Life is the laughter of the gods – but how do my mythology special mentions rack up against my top ten mythologies when ranking them for comedy and tricksters?

 

Well, joke’s on them as it turns out – only three of my top ten mythologies make it into my top ten comedy and trickers rankings, replaced by seven special mentions, while five more special mentions score higher than other top ten mythologies.

 

SCORE:

7 SPECIAL MENTIONS – TOP 10 DIVINE COMEDY RANKINGS

(12 SPECIAL MENTIONS EQUAL TO OR GREATER THAN TOP 10 MYTHOLOGIES)

 

So here’s ranking all my top ten mythologies and special mentions by their comedy and tricksters, from the laughter of the gods to serious business.

 

At the laughter end of the scale –

 

S-TIER (GOD TIER – OR IS THAT JOKER TIER?)

 

(1) DISCORDIANISM

 

What else could be in top spot for divine comedy than Discordianism, even just edging out my second top spot, as something that may just be all a big joke disguised as a religion – or a religion disguised as a joke? In either case, it scores the top spot for divine comedy.

 

(2) ZEN

 

What is the sound of one hand clapping? Yeah – I hear it all the time in reaction to my jokes.

But seriously, zen ranks above all other mythologies but one for divine comedy, with its koans and eccentricities seeming like nothing so much but a series of gags or jokes where the punchline is enlightenment.

 

When you get it,

you get

it.

 

And it’s hard to trump Zen masters as tricksters.

Ditto Tao and its wu wei – or the art of doing nothing effectively.

 

(3) PAGANISM

 

What can I say? Paganism combines all the divine comedy of its original forms but doubles down on the joke in its playful modern form or neopaganism, which seems inherently humorous in conception and nature – a latter-day LARP that does not take itself too seriously.

 

(4) CLASSICAL

(5) NORSE

 

Two of my top ten mythologies that remain in the top ten divine comedy rankings, albeit both bumped down a couple of places (literally) for more divinely comedic special mention mythology entries.

 

(6) FAIRIES

 

For once, fairy folklore ranks not only close to the Celtic mythology and Arthurian legend it overlaps but ahead of it. Indeed, fairies and Fairyland often seem to be nothing but comedy and tricks (or tricksters), albeit often absurdist or black comedy and confidence tricks.

 

(7) CELTIC (ARTHURIAN)

 

The third of three top ten mythologies to remain in the top ten for divine comedy rankings, bumped down an extra place for the comedy and tricksters of fariy folklore.

 

(8) SHAMANISM

 

Like paganism, shamanism combines the divine comedy and trickster figures of tribal mythologies or religions – I mean, Paleolithic cave art often seems a collection of d!ck jokes – but doubles down on the jokes in its modern reconstruction of neo-shamanism.

 

(9) TAROT

 

“I stayed up late playing poker with Tarot cards. I got a full house and four people died” – Steve Wright

Yeah, that’s the Tarot as the punchline of a joke in a deadpan standup comedy routine but you don’t get much more divine comedy than the Tarot – for all its vivid and occasionally violent imagery or its mystique for divination with dire portents, it originated as a game of playing cards for trumps.

Or for that matter, even with all that mystique for divination, you could say it’s focused on the Fool, a literal unnumbered wildcard amidst the trumps, reminiscent of the joker. And it doesn’t get much more divine comedy than a literal joker.

 

(10) MAGIC

 

You know, I’m going to rank magic in god-tier of divine comedy rankings. I’m serious and I’m joking – much like magic seems to be, that is deadly serious in purpose (often literally) but resembling nothing other than visual gags or verbal jokes in execution. The ‘laws’ of sympathetic magic proposed by Fraser often seem like nothing so much as punchlines of a cosmic joke – or cosmic con, pulling a fast one on the universe. Throw in that the arsenal of your average trickster seems to include a utility belt of cantrips, charms, or conjurations – and you have that god-tier ranking in divine comedy.

 

A-TIER (TOP TIER)

 

(11) EGYPTIAN

(12) HINDU

 

Sadly, these two top ten mythologies just drop out of the top ten when it comes to divine comedy and trickster rankings.

 

(13) TANTRA

 

Given the overlap between Hinduism and tantra, I thought I’d rank it here. Besides, there’s just something inherently funny (or at least playful) about s€x magic.

 

B-TIER (HIGH TIER)

 

(14) NATIVE AMERICAN (LAKOTA)

(15) AFRO-AMERICAN (VOODOO)

 

These top ten mythologies are still respectably high-tier for divine comedy and tricksters but are just outranked by other entries.

 

(16) CRYPTIDS

 

I mean, there’s just something funny about cryptids.

 

(17) UFO

 

There’s certainly something funny about UFOs – and at least some of them seem to be pranksters.

 

(18) URBAN LEGENDS

 

Urban legends often even sound like jokes, down to set-up and punchline – the latter usually the twist in the tale that is often the heart of the legend.

 

(19) CONSPIRACY THEORIES

 

Same as urban legends, only the joke is often just how wild the conspiracy theory or just how much of a tinfoil hat it requires. And they are very much trickster territory – both for theorists and the conspirators.

 

(20) MIDDLE EASTERN (BABYLO-SUMERIAN)

(21) MESO-AMERICAN (AZTEC)

 

Rounding out B-tier, these top ten mythologies rank low for divine comedy as mostly serious business, just on the cusp of my wild tier rankings.

 

X-TIER (WILD TIER)

 

And now we come to wild tier rankings – which in a reversal of my usual wild or weird tier entries, given that the subject is itself comedic, means that these entries tend to mean more serious business than they do comedy or tricks. But not always – sometimes they’re joking and they’re serious.

 

(22) BIBLICAL

 

Mostly serious business but you’ll be surprised how much comedy and tricksters are there if you look at it the right way so it tops my wild-tier rankings, albeit well below its top spot in my general, sacred space, and apocalyptic rankings.

 

(23) WITCHCRAFT

 

Witchcraft might seem too dark (and deadly serious, literally) for divine comedy but it has similar divine comedy (and tricks) to magic, just ranked lower because of the serious consequences for belief in it. Indeed, the lurid descriptions of witchcraft in European witch trials come across as parody of Christianity, albeit with black or dark comedy and working blue to boot in the lurid details. Of course, that would say more about the people running those trials, since those descriptions tended to be extracted from leading questions under torture and more reflected the projections of those conducting witch hunts or trials…

 

(24) DRAGONS

 

Dragons might seem too deadly serious for comedy but dragons are occasionally the butt of a joke – literally in the case of the Dragon of Wantley, dispatched by knightly kick in the butt. Even the Bible gets in on the joke, with Daniel killing a dragon by blowing it up.

 

(25) GIANTS

 

Like dragons, giants might seem too deadly serious for comedy but they too are often the butt of the joke – think giants or ogres in fairy tales – and also often trickster figures themselves, as in Norse mythology.

 

(26) GHOSTS

 

Like dragons or giants, ghosts would seem too deadly serious – literally – or tragic for divine comedy. And yet, even ghosts occasionally pop up as comic figures or even tricksters such as poltergeists.

 

(27) VAMPIRES

 

I’m happy ranking vampires below ghosts for divine comedy – as deadly serious as ghosts seem to be, vampires would seem more deadly and more serious, with few comic figures or tricksters among them. Still, there’s some black comedy to be had with vampires – there’s something blackly comic about the protection against vampires using grains or seeds to exploit their obsessive compulsive disorder, with vampires being compelled to count every grain or seed before they could do anything else. I like to attribute the Count from Sesame Street to this obscure vampire folklore tradition.

 

(28) LYCANTHROPES

 

They may not have obsessive compulsive disorder of vampires but even werewolves and other lycanthropes have their comedic moments, albeit mostly black comedy.

 

(29) LEGENDARY CREATURES

 

Legendary creatures might well have ranked higher, if the absurd comedy of some creatures wasn’t as esoteric or obscure.

Still it’s nice to see that there’s at least some divine comedy all the way down, right down to my next (and last) entry.

 

(30) ATLANTIS & BERMUDA TRIANGLE

 

As I said in my previous entry, it’s nice to see the divine comedy goes all the way down, even to the bottom of the ocean with Atlantis – or the Bermuda Triangle. I mean, there’s not too much comedy in what is, after all, meant to be the tragic tale of Atlantis, but there’s still some in just how silly the legend is, particularly in you throw in fantasies of submerged post-apocalyptic Atlantis. Especially in comics or popular culture – where you have the likes of Aquaman or the Man from Atlantis…

The Bermuda Triangle on the other hand is funnier if you’re not disappearing in it.