Those who carry humour to excess are thought to be vulgar buffoons, striving after humour at all costs, and aiming rather at raising a laugh than at saying what is becoming and at avoiding pain to the object t of their fun; while those who can neither make a joke themselves nor put up with those who do are thought to be boorish and unpolished (1128a).
For Aristotle, eutrapelia is a social virtue. In Rhetoric, Book I, Chapter 11, he includes relaxation and amusement in the category of “pleasant things,” because they are “free from any element of compulsion” (1370a 15-17). Laughter, too, is later added to the list, since “ludicrous things are pleasant, whether men, words, or deeds” (1372a).
※ the above two paragraphs though are quotes of Aristotle, the observation and wording are taken from Figueroa-Dorrego & Larkin-Galiñanes 28
Irony better befits a gentleman than buffoonery; the ironical man jokes to amuse himself, the buffoon to amuse other people.—The Nicomachean Ethics 1419b.
[T]he rhetorical analysis of humour provided most of the major contributions to humour studies from Antiquity to the Early Modern period. It presents humour from a dignified and pragmatic perspective, although it is a view too frequently conditioned by the aims, situation, and social status of the expected practitioners.—Figueroa-Dorrego & Larkin-Galiñanes 30
“Liveliness” can be enhanced “by the further power of surprising the hearer; because the hearer expected something different, his acquisition of the new idea impresses him all the more.”—Rhetoric 1412a 19-20.
According to John Morreall (Taking Laughter Seriously. Albany, N.Y.: State University of New York Press. 16), Aristotle is the first one to suggest the Incongruity Theory of Humour by pointing out that a humorous effect is produced by setting up a certain expectation in the listeners and then surprising them with something they did not expect.—Figueroa-Dorrego & Larkin-Galiñanes 30.
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