rule” or theory of humor. The reason why we might believe him to have some superiority is that he expects to be able to “make it big”, suggesting perhaps that he has made it on a smaller scale in England (although again, this is not necessarily true).
Now, even though Cook could be held to tentatively fit into the category of the British (although, yes this is suspect) or at least he thinks he is, he does qualify as “in the group”. However, the strange thing is this phenomenon called “laughing at ourselves”. When our class watched Eddie Izzard, we were laughing at ourselves. He makes fun of Americans numerous times (and I believe that his audience in the stand-up video is also American). He is making fun of his own audience, even though he is clearly outside of “the group”. I am proposing a possibility: Is it possible that since we are as Izzard calls us “Rome”, we are the hegemon, the empire, that we must (and willingly to some extent, although I think this has a lot to do with our free-speaking liberal with a little “l” culture) laugh at ourselves? Or is it merely our contradictory culture, a very Mills-ian one that not only allows, but promotes conflicting ideologies and philosophies in order that they combat and the best philosophy win and gain strength from the “fight”? Why do we laugh at Izzard?