Kairos and Comic Timing

Today in class, we talked about an aspect of rhetoric that we experience almost every day: kairos. Kairos, in short, is the golden opportunity for something. An example was used in class of getting into an argument with somebody, and then HOURS LATER thinking of the perfect comeback to something they said. While it can be aggravating when you miss a good opportunity, utilizing kairos in a great way is one of the most rhetorically powerful things a person could do. Something about getting the timing of a statement precisely correct makes it that much more powerful.

This concept especially holds true in the realm of comedy. Any comedian worth his weight in laughs knows the utter importance of kairos in any act. Timing is the x-factor that can either murder your jokes, or send you to the moon on a wave of fame and fortune. All of the most famous humorists have been masters of comedic timing. One of the most lauded comedians of all time, Rodney Dangerfield, was very well known for his mastery of kairos utilization. Here is an example:




Here you can see his rapid-fire delivery best at work. Rodney's style was that so his punchlines would come out before the audience even had a chance to comprehend the buildup. If you pay close attention, there is a half-second pause in between the delivery and the crowd's reaction due to his speedy verbalization. This adds to the effect of the jokes due to another property of good comedy; wording the joke so it takes a second or two for it to click in an audience's head.

Comic timing as good as Dangerfield's can be taught in some cases, but some people just have an inherent knack for it. Below is an example of one comedically-gifted person (my personal favorite comedian, TJ Miller), and a bunch of not-so-gifted individuals. DISCLAIMER: there is exactly *one* use of a foul word in this clip, so if you are offended you can skip past it and read my reflection:




In this video, Miller remarks on a conversation he had with a man who implied that he drank champagne "erryday". After lampooning the man's use of this word, the audience started to respond "erryday" to everything Miller said. The first time, it is agreed upon that it was kind of funny. After repeated usage, however, the kairos diminishes exponentially, eventually leading to Miller making fun of an audience member who kept trying to force the phrase into conversation, and even sarcastically referring to the "golden opportunity" of using "erryday", in turn recognizing the bad use of kairos by the woman.

Clips like these show how powerful the use of kairos can be in a rhetorical setting. You don't even have to be a comedian to be able to utilize kairos--as long as it is used effectively, it can do great things for you and the idea that you are trying to get across.I would like to end this post with a very short example of a kairotic situation where a spectator brings a trumpet to a parade and absolutely knocks the comic timing out of the park. Enjoy: