President of "The White Rats"--the vaudeville actors' protective
Union--in 1914. [end footnote]

If you have not yet turned to the appendix and read Aaron Hoffman's
"The German Senator" do so now. (See Appendix.) It will be referred
to frequently to illustrate structural points.

III. THE MONOLOGUE'S NOTABLE CHARACTERISTICS

1. Humor

All monologues, whether of the pure type or not, possess one element
in common--humor. I have yet to hear of a monologist who did not
at least try to be funny. But there are different types of monologic
humor.

"Each eye," the Italians say, "forms its own beauty," so every
nation, every section, and each individual forms its own humor to
suit its own peculiar risibilities. Still, there are certain
well-defined kinds of stories and classes of points in which we
Americans find a certain delight.

What these are the reader knows as well as the writer and can
decide for himself much better than I can define them for him.
Therefore, I shall content myself with a mere mention of the basic
technical elements that may be of suggestive help.

(a) _The Element of Incongruity_. "The essence of all humor," it
has been said, "is incongruity," and in the monologue there is no
one thing that brings better laugh-results than the incongruous.