Over-The-Top Humor

Upon searching Google images for the phrase, “Over-the-top humor,” the first result was of a comic book. I began to wonder, are comic novels acceptable examples of over-the-top humor? I clicked on the picture and a giant comic book cover titled, “Satan’s Sodomy Baby” popped up. Yea, it applies.
Some of the humor we have been looking at lately can be thrown into the mosh pit known “Over-the-top.” First, A Modest Proposal grapples with an age old baby epidemic in 1700’s Ireland. I will not comment much further considering I already posed on the topic. It is important to recognize the similarities between comedies in this genre. A Modest Proposal takes an absolutely absurd topic of conversation, and turns it into a serious conversation using justifiable causes. Swift uses many examples and arguments to back up his proposition. His reasons include: one year of growth only needs a mother’s milk, produces 28 lbs of meat, the food is year-around fresh, and the child will yield a vast amount of food. He turns each of these reasons into a full paragraph with causes and effects. The reader might even be confused as to if the argument is fake, because of Swift’s powerful reasoning and seriousness. In the end, it is obvious that his proposal is quite, “over-the-top.”
The second example I found was from the Nasby selections. He makes some abrasive viewpoints but at the same time, “Negro Emigration” holds some weight for his proposal. Similar to A Modest Proposal, Nasby brings up a very controversial topic and tries to use justifiable means to prove his theory. The main argument I remember is that white people will eventually be outnumbered. On the surface it makes sense, but in the first line of his article he states that there are fifteen Negro people in his town. Then he proceeds to make the argument that blacks will outnumber whites due to their high-birth rate; now that seems a little absurd. And for that, Nasby uses an over-the-top approach to create humor in his writing.
This theme of “over-the-top,” can also be applied to today’s humor. It is a little different for us because it might become personal or inappropriate. Back in the time of the other two writings, I am sure their ideas were crossing the line and uncomfortable. But that is exactly what over-the-top humor is, uncomfortable. For instance, some of Ralphie May’s skits were just too much. His joke concerning the financial possibilities for the Catholic Church upon the death of the pope is a little extreme. I imagine the poor people of Ireland felt the same way (actually way worse) when they were being identified. To say May’s skit about the pope was true is completely ridiculous. It crosses the line between funny and inappropriate, but that is what he gets paid to do.
Nasby, Swift, and May all use this type of humor to walk a tightrope with audiences’ morals. The risk in this type of humor is huge, because if the audience thinks the comic/author went too far, then the comedy itself is offensive. As a kid in the 21st century, I found both Swift and Nasby’s moral dilemmas absolutely hilarious. Ralphie May’s, not so much. If people ever take May’s claims too far, at least people in the 24th century will probably find it funny.