The Jokester

The Jokester really isn't an important character in the horror spectrum. Not like the Hero or the Guy Who Knows Things. He serves a very narrow and arguably unnecessary purpose. But he's a major staple of any so-bad-it's-good horror movie, and I find the character fascinating.

The Jokester is part of the larger genus of Annoying Guy, along with Wacky Dude. As the name would seem to indicate, the Annoying Guy's main trait in that he's annoying. Wacky Dudes, like the Jokester, are always trying to be funny, and always seem to be played by incredibly high-energy, low-talent actors who don't realize that you should pick'n'chose which moments you're going to give 110%, lest your performance become, well, annoying. Every now and then the Wacky Dude can work, such as Oli, the Icelandic dude in Hostel (2005). But ultimately the Wacky Dude just isn't as nuanced with awesomeness as the Jokester.

The Jokester can best be described as the "comic relief" of horror movies in which he appears. His - I can think of no female examples - purpose is to make the movie "funnier" as well as "scarier." You'll note my sweet quotation marks, which I'm using as literary tools of sarcasm. Why, you ask? Well, for one, the Jokester is never funny. He's supposed to be funny, and his death is supposed to be scary, but is always predictable and dumb.

Let's break this into three sections: describing first the nature of the Jokester's humor, then the Jokester Death, and lastly the relevance of the Jokester character.

Jokester Humor:
I'd like to make this clear: the Jokester character is not to be confused with any character that has humorous dialogue. Take Scream (1996): in Scream several of the characters are funny. Dewey is funny, Randy is funny, Stu and Billy are both funny, Kenny the Cameraman is funny - hell everyone is funny. It's a funny movie. BUT none of those characters are Jokesters. In fact, Scream doesn't have a Jokester at all. Bad movies are usually the ones with Jokesters.

So to be clear - being funny doesn't make you a Jokester. NOT being funny makes you a Jokester. The only person who thinks the Jokester's funny is the Jokester himself. His friends should all hate him for how fucking bad and annoying his jokes/pranks are, making you wonder why they invited him along to their all night party at the abandoned mineshaft.

Jokester's rarely appear outside of Mismatched Friends movies (see Town and Eclectic Group). The early stages of the movie will see the Jokester having little in the way of real dialogue, seemingly speaking only in button-gag one-liners (in The Spookies, 1987, the Jokester told his jokes via a hand puppet, I shit you not, he brought a puppet to a party!). Very often, to twist logic even further, not only will the Jokester be hanging out with these Mismatched Friends that hate him, but he'll also have a girlfriend who hates him (or at least a girl he's paired up with). He won't care, though, because he's so wrapped up in the tragically unbrilliant comic routine that is his life. He never lets up until he's dead. The Jokester can't take a hint and he's always on. Though sometimes he'll have a "deep" moment in the middle of the film where he confesses the low self-esteem roots of his antics to another unsuspecting character. Poor Jokester. Poor other character.

The classic Jokester prank is the "look-at-me-I'm-dead" joke or the Joke Death, almost always, always, always, far too elaborate for the Jokester to pull off. For example, the Jokester might run into the room with a big spike through his head and blood dripping down his face. Everyone will scream and then the Jokester will suddenly drop the act and say something along the lines of: "You should've seen the looks on your faces!" Then everyone will tell him he's a jerk, further establishing how much they dislike him. But, where'd he get these movie FX props? Did he make them? How'd he put it together so fast? Did he have this planned for weeks?

The Joke Death doesn't always have to be elaborate. In movies less stupid, or where the Jokester does more than one Joke Death, it may be as simple as the Jokester putting his hand into a hole and pretending to get it bit off or stuck. Then, of course, revealing nothing happened and laughing like a douche-bag while the girl he's been partnered with to explore the mineshaft rolls her eyes.

The Jokester Death:
Now we get into the payoff of the Jokester, and gain some insight into the formulaic world of hack screenwriting.

The Jokester's Joke Death is crucial set-up, as is everyone not liking him. At some point in the movie, usually the middle, the Jokester will bite the big one, sometimes, but not always, in the way to his Joke Death. Let's say that he did the sticking hand-in-hole bit - later in the movie that would happen again, but for real this time. He'd stick his hand in a hole and have it ripped off. Whatever way he buys it, the importance is the irony and that no one believes him.

It's the standard case of the Boy Who Cried Wolf - or in this case, the Boy Who Pretended to Die. When our remaining characters find the Jokester dying on the floor, you'll hear all sorts of great lines like "Knock it off Stan, this isn't funny," or "Nice try, Bill, we aren't gonna buy it this time." More often those stupid lines appear when they find the Jokester already dead, and usually dead in such a way that he couldn't possibly be faking it (legs missing, eyes poked out, head off, etc). But, oh no, they won't let the Jokester fool them again.

Point of the Jokester:
The Jokester has two intended purposes in horror movies. Or rather, the filmmakers intended both, and both fail. One is the humor value, and the other is the Joke Death. The filmmakers invent these characters to be funny, but since they're personally not funny, neither is the Jokester. The Joke Death is an attempt to get a scare without actually paying for it. They want to get the impact of someone dying, but without actually losing a character. Horror movies need a lot of scares and deaths, but having a lot of characters can be problematic for both the story and the film's budget. Having a fake-out death scene is an easy copout to get an extra scare in there.

A salute…

I recently fulfilled a fairly sad life-goal, which was to see Friday the 13th Part 3 (1982) in it's original 3-D, on the big screen. Many years ago another equally nerdy friend went the deranged extra distance and bought this crazy thing from Japan just so we could watch the movie in 3-D on his crappy TV. That was about as good as you'd expect. But I finally got my chance at Screamfest 07. And to top it all off, there to introduce the film to the packed house was none other than Larry Zerner, who portrays Shelly in the film.

Now, Shelly isn't the first Jokester ever. He's not even the first Jokester in the Friday the 13th series. But Shelly is the best example of a Jokester in any movie I've seen. He's fat, ugly, kind of stupid and doesn't seem to grasp that his obnoxious gags make everyone hate him even more. He just wants to be loved but can only express himself through prankery. And he's got a white boy afro.

Shelly will also forever go down in Jokester fame as the idiot who gave Jason his hockey mask. Before that, for those not in the know, Jason wore a not very iconic pillowcase. Then Shelly is running around with a fully functioning spear gun, wet suit, and a hockey mask (why'd he bring all that shit with him?), all so he could scare/impress the girl he liked. That'll work, Shelly. Oh wait, now she hates you more. Well, Shelly is soon put out of his misery by Jason. And of course, when he stumbles inside bleeding from his neck we get to hear: "Not funny, Shelly" "Knock it off already, Shelly."

Classic.