Film, Art, Radio, and Television
by James Roland
It seems to me that the Fart Joke is the Achilles heal of good comedy.
I use the term both literally and metaphorically. In some writing circles the term ‘sex scene’ can be used to describe the turning point of intimacy and revelation between the protagonist and another character, whether it is through the act of sex or not. For example, the scene in Hannibal where Hannibal Lechter cuts off his own hand instead of sacrificing Clarice could be considered a sex scene, even though the two hardly touch each other.
In the world of comedy there is the Fart Joke. Whether the joke is about an actual fart or not is beside the point. In the movie RV the Fart Joke would be when Robin Williams is showered in a geyser of human waste.
In The Ladykillers, a remake by Joel and Ethan Coen, the Fart Joke is an actual fart joke. One of the main characters suffers from Irritable Bowel Syndrome and blasts his way through one unfunny scene after another. The jokes have no connection whatsoever to the plot and clash thematically with the rest of the film, which at times feels like it should be viewed in a French art house.
Fart Jokes are the linchpin of a comedy, a rusty old linchpin that ALWAYS falls out and crashes the film into a brick theater wall.
On the other hand, some fart jokes are not Fart Jokes. In Nacho Libre, the lead character (a large, well-meaning bumbler) sneaks up on his enemy. After a minute of straight suspenseful build-up, the surprise is ruined as he springs forward at the same instant he farts. The scene was genuinely hilarious and not overplayed, the joke fit within the theme of the movie and the plot.
The Fart Joke is the blue collar crutch of modern movie studios. Dreamworks Animation is so afraid of any film that isn’t Shrek that they resort to the Fart Joke almost exclusively. There is a story that during production of Madagascar the director was frustrated that a certain scene just wasn’t funny enough. He approached Jeffrey Katzenberg, who looked as the scene and said, “have her kick him in the balls.”
And thus comedy was born.
