Is there a name for this specific category of humor?

Solution 1:

I believe this is misinterpretation as a comedic device.

It is based on finding humor when one person misinterprets something the other person said. One of the most famous examples of misinterpretation is Who's On First by Abbott and Costello, where Costello consistently misinterprets the names of baseball players that Abbott tells him about. Since each player's name is an English word or phrase, its easy to see why Costello misinterprets them immediately.

In the movie Airplane, Dr. Rumack speaks to Striker in this exchange:

                    DR. RUMACK
     Can you fly this airplane and land it?

                    STRIKER
     Surely you can't be serious.

                    DR. RUMACK
     I am serious, and don't call me Shirley!

Dr. Rumack has taken "Surely" to mean "Shirley". It is funny as long as Dr. Rumack does so in complete seriousness.

Another example is when Capt. Rex Kramer is speaking to someone on the phone about the endangered flight:

INT. CAR - NIGHT

Kramer and a mutilated Carey are en route to airport. Kramer
is at the wheel. Through rear window is obvious REAR
PROJECTION of passing road.

                    KRAMER
          (into phone)
     No, we can't do that; the risk of a
     flameout is too great. Keep him at 24,000.
     No, feet!

The person on the other end of the phone has misinterpreted "24,000" in some fashion, and we don't know how. When Kramer says "No, feet!" we can tell what happened.