Walker's Lead Blog Post Response

In this week's blog, Walker used a compilation video of Anthony Jeselnik's jokes. Walker talked about how the incongruity theory fits into the types of jokes Anthony makes. I think his jokes could also fit into the relief theory because his jokes build up tensions and then released through nervous laughter from the audience. In general, I think the relief theory can be applied to dark humor because it makes people uncomfortable and builds up tensions wich are released through laughter. It is also hard to tell when someone is "just joking" too so instead we laugh in these situations to make them less uncomfortable because humor is meant to be funny and not to be taken as seriously. The most humorous part of the video was when Anthony made the joke about "my thoughts and prayers to the families in Boston," or wherever an event had occurred. He made a point to say this was meaningless to say because posting that on Instagram or social media does nothing for the families and people who are affected by the event but instead it's just attention-seeking. This part of the clip was the most humorous to me because I've experienced it. For example, when a sad event occurs like the bombing Boston marathon, everyone posted the same thing on their story and seeing the same post over and over again became annoying because these posts do nothing to help the people affected. I also agree that Anothony uses the superiority theory in this clip. His facial expressions and the way he words his jokes makes the audience feel inferior in the situation. Overall Anthony comes off as humorous to use because his jokes can be applied to numerous theories of humor we have discussed in class.

Rebecca's Lead Blog Post Response

In this week's blog, Rebecca analyzed a clip from Brooklyn Nine-Nine. She introduced a new theory called the pattern recognition theory which states that "humor occurs when the brain is surprised by the recognition of a pattern." It also states that the humor response encourages the brain to look for more patterns in the future. In my opinion, this theory can be applied to any type of humor. For example, the surprise came when the suspects start singing "I Want It That Way" by the Backstreet Boys. Another surprise is the behavior of the detective. He's not taking his job seriously like the girl whos looking for the man that murdered her brother. This can also be applied to the eight patterns of from the pattern recognition theory. The eight patterns are about the causes of all humor. The one that applied the most was opposition, which can be applied when a unit is shown in contrasting contexts. The detective had a lack of seriousness when trying to discover who was the possible murderer compared to a typical detective that wouldn't be joking around and making the suspects sing a song by the Backstreet Boys. This is why the scene is humorous to us. Going back to the theory, I think it covers the missing aspect that the other theories of humor we have discussed in class. Like the article said, all these theories talk about the cause of humor and not the why. The pattern recognition theory covers the why aspect of why we find things humorous and also covers the cause of this laughter. Rebecca also pointed out that this clip can be applied to the incongruity theory because of the manners of the detective. The pattern recognition theory can also be applied to the "why" in the incongruity theory because the action or situation is unexpectedness which may come as a surprise.

Mallory's Lead Blog Post Response

In this week's lead blog post, Mallory used Limmy's Show which is a Scottish show that went over the idea of water. It starts off with Limmy going to the store and pointing out the water bottles on the shelves, he then proceeds to leave the store and goes to turn on a sink and fill up a glass with water. After he fills up the glass with water, he presents it and the scene cuts. I thought the scene was over but the people behind the scenes came onto the scene and started asking about the glass of water. The incongruity theory can be applied to this scene. When the scene says cut you expect the cameras to stop rolling and the scene to be over. Instead, the cameras continue to roll and the people from behind the scenes come into the scene asking about the water and desperately try to get there own cups and bowls of water. The superiority theory can also be applied to this clip. Limmy gives facial expressions to the camera that says, isn't this obvious that we can access water for free through sinks and it tastes the exact same as a bottle of water? These facial expressions can be applied to the superiority theory because in this case, Limmys expressions are expressing that he feels superior to everyone else because he "discovered" that we can access water for free. Like Mallory said, the accents make this video more humorous because it's not normally what we hear every day unless we lived in another country. Another thing that Mallory points out is the angles of the camera. Without the camera following around Limmy like we are there in person would have made this video less humorous.

Elizabeth's Lead Blog Post Response

In this week's lead blog post, Elizabeth used the video "Company is Coming". I thought she did a great job of explaining and applying some of the theories we have learned in class. First off, she applied the incongruity theory to a male playing the mom role in this clip. The unexpectedness of the male playing the mom role made this video more humorous than it would be with a female playing the mom role. Elizabeth also brought up stereotypes. In this video, it's using the mom stereotype by her cleaning the house but more exaggerated than mom's would usually be. I thought it was hilarious that none of the family was around to help the mom clean the house. This was relatable to me because my siblings and I would always try to avoid my mom when she was cleaning before a big event. If we tried to help her it would just stress her out more because we wouldn't be putting stuff in the right spots or we weren't cleaning the dishes good enough. When Gayle says "we can't let them know we sit" and "there cant be any sign of living in this house", I thought this was funny because normally this is what I'm thinking when my mom is going on a cleaning frenzy but if I were to say something out loud to her she would freak out. Also, I think it's funny that moms go crazy and go on a cleaning frenzy when guests are coming over. It's weird that we make our houses look so clean and organized just for the house to get messy all over again when the guests come over. In a way, this video was mocking this idea of cleaning the house just for it to get messy again. Overall I liked this video because it was different from other videos in class and Elizabeth did a great job of applying the theories to the clip.

Mckenna's Lead Blog Post Response

In this blog post, I'm going to argue that this video wasn't as amusing to me as it might be to others. Mckenna talked about how this video used exaggeration. I agree with her but in my opinion, I think it uses too much exaggeration to the point where it's not funny. For example, whenever she talks to her peers you know she is going to try to say something depressing while trying to be funny and it doesn't work. She is trying too hard and using extreme exaggeration.  Also, there is a lot of laughter in the video and if it was taken out of the video, it wouldn't be funny and probably more awkward than it already is. Another thing Mckenna brought up is that the actors cant hold it together. This makes the video less awkward and more amusing to watch. It's funny that the other actors cant hold in their laughter because it makes the audience laugh. She also mentioned how this video uses the incongruity theory. I think in this example its almost expected of Debbie to say something negative while Pluto is around. But if we didn't know that Debbie was trying to purposely be a downer than this would be an incongruity because its unexpected. I like how this video was a different type of comedy that we watched. She brought up pessimistic views on various topics and didn't just say them straight to the camera but instead made a little scene about it instead. I liked how this was different from political humor where most of them that I've seen are talk shows. Overall I thought this clip was interesting to watch even though I didn't find it as funny as I thought I would.

Lead Blog Post

When Bae Wants More Romance in Your Relationship

copy link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEVhHtexS7w&feature=youtu.be


Hey everyone! For my lead blog post I'm going to be discussing gender norms and how they connect to humor and the theories.

To start off the scene begins with the barbie doll complaining about how the guy doll isn't dressed up for the date. The guy doll says he's fine and begins to complain about how women always want to look special for everything. Barbie doll replies with more complaining about how average their date night is going to be and the guy doll is fine with that. She continues to talk about how she is special and won't settle for anything less and that she wants more romance in their relationship. The clip continues to a couple of flashbacks where there was "romance" but instead it was the guy doll making cheesy romantic jokes to her.  She wants a love story like Romeo and Juliet but he thinks that its fantasy and not realistic. Instead he says that romance is about being together all the time and not killing each other and it's about loving each other despite the flaws. Barbie doll begins listing all of his flaws. The clip continues to her finally understanding that he is right but she won't admit it so instead she holds up a sign saying "you're right." The clip ends with them about to get along but he says another cheesy pick up line and she just sighs in defeat.

The first thing I wanted to point out in this video is this can be applied to the relief theory. This video is a way of releasing tensions through tendentious jokes on a topic like gender. This video dives into the gender norms of men and women. The video is mocking relationships in a harmless way which is the point of relief theory.  This clip is saying that women always complain about what men do, from the way that they dress to the things that they do. For example, the barbie doll was complaining about how he never dresses up for anything, especially date night. Another thing this clip is saying is that what he does in the relationship is never enough for her. For example, he tries to defend himself when she says that he does nothing romantic for her and she just fires back with more things he does wrong. Also, this clip is showing that flirting between males and females is by being funny and teasing each other. The barbie doll complains about him always being funny and teasing her and that she wants something more romantic. His way of being romantic is through cheesy pickup lines which is not enough for her.

This video wouldn't nearly be as funny without the use of the dolls and the cheesy voices. If this video was with real people using normal voices this scene wouldn't be funny and probably would come off as more aggressive. In my opinion, this video overexaggerates how women are in relationships. The video makes the idea of women come off as really needy and controlling about a relationship. This exaggeration is an important part of humor. Without exaggeration humor and comedy wouldn't be as funny. You need exaggeration to make jokes about a topic that is sensitive to other people. Without exaggeration people wouldn't understand jokes as much and might get more offended.  To summarize, this clip was an example of the relief theory and gender norms in today's society. The video used exaggeration to make the gender norms topic more humorous to the viewer.

Anna-Kathleen's Lead Blog Post Response

I liked how Anna Kathleen used a different form of comedy this week. Jeanna Robertson was funny by relating to the audience with real stories from her life compared to other clips we have been watching where they are fiction like the Office. Jeanna was funny by emphasizing important parts of her story and pausing which left room for the audience to laugh. She would also wave her hands around when she wanted to emphasize something more. Without this, she wouldn't nearly be as funny as she was. She made a big emphasis on following things to literally. Her husband got her the supplies she needed but in too big of quantities because he followed the numbers on her list. When the husband shows up with more baking supplies than she needed this could be an example of the incongruity theory. She was expecting the trip to the store to be quick and get exactly what she asked for on her list but instead, the trip took way longer than expected and she got way more than what she asked for. I thought it was interesting that she referred to her husband as the left brain, this added humor to her performance. Anna Kathleen made a good point about there is a difference between something that is funny and something that is comedy. I agree with her point! The biggest thing from this difference between the two was that retelling a situation in a story format is comedy. I also thought her example that all squares are rectangles was a good way to emphasize the difference between something being funny and something being comedy. Overall I liked how her example was different from all the clips we have been watching and this clip was a great way to explore different types of comedy.