Distraction is the humor event component for everything that pushes observer attention away from potential humor kernels. Distraction as a broader psychology topic is wonderfully complex, but Clash Theory only considers distraction as it pertains to the perception of humor. There are four categories of humor distraction: Emotion, Fatigue, Clarity and Production Values.

Emotion

When a man falls off a ladder and the paint can empties onto his head, it counts as a ‘funny video’ only when his subsequent lack of injury is emphasized. If he were injured, perhaps seriously, then the percentage of viewers finding it funny would plummet. The emotional response of concern directs attention away from a potential sense-nonsense clash – a common reason why BUMBLING humor is not found funny. Similar reaction possibilities are fully capable of interfering with AWKWARD or VULGAR humor detection, or indeed with humor of any kind. The category of ’emotion’ also includes any case where seriousness is a positive preference and the perception of conflicting humor is actively shunned.

Fatigue

Humor fatigue occurs when an observer witnesses the same or similar humor events repeatedly. The effect is like distraction in that attention is drawn away from potential humor kernels. Humorists who rely mostly on sarcasm or shock humor, for example, can easily face diminished humor response among listeners. This effect applies to any kind of humor to varying degrees. Humor fatigue can even be benign. Repeated sightings of a phrase like ‘The Beverly Hillbillies’ aren’t uniformly funny, but this upsets no one.

Clarity

Clarity measures how easy it is for observers to recognize humor context and humor kernels. If spoken words and sounds are garbled or quiet or indistinct, or if written words and imagery are smudged or faded or hazy, the humor in them is missed or seen as lower quality than it otherwise would have been. An obscure word choice might be a exposition defect, but poor grammar or bad spelling or awkward sentence structure is a defect of clarity.

Production Values

The term ‘production values’ is used in theater, motion pictures, broadcasting, advertising and related fields to describe background elements (lighting, sound, décor, camera angles, editing) that work to support foreground elements. These foreground elements are typically things like dialogue and story and product, but Clash Theory expands this idea to include humor kernels. The effect of production values is perhaps most visible in advertising. Many radio or television commercials contain humor, and often the humor could be recast as a simple written joke. But the resonance of a joke that’s only written is noticeably weaker without the exceptionally high production values typically seen in advertising.

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Return to the fourth Humor Context component Subject Matter

Continue to the sixth and final Humor Context component Humor Gauges