Interestingly, this is another article written about The Graduate by Roger Ebert for the Chicago Sun Times. He approaches his review slightly differently here, through the lens of comedy. In his later review of the film, he discusses the blandness of the characters, but alternately in this article, he discusses their subtle humor. In some ways, he relates these two things implying that the humoristic gawkiness of the characters comes from their quiet mouthed, simple minded personalities.  While The Graduate is not a film that is readily recognized for comic aspects, they are very much present.

            Firstly, Ebert's article makes an important point about comedy in general. It does not have to be drawn from obvious punch lines, but can come from quirky points of view. He discusses a new type of British film, popular at the time, which incorporated this new style of comedy. Rather than having characters react to funny situations, "the movie itself reacts by what it shows next." In The Graduate, some of the humor is derived from the honesty and embarrassment of the characters.

            The real comedy, though, comes when audiences are able to step back and realize the outrageous story that they are watching. Ben is seduced by his parents good friend in their strict suburban society, and ends up falling classically (almost) in love with her daughter, Elaine. He bangs on the church doors to stop Elaine from marrying the wrong man and rides away with her on the back of a bus. It is simple descriptions like this that show the true humor of the plot.

An interesting detail about this film that is often overlooked is that fact that Buck Henry, who plays the hotel clerk, collaborated with Nichols and in addition to adding comedy on-screen, he added a lot of humor to the script. (Buck Henry is now one of the countries funniest comedians.)