This post originally went up on January 15th, 2018.
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- Rogue Gambit
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- Claw-Man and Web-Dude? 😛
What exactly is banter these days? I know the official definition is a ‘playful or friendly exchange of teasing remarks’. Not exactly like what you see in one of the above examples, but I keep seeing examples of banter that ignores the playful or friendly part. Since comedy/humor is subjective, this is going to be a tough topic to write about. I know what I believe might not be shared by others, so I’m going to try my best to keep it within the mechanic of banter and what I always thought it was.
Keep in mind that I grew up with The Marx Brothers, who excelled at cutting remarks and comedic banter. That tends to be my baseline, which was expanded by me reading older Spider-Man comics where he flung insults. Now, the superhero stuff tends to be labeled as banter even if there’s no back and forth. I keep running into people saying that they love Deadpool’s banter . . . He’s usually just cracking jokes and insulting enemies. It’s more antagonizing a foe in a similar vein to Spider-Man, but that doesn’t always fall into the banter category. So, what do I think you need for banter?
As stated in the definition, there’s supposed to be a friendly and playful aspect to banter. You don’t typically get this between enemies. Savage insults getting hurled faster than bullets isn’t really banter due to the emotions. The audience might be having fun, but it’s the participants that denote banter. They have to be the playful and friendly ones. For example, Fritz Warrenberg and Nimby would get into back-and-forth insults at times and that would be banter because they were being playful. Luke Callindor and the Lich doing the same isn’t the same because they’re trying to hurt each other. Banter is supposed to be something that friends do and is easily shrugged off because it was ‘done in good fun’.
I’ve seen a lot of people mistake puns for banter as well. That can be part of it, but a character spitting out jokes isn’t bantering. Not really sure of the term, but it’s missing an important aspect to be banter. That would be somebody replying. This is a two or more person comedy because you need responses to keep the whole thing going. If a person is flinging insults and jokes without anything going back to them then they’re probably the comic relief. Hey, I think I remember the term I was thinking of. Anyway, you can have back-and-forth puns, but it’s that first part that’s necessary for true banter.
This is why I mentioned in the title that banter is harder than people think. Not everything funny falls into this category, especially when you consider that comedy is as varied as music and movies. There are genres of comedy just like every other type of entertainment. Banter is a style and technique that can be used in any of them, but that doesn’t mean it’s always the answer. In fact, it shouldn’t be the only one used or it loses it’s appeal. Kind of like how horror movies and video games overdid jump scares a while back, you can eliminate the appeal of banter by overusing it or extending the definition to ridiculous lengths. This is the challenge: You need to know what a technique really is before you try to use it or say you’re using it.
If I had to give a tip to how to use or learn about banter, I would suggest looking at older comedies. Not as far back as the Marx Brothers, but I remember a lot of good banter from Eddie Murphy, Gene Wilder, and Robin Williams movies. Many times, a sharp and quick wit leads to banter because you need to be fast with the responses. There’s that comfort level between participants that allows banter to move at a fast pace to give it a the natural playfulness. This also requires that you have a deep understanding of the characters and their relationship when you do it in your own works. Are they close friends that can get away with such comments? Do they have enough knowledge of each other to bounce off each other? Are they really friends or merely coworkers/partners with nothing more than a working relationship? Weird question at the end, but I’ve seen plenty of ‘banter’ that comes from two characters that show no sign of friendship and the exchange ends up being out of place. Comedy can’t be forced.
What do you think of banter? Do you think it’s being either overused or simply being used to define witty comedy in general? Do you have a favorite banter example?
Legends of Windemere 
An excellent post. No wonder it was one of last year’s greats 🙂
Well, you can’t really discuss banter without referring to Princess’ Bride and the classic duel between soon-to-be-allies Westley and Montoya (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GT0TBWg3C3k)
Although I sure did agree with your examples!
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That’s a great scene. We used to show it when we set up a table for the college fencing club. Always a hit.
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Lord knows bantering isn’t easy but when you get it right the lines will live forever. Not necessarily to the delight of everyone;)
Thank you for following.
Laureen
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Very true. The same banter doesn’t always appeal to everyone too. Such a risky endeavor.
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And such a worthy one!
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This was a good one.
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It led to some fun comments too.
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True,
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Reblogged this on Author Don Massenzio and commented:
Check out this post from the Legends of Windemere blog with The Art of Bantering: Not as Easy as You Think
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Thanks for the reblog.
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My pleasure
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Charles, great post. The two main characters in my Frank Rozzani book Frank and his partner Clifford “Jonesy” Jones often engage in banter. It’s fun to go back and look at dialog in the book and have it actually make me laugh as, sometimes, I don’t remember writing it. It’s as if the characters have minds of their own and I just write down what they say.
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Love it when that happens. It’s definitely a victory if you can amuse yourself after being away from the work for a while.
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Reblogged this on Nicholas C. Rossis and commented:
Charles with some excellent thoughts on the art of bantering
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Thanks for sharing.
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Sorry I don’t do it more often 🙂
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No problem. Every little bit helps.
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There is an art to banter, isn’t there? Loved this post, Charles. Adding to my weekly share list.
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Thanks. Glad enjoyed it. Art is a great way to define it too.
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Great post Charles! Bantering is an art form without doubt, a talent, a gift, and very difficult to keep it playful and fun without hurting someone’s feelings deeply.
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Especially these days. I think there has to be a level of trust and friendship between the characters that the audience can’t ignore. That way they don’t mistake it from cruel insults. Context and intent need to be established.
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Charles, you are so right, those two things, trust and friendship, must be present in the back story and dialogue or else the readers will be angry with both characters. Not good! Karen 🙂
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I remember that post, and it was a great one.
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It did bring up a lot of good comments.
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I probably responded to this last year, but to me the essence of banter is that it is playful and fun for all participants. If it gets too snarky or vicious and personal, it is no longer banter.
People say that Spidey is a master of banter, but I always wondered if it was more of a nervous talking to release his own tension in whatever crazy situation was going on.
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Spider-Man has been given two explanations for his banter. Early on, it was to calm his nerves like you said. Later, they mentioned that he does it to antagonize his enemies and make them angry. This is to get them to make a mistake.
There is a line with banter, but I’ve noticed that it differs for everyone. I think a lot of it involves the characters doing the banter because their personalities will set the limits on what’s allowed. I’ve seen some vicious banter that works because the characters were established as having that kind of sense of humor. It’s definitely a tool that comes with a lot of risk though.
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Great post! I hadn’t made precisely those distinctions, but we were thinking along the same lines.
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Great post. It’s interesting how banter has been around for so long. Seems very common in romances too. Makes me wonder if it’s very closely related to flirting.
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