Why do so many of the funniest things on social media make no sense at all?

How about Ashby’s stunt scenes for a back brace infomercial on a white swivel chair, overlaid with Chopin’s Nocturne in E Flat Major – or her improvisations as The Lorax; a sequence of HOW I LOOK: #brainrot memes; or a congregation of cats lip-syncing the national anthem. These short, sharp jolts of what some may label “nonsense” dominate feeds worldwide.

This is absurdist humour.

It doesn’t build slowly like a sitcom, or unfurl as witty repartee in a novel. It doesn’t explain itself like a stand-up routine. Instead, it hits fast, surprises us, and vanishes.

Absurdism, as a formalised concept and distinct aesthetic, has its roots in the 20th century. It draws on ideas of people like French-Algerian writer Albert Camus and his philosophy of life’s absurdity, which plays on the clash between our search for meaning and the universe’s randomness.

Thriving on illogical situations and exaggerated contradictions, this philosophy of the absurd translates naturally to the chaotic, fast-paced world of social media apps like TikTok. Clips are short, often under a minute, and some users swipe through hundreds in........

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