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.
hahaha. That's a good title.
ReplyDeleteI like how you suggest that maybe we laugh at people taking a superior attitude more than we laugh at superiority itself.
What would it mean to poorly fail at deadpan?
I think that deadpan comedy still works even if the situation isn't strange, it just changes from incongruity to superiority. The Parks and Rec example would still be deadpan in my opinion because it contrasts the perky, outgoing, helpful nature of the salesperson with Ron's deadpan personality.
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