Religion and Humor

I think that there is a lot of unexpected overlap between religion and humor.  When I go to church I find myself able to focus and stay tuned into the sermon when the preacher tells a funny story, anecdote or joke.  I think I understand what the video is trying to get at and I think College Humor is using humor to try and cushion a very touchy subject while still proving a point, however; I think the way they are arguing their point is weak and unpersuasive.  I get that they want religious people to be more tolerant, which is sometimes true, and the comparison of drawing religious people similar nerds is funny.  What I don't think is funny or persuasive is the undercutting of all religion in the process of telling people to be more tolerant and less obsessive.
On the idea that "real people" understand the points made in the video because they are less obsessive and more understanding of other's views and ideas I think it is a little absurd.  I think that no one person is any more real than another.  The qualifying of one person as more real than another reminds me of a scene from the TV show, 30 Rock where the executive Jack is telling some of the cast and writers of the fake show, TGS, that they need to reach out more to the "real America".  Liz, the writer and creator of TGS laughs and tells Jack that no one part of the country is any more real than the other.  I am coming from the same place as Liz in this situation, although I think that some people have a better grasp of reality than others, I don't think people who are more vapid or more in step with what society thinks as a whole, are any less real of a person.

Racist or Racial Humor

I feel like whenever journalists have negative opinions of comedians it is usually because they feel like the comedian crossed some sort of line.  I have watched interviews of comedians and their responses to these negative opinions at first surprised me, but now I can understand where they are coming from.  Many comedians will refuse to apologise and will stand firm behind their joke becuase either they don't feel like they did anything offensive or that their offensiveness wasn't harsher on any one group than another.  

I have seen interviews conducted by both Joan Rivers and Jerry Seinfeld, two very seasoned comedy pros, of other comedians and when this subject comes up they usually share similar opinions.  Maybe it's because they are jewish and have felt that their people have been opressed by many other races and cultures for thousands of years, but they feel little to no remorse making fun of other races along with their own.  Of course racism is wrong, but what is as bad if not worse is the sweeping of it under the rug.  With the bringing of light of the recent events at Mizzou, it is clear that a lot of the unrest is coming from the president of the school deciding to hide and not address the clear problems of racical inequality.  I think that when most comedians point out racial differences that can be construed as racist, however comedians often times joke about things that are taboo in order to bring attention to a problem we as a society have.  Comedians hold a mirror up to a laughing audience and askes why is this funny and why are we so afraid to hear it?  There is a difference between racist humor and racial commentary humor. Some people are commenting saying that it's more ok for Key and Peele to mock their own race than it is for Tosh to mock it, but we have to keep in mind who is really making the joke.  Key and Peele's writing staff consists of 6 males, 4 of which are white.  Does this change the jokes making them any more or less racist? In my opinion, no.

Comedy and Sound

I think Alex is on to a good point about comedy and sounds.  Like when we watched that video on the Hopper piece and how it related to smell, sensory linkage is a very important connection to emotions and feelings.  Emotions can be triggered by many things, but the power by which they are called upon or evoked has a lot to do with the five senses.  Smell, touch, sound, sight, and taste are powerful triggers and I want to focus this post on humor and sound.
I am personally not a big fan of slapstick humor, but if the right, or sometimes the overtly wrong, sound effect is used then I cannot help but find myself laughing at it.  The television show Wet, Hot, American Summer does this very well in my opinion.  In this cult classic movie turned TV show, they used a generic sound effect of crashing plates for every moment that needs a crashing sound effect and even some that don't.  If someone drops a plate the generic plate crashing sound effect will be played, if someone punches someone the face the generic plate crashing sound effect will be played, if someone trips over their own feet the sound effect will sound.  The sound effect is funny because it is so generic that it isn't very believable in the first place and the shows plays off of that joke even more by using it when it is completely unnecessary.  For some reason many cult classics like Wet, Hot, American Summer have a mastery of being able to make fun of the fact they are a movie without coming right out and saying it and the small joke of the wrong sound effect being used is a perfect example.
Another way humor and sound work together to me is through the funny voices comedians use.  When someone like Will Ferrel or Adam Sandler goes into their classic "funny voice", I automatically begin to laugh because not only is the voice funny, but I am expecting a funny joke to follow from the comedic pros.

Comic Relief in a Little Dragon

One of my favorite forms of comedy is comic relief.  I think it has something to do with the fact that in a serious moment with a lot of built up tension there is a natural inhibition to want to break the tension and comedy is a great way of achieving that.  Disney has seemed to master this relief technique through their use of comic relief stock characters that are usually the protagonist's sidekick. Mushu the dragon from Mulan, Olaf from Frozen, and Gus and Jaq from Cinderella are just a few of the many examples of comic relief characters from animated Disney movies.  I think the reason Disney uses the comic relief character so regularly is because in children's movies there needs to be alleviation of dense storylines in order to keep children engaged while at the same time offering a laugh for adults as well. 

When I was little I remember watching Mulan constantly, but unlike most little girls who loved the beautiful Chinese princess, my favorite character was Mushu.  He never ceased to make me laugh no matter how many times I watched the movie.  His sassy, quick wit in combination with his physical humor is what makes him the most memorable character to me.  A great example of Mushu's comedy is when Mulan and the rest of her Chinese infantry are under an attack by the Huns.  Mulan narrowly escapes by causing an avalanche which prevents the Hun from continuing their attack, but it puts her and her gang at risk of getting caught in the avalanche as well.  In the link above Mushu is rushing around on top of the falling snow in search of Mulan and he mistakenly pulls up a Hun out of the snow and realizing his mistake shoves him back under the snow. As a child it didn't phase me that Mushu sends a Hun to his death by shoving him back down into the snow after he realizes his mistake because of the comic incongruity of searching for Mulan, but instead finding the opposite, a Hun.  The avalanche scene continues to be funny because Mushu makes a snarky comment after he happens to save the lucky cricket who he doesn't always get along with which alleviates the tension created by the intense scene.  
These two examples illustrate different parts of the same concept of comic relief.  The first illustrates it by showing that something unexpected and wrong happened and then is corrected.  It results in someone dying (specifically the Hun), but because it is done comically there is no sadness or remorse felt by the audience.  Disney makes sure the humor of the accident occurring is in the forefront of our mind, not the death of the Hun soldier.  This deflection of the thought of death through humor is a type of euphemistic tactic so children don't have to think about the fact people are dying.  The second example is the actual tension breaker which takes the viewer away from the situation at hand through a comic interlude.  The situation is very dire, but Mushu very casually decides it's appropriate to make a joke about the fact that the cricket is lucky for being found and saved by him.  This type of comic relief that takes the viewer out of the given situation gives viewers a break from the treachery and enables them to laugh even though bad things are still occurring in the scene around them.  
For me the character of Mushu is so great because he brings so much to the storyline and serves as a huge importance in the movie by making people laugh even during tragic scenes.  I think comedy helps people cope with pain even when they don't realize it.  Comic relief is used in movies time and time again because it is proven to evoke feelings of catharsis which is satisfying to the audience.  Do you think comic relief is necessary?  Do all movies need it in order to be successful?  

Fame

How fame and comedy coincide is a weird phenomenon.  When I see my favorite comedian on television I am put in an elated mood knowing he or she will likely do something that will make me laugh.  Will Ferrell is an example of a famous comedian who doesn't have to do much to make people laugh, but is always funny.  I think it is a combination of his mastery of the artform of comedy and the fact that audiences know he is funny, so he doesn't need to do much to get them to laugh.  Because he has already proved himself as a recognizable, funny person, he can elicit laughter easier through this association audiences have with him.  Now when dealing with a famous person who is not a comedian, audiences laugh easier because they feel like they know the person making their stories relatable and funnier.  Jennifer Lawrence on SNL is funny not because she is a great comedian, but because so many people feel like they understand and relate to her and it is funny seeing your "friend" dress up and act crazy.  This friendly facade famous people create that makes them seem more like regular people ironically separates them even further from normalcy, by making them even more famous.  Keyu said she liked the comedian in the movie because she felt like she knew him and I find that true of comedians that I like the most as well.

Vine

I remember Sophomore year in high school deleting Vine because it was so distracting and took up so much of my time.  It's ironic spending hours on Vine watching six-second videos, but that's what inevitably happens.  Last night is a great example because I was in a friend's room with others trying to do homework, when Kelly opened her Vine account.  We all stopped what little homework we were doing and gathered on Kelly's bed, laughing through all hours of the night.  This is the reason why Vine is so poisonous because the short length of the videos tricks people into assuming they won't be sucked into watching for extended periods of time.  Like the little girl on the beach crying that she needs to sleep, most of us need a little break from the stresses of everyday life.  Vine offers that stress relief and because the videos are so short, if they aren't funny then you only wasted six seconds of your life as opposed to a five-minute comedy sketch that is a much bigger time commitment.  In today's fast-paced world, people don't have time to waste on long comedy sketches, they are looking for the quickest, most convenient laugh.  So whether you have seconds between classes or hours at night, Vine is a quick and convenient source for laughter.

Gidget

Jessica's post reminds me of car trips I used to make coming back from a friend's farmhouse on long weekends.  Her mom made us watch old tv shows and movies as well and some of them certainly held up better than others through the test of time.  There was one movie in particular that I remember crying to because I was laughing so hard, however it wasn't what the writer had intended to be funny.  The movie was called Gidget and it was about a girl in the 1950's who lived near the beach and just wanted to surf with the boys.  Her nickname was Gidget because she was a short girl, or girl midget, and most of her frustration came from her not being able to do what the boys could do.     I remember her getting made fun of by a boy in a relatively harmless manner and her running home crying to her mother.  It was funny because it was such a dramatic and ridiculous reaction for such a minor incident.  The reflection of how girls close to my age at the time reacted to different things was funny because it was so seemingly weird and foreign to me.  Why didn't she just stand up for herself instead of wimping out?  Why did the boys openly think it was ok to call her Gidget? Why did the movie studio think that was an appropriate title?  The gap in time from then to now has shown what was once normal then is now so weird, it is funny.  (We also couldn't help but laugh at the terrible greenscreen effects of the surfing.  I'm sure at the time it was fine, but with all the realistic special effects we have today to compare it to it was laughable how fake it looked).

Why Are You Laughing, Seriously?

For some reason, I always laugh when I am in a stressful or adverse situation.  Something about the mixing of high strung emotions will elicit laughter from me often times in inappropriate situations.  When a friend tells me about her horrible day, I laugh.  When someone tells me about a terrible natural disaster, I laugh.  When I'm at a funeral for a loved one, I laugh.  I think it is some sort of coping mechanism that I have developed over the years in order to keep from processing my emotions.  

When I was a child I cried when I was upset and laughed when I was happy.  I was always clear when conveying my emotions because my emotions weren't very complex.  Much like in the new Pixar movie Inside Out, I didn't have but a few set of emotions when I was young; however, as I grew up my emotions became more complex and harder to clearly convey.  As I grew I developed ways to cope with high amounts of emotion and for me that was laughter.  I ignore the terrible sorrow I feel and instead giggle because trying to process crushing information is difficult and it is easier to instead laugh.  

Many standup comedians attribute their success to difficult childhoods and good repression or coping of those hard times.  They made jokes when they were growing up as a way to combat the hard life they were living in order to escape the reality of the hard truth. Everyone has different ways of dealing with emotions, what are yours?

Phebe, Like From Friends *clap clap clap clap*

I love to laugh at silly things like when Phebe introduces herself as "Phebe, like from Friends".  I think laughter is a great cure to many different illnesses.  There have been studies done that show how people who lead stressful lives live for a shorter time than those who have less stressful lives who lead happier, healthier, and longer lives.  However I will say that there is a difference between comedy and happiness and what people feel about the two day to day.
       When I am hanging out with friends and we are all talking and having fun I will tend to laugh for almost no reason at all because I am enjoying myself.  I wouldn't necessarily file this laughter under comedy, but rather happiness.  When I'm in a good or elated mood I find myself more giggly even at relatively unfunny things proving my outlook is more happy than comedic.  Like how beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is comedy.  On any given day the same exact thing could be comedy gold or a dull travesty depending on the mood of the beholder.  So I say keep your spirits up and have a good and lighthearted outlook on things to live a longer, healthier life.  

Sketchy Peruvian Hospital- "Broken Bone Humor"

Kirby raises a good point on the "funny bone humor".  I have had plenty of moments with friends where someone gets hurt and it's funny to everyone.  I think personally that this type of comedy, although I hate to admit it, is mostly aligned with Hobbes Superiority theory.  The reason I laugh at my friend's pain is because I don't feel bad when I am outright acting like I am above them.  As friends, we cut each other down in a jesting way in order to keep ourselves from acting too serious all the time.  Laughing at a friend's short comings is a good reality check for them.
With family members it's even worse because they feel so comfortable with you that they don't mind knocking you down a few pegs to keep you in line.  For example when my family went on a trip to Peru two summers ago we went on an ATV tour through the mountains.  I, being the youngest and only girl, gave my brothers plenty of ammunition to make fun of me for not knowing how to work the gears or being able to control the machine very well.  As we set off I got a little more confident in my ATV skills and was more than keeping up with the rest of my family.  As soon as I though I had a handle on things, bang, I drove into a ditch with the huge ATV ending up on top of me.  It was the scariest moment of my life and for a minuet when I was pinned between the ground and the vehicle I though I was going to have to be air lifted to a sketchy Peruvian hospital.  I ended up only sustaining minor injuries, but my whole family was shell-shocked.  However, later that night at dinner after I had been bandaged up the status quo returned to normal my family was able to laugh at my inferiority.

Do or Do Not, There is No Try... Guys

When I am in bed at night trying to fall asleep I more often than not find myself sifting through Buzzfeed posts.  The try-guys in particular are one of my favorite types of Buzzfeed videos because they do ridiculous, out of the norm style things.  They align themselves very much so with Hutchinson's theory of incongruity mixed with Freudian style relief theory.  They try on dresses and act like fools and make stupid, yet funny grotesque jokes.  One thing I do find myself asking though is are they too PC?

The Buzzfeed company is an online content outlet with a combination of news, science, and entertainment videos and articles.  They are based out of Los Angeles and they have a liberal stance on many subjects. Much of what they put out is commentary on pubic perception of social opinions and what they think should or shouldn't be socially acceptable.  California as a state is left-leaning and even more so in LA and I think there, more than in other parts of the country, people have to dance around things that might be considered not PC, especially when dealing with comedy.  Like what Jerry Seinfeld was saying in an interview with Seth Myers a few weeks ago, he got booed for a relatively harmless joke at a college campus because the liberal crowd felt he was making fun of gay people and it was not politically correct of him.  

I love the goofiness of the four men who make up the try-guys, but they tend to have a lesson with most of their videos which I do find irritating.  I feel like they're trying to teach me that "it's ok to be yourself" and to "don't judge others" and it begins to become a little preachy.  I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with trying to teach people a lesson with your comedy, in fact that is what a lot of types of comedy styles, like satire, aims to achieve, but I draw my qualms with the fact that it seems like they are talking down to me like a child.  It's like I'm watching a family sit-com where we all learn together that you should always tell the truth.  Comedy is meant to break the rules and be edgy and so when it finds itself being confined by the edges of our increasingly PC world it becomes boring and unfunny.  

The Tonight Dough

Mary, I love the enthusiasm that you have for the comedy of Jimmy Fallon.  I too revel in his late night antics and have been a fan since his early years on Saturday Night Live.

     Early on, when the then green Fallon messed up a comedy bit by "breaking" it was probably frustrating to many pure comedy lovers who take the comedy of Saturday Night Live, at it's core, very seriously.  I understand how a rookie cast member, who seemingly adds nothing to the show (with a lack of real acting ability and a very short list of impressions) could be an annoyance; however, his goofy persona and young, bright energy is what made the show funny and relatable for many people of my generation.  People who don't take their comedy too seriously, which happens to usually be young or immature people, love it when something goes wrong on live television, like when an actor screws up a line or breaks character.  It's exciting and unexpected and when the actor begin to laugh, you can't help but laugh along side them.   It's comparable to why people watch NASCAR, some enjoy the sport purely for the nature of its being while others enjoy it because they might see crash.  Either way, Fallon provided this innocent, elementary comedy to the audience.

     My brother, like Fallon, is one of those people who has a contagious laugh.  Everyone has met somebody with this natural talent.  It doesn't matter if you've know them for 19 years or 19 minutes, if they begin laughing you will follow suit.  This is one form of comedy that cannot be taught to any stand up or actor.  The reason people all over the nation fell in love with Jimmy Fallon as the new host of the Tonight Show, is because they can laugh along side him, whether or not the jokes he is telling are really all that funny.  This does have its limits of course and Fallon knows how to play off a bad joke.  Sometimes he is self depreciating other times he will throw away a cue card, being comedic all the while through his facial expressions and mannerisms.

     I could go on for days why I think Jimmy Fallon is funny, but to wrap this up I'll end it by saying this: comedy is basic.  I can appreciate and sometimes even love a political cartoon or a good piece of satirical humor, but Fallon knows how to include and relate to everyone on some level and the easiest way of doing that is by keeping that level basic.  If something funny goes over your head, it obviously won't be funny to you; therefore, when Fallon writes a joke he writes it to where everyone will easily understand it and be able to enjoy it.  A majority of people do not like to have to think in order to laugh and frankly Fallon delivers a dull joke that likely won't offend, resulting in an easy laugh for most people, which is all most people really want from a late night host.  About two years ago Jimmy Fallon had the CEO of Olive Garden on Late Night and Jimmy bought the rights to the line "When You're Here, You're Family".  This perfectly sums up what Fallon is aiming to do when he puts out his show.  He is just trying to get people across the country to invite him into their living room for 44 minutes to share an easy, unwinding-after-a-long-day-at-work, laugh.

What a Relief

The type of comedy I find most persuasive is the relief theory.  Relief implies that something sad, heavy, or dark is happening prior to the comedy or perhaps during the unfunny situation, however the reflection back upon the situation is funny.  Anyone can find humor through relief because the sense of security helps a person be more willing to joyous or funny things.  The ease of tension changes a person's perspective and can elate laughter through a funny situation with some otherwise unfunny circumstances.  Like Professor Herron said in class when he was on a lake in the middle of a lightning storm, the life threatening situation with a storm looming over head may not lead to laughter in the moment, however once on safe, dry land with the knowledge of safety he is able to relax, reflect, and laugh at the inherently funny situation.  The same goes for why it is so easy to laugh after a good cry.  The pressure and tension that is built up for whatever reason is released after you cry making it easy for you to laugh because you are now relieved.  I also like relief theory because it isn't attacking anyone, it's lighthearted and jovial in nature and rarely in the relief theory is there a "victim".  Unlike ridicule and superiority, which can serve its intended purpose in the right setting, relief theory doesn't attack anyone.  All that said relief doesn't always result in laughter, sometimes the situation is so serious or threatening that you can only remember it in a bad connotation even if you are completely safe now.  My second favorite type of humor is superiority simply because the late night comedians have mastered it so well.  People like Jimmy Fallon and John Oliver expose others for their shortcomings and together we can laugh at someone or some institution.  I don't like superiority when it attacks someone without a purpose. Like when Hutchenson's "Thoughts on Laughter" talked about how ridicule can be useful and serve to make a point when a wise man who knows what he's doing uses it; however, when a green, unprofessional attempts to use ridicule it oftentimes is only mean and serves no purpose.

UKS- 1st Post

In the Netflix series Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, written and produced by my favorite comedy duo Tina Fey and Robert Carlock, there are a number of small almost hidden jokes inside the more overarching bits and situations.  A personal favorite of mine occurs in the pilot episode about 10 minutes in.  Kimmy, the main character who has just recently moved to New York City after having been held captive in an underground bunker gets a nannying job for a very affluent and eccentric family on the Upper West Side.  Jacqueline Voorhees, the eccentric mother is showing Kimmy, her new employee, around her house and going over the details of the job.  When they get to the kitchen the camera shows a refrigerator filled with expensive artisan Fiji waters and Mrs. Voorhees offers one to Kimmy.  After Kimmy politely declines the water Mrs.Voorhees just throws the water into the trashcan instead of bothering to put it back into the refrigerator.  This is not only funny because of how they portray a stereotypical Upper West Side mother's behavior,  but also funny because of the polar differences between the two women, socioeconomically and otherwise.  Kimmy has been living in a bunker for the past 15 years with next to no worldly possessions and she watches a woman throw away a $3 bottle of water for no reason.  It's significant because it highlights how there is a growing wealth gap in our country and both sides of the spectrum, although exaggerated here, are living two increasingly different lives.  It's making fun of the fact that some wealthy people will quite literally throw their money away.


http://www.netflix.com/watch/80028212?trackId=0