Lead Blog Post

Lead Blog Post: Hey Abbott

               I have always been a fan of sketch comedy, with its simplistic approach to making everything confusing.  My favorite artists of sketch comedy are Abbott and Costello.  They have a large repertoire of sketches with different types of jokes in each but they all follow a formula.  First, Abbot and Costello are put in a situation that they must get out of or explain something.  They start by confusing the target whether this is the audience or a in sketch person.  Then they give a small sense of relief by making something clear.  They follow that up by confusing everyone once again.  Finally, they sum the whole joke up and deliver a punch line.

               The famous who’s on first sketch uses strange names and simple misunderstanding to make the joke.  This follows incongruity theory because the people have names that are usually used as question.  The people are baseball players that are supposed to have names that people will cheer.  This makes their question name seem even more out of place.   The strange names have a very formulaic sound throughout the sketch.  The set-up Costello is a new player who wants to know the players’ names on the team.  Who is generally the first question that would be asked about someone by a stranger.  The naming of the first baseman Who would make for maximum confusion and set up What as the second baseman to further the confusion.  What is a common way to start a question and it eliminates easy ways to clear up the name confusion.  The third baseman is just a way to provide sanity in the sketch because Costello figures that one out quickly giving some relief.  The sketch goes back into confusion with the introduction of Tomorrow and Today as the pitcher and catcher.  This is furthered by Why and Because as left field and center field.  The joke is then summed up by Costello saying a play with the players’ names.  The punchline is Costello saying, “I don’t give a damn” and then getting told that that is the shortstop name. 

               The 7 times 13 equal 28 sketch uses deception to make a simple math seem complex. The incongruity comes from the basic math that is being manipulated in way that seems to work but does not actually.  It follows the formula perfectly, the difference between this sketch and Who’s on First sketch is that confusion stimulates from math rather than names.  The sketch starts with Costello having to prove that he only owes $28 to the landlord.  The confusion starts with Costello saying that 7 multiplied by 13 equals 28.  He uses division to completely confuse the landlord and make him doubt what he knows is true.  He then uses multiplication to further confuse the landlord.  When the landlord seems to have figured out how to fix his predicament it gives a sense of relief.  The landlord then tries to use addition to get out of the predicament.  Costello turns this around on the landlord to confuse and trick him.  The punchline in this case is Costello taking the money and walking away with it. 

               This formulaic tendency is present in all comedy.  It isn’t always the same formula but there is an always a formula.  The formula is usually much more evident in sketch comedy than other comedy because they have one main joke that it is focused on and working towards the punchline.  While other types of comedy may have a multitube of jokes that act as red herrings to the formula.  Does this mean that comedy is just a different form of science, where everything can be quantified?  Is the only thing we are missing to completely understand and perfectly execute comedy the units?  This may sound ridiculous but remember we are currently taking a class all about examining comedy by deconstructing it, similarly to what most people do in science or math classes. 

Response to David Lead blog post

Response to Bridesmaids lead blog post

               That clip was completely the lowest type of humor, poop jokes.  The only real redeeming quality of the scene is that it is very up front about itself.  It does not try to hid the lowbrow nature of the joke.  This is both a good and bad thing.  It is a good thing because there is no deception going on but it does not help the joke.  The lack of cover means that creator of the scene, director and writers, didn’t care enough to even try to make the joke seem better.

               The setting of the joke does make incongruity a possible reason for the comedy, such as it is.  A better reason is superiority because its nicely dressed people being brought down to something everyone does.  This doesn’t improve the joke but it does more accurately represent the reasoning behind the joke.

               The difference between Bridesmaid poop humor and South Parks talking poop, other than comedy, is that South Park was using it to make fun of people who fight against Christmas.  South Park’s Mr. Hankey is an over the top of all the shit people spew out of their mouths when talking about the holidays and end all for holiday symbols.  This is due to him being a piece of poop that everyone, no matter the ethnicity or religion, will hate as a holiday symbol.  Mr. Hankey is a satire while the Bridesmaid scene is not even funny.  

22.3 Years or A response to when is "Too Soon" too soon

22.3 years

Full disclosure I don’t remember anything at 9/11 2001, but that is just a flashbulb memory because of a tragic event.  Also everyone in our class would have been 3-4 so it is unlikely they remember or comprehend the events of that day.  Other than the backlash from 9/11 that everyone felt I was relatively unaffected by 9/11 on a personal level.

There is no exact time frame for a to be too soon.  It is all dependent on the person and how the event has directly influenced them.  Even if it is right after a tragic event, the joke can still be funny.  If its clever then the joke no matter how political incorrect it is still funny.  The main problem with 9/11 jokes is they are very stupid and go for the low hanging fruit.  They aren’t clever or funny if they were than I would have no problem with them.  Also comedy is a necessary step in getting over tragedy so the sooner it starts the faster the tragedy will be got over. 

Now to the informative section of the blog.  When I was in high school I work a forge with my friends to make various metal objects.  We heat the metal on hot coals and then used a mixture of hammers and wedges to shape the heated malleable metal.  The “jet steel can’t melt steel beams” reasoning is completely wrong.  Just to start with a plane crashing into a building would compromise it structure integrity.   The beams holding up the building did not need to melt they just need to be heated up to a point where starts going through allotropy.  This is where the energy from the heat displaces atoms in the metal.  Once it start going through allotropy the structure of the beam would be sufficiently compromised for the weight of a skyscraper to bend it.

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A Response to Lead Blog Post

               Deadpan humor is an interesting category of comedy because it relies solely on the ridiculousness of the situation. It is often a part of a comedy rather than the main focus.  The common aspect of this is the straight man, the person that acts serious in ridiculous situations.  They bring the deadpan comedy by not reacting to the strangeness of the circumstances.  The comedy from deadpan humor is at the lack of reaction rather than the joke itself. 

               In the second paragraph, the example given of deadpan humor falls dead because the situation is not strange.  The character Ron Swanson does work as a straight man with his serious composure and bluntness.  His comment is just superiority, he’s making himself seem above everyone, not taking part in a deadpan joke.  The unapologetic manor further reinforces this since he does not feel that the person he is talking to deserves to be treated better.

               The failure to deliver deadpan comedy can be much better than actual deadpan comedy if done correctly.  It can improve the joke by drawing more attention to a topic or just the genuine feeling of the scene.  If it’s done poorly it can be the worse type of comedy because it just seems forced and fake.  Deadpan comedy only works if the situation is strange enough and the people either do not react to it or at least try not to react.