The Inferiority of the Joke Teller in “The House of Mirth”

“The House of Mirth,” included in The 50 Funniest American Writers according to Andy Borowitz, portrays a theory, as stated by the husband, that the institution of marriage can be improved by extending the domestic relationship to the social sphere. The social aspect is a matter of teamwork between himself and his wife.  The husband proceeds to script jokes with his wife based on the expected conversations of the dinner parties they will attend.  However, his jokes only work with specific wording, which his wife continually messes up.  The husband tries to explain to the wife his beliefs about his theory, but she replies that there has to actually be a domestic relationship first, in order for there to be a socialized relationship outside of the home.

While reading, I was reminded of an argument that Morreall posed in Comic Relief; while this did not completely relate to the meaning of this story, it does relate to the foundation on the philosophy of humor that Comic Relief presented for the purpose of our class. Morreall proposed that the wit is better than the joke, for many reasons.  These reasons include: the joke teller is a performer, not an instantaneous creator; the joke teller is limited to the jokes he can remember; and the joke teller interrupts the conversation (Morreall 84).  The husband in “The House of Mirth” exemplifies many of the negatives of being a joke teller.  In accordance with Morreall’s argument, the husband illustrates the inferiority of joke tellers.  The husband’s jokes were obviously not adaptable to every situation; rather, they were memorized and had to be set up correctly otherwise they would fail, as they did.  The wife would change the wording of her line that was to set up the joke, which therefore ruined the punch line.  In one situation, the wife is supposed to say, “Was he on your mother’s side?” (Borowitz 107).  The husband planned on answering, “Yes, except in money matters, when he usually stuck up for my father” (Borowitz 107). This joke makes sense, but at the party, the wife changes the wording saying, “I keep forgetting, was he your maternal grandfather” (Borowitz 108).  The husband, regardless, proceeds to say the exact scripted punch line, which no longer makes sense, nor is humorous.  This form of humor, therefore, was actually interrupting the conversation, opposed to keeping the conversation going and enhancing it.  The husband, during this sequence, proved that as a joke teller he is a performer and not a true creator of humor, as he was not able to adapt his joke to still make sense; also, in order to be funny he had to script it.  In this way, “The House of Mirth” is able to defend Morreall’s case that the joke teller is inferior to the wit.