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FYW Blog Week 14: Response to Impractical Jokers

Impractical Jokers is a show I’ve never gotten into, and I’m not quite sure why. A few of my friends are really into it, but now after watching these clips, I might have to start watching it more often. Out of all those videos, I found the stalk and text to the most amusing. I found them so funny that I even took to YouTube to watch the rest of them. The punishments are also hilarious, because these guys are absolutely insane. They also must be dedicated to their show, because I would never get piercings or tattoos like that just to be funny. I definitely agree that superiority theory is very well represented in their humor. You’d have to think most people viewing the show would feel to superior to these guys, as chances are they wouldn’t do many of the stupid things they do, nor would they subject themselves to such debauchery and embarrassment. The incongruity theory is also prominent though too. The four guys do a lot of pranks that are pretty absurd, and I think that is part of th...

FYW Blog Week 13: Response to Baywatch

Although I have never seen either of the Baywatch movies, I have definitely heard of them. I feel like the original Baywatch is referenced quite often in a lot of movies. From what I know about the movies, I would agree that the second one did a good job of keeping a lot of the aspects of the first, yet made it funnier. I am also kind of a fan Dwayne Johnson, but I didn’t know he was in this movie. He is in a lot of good movies, so I’m sure this one is good as well. Even in just those two scenes I can tell they did a good job of utilizing all of the comedy theories together. While I would think a lot of people out there might consider this violating, those who don’t would definitely find it hilarious. This is why it fits well under the umbrella of the benign violation theory. I think the incongruity theory is a very close second in terms of where the humor comes from. The events that took place in those scenes are absolutely absurd, and in my opinion, that is frequently the funnies hu...

FYW Blog Week 12: Lead Blog - The Hangover

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I9TApNosOc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOSWPFONEIU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwJ_jwR1yT8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVLYJrLkeI0 The Hangover movies are some of my favorite comedies out there. The situations in which the characters find themselves are absurd and hilarious, never failing to provide humor for the audience. For a multitude of reasons, The Hangover movies have garnered a large fan base. One of the main reasons is that they utilized the incongruity theory, and others, to make it so funny. Like most movie series, the first movie is probably the best out of the three, yet all three are full of funny content. Alan Garner, played by Zach Galifianakis, is ultimately what makes the movie as funny as it is, because just about everything he does is funny in some way. His eccentric behavior is never ending throughout the three movies. Alan is also the reason things go wrong in each of the movies. In the first two, he drugs...

FYW Blog Week 11: Response to We're the Millers

Although I have never seen We’re the Millers , I have heard it is very funny. After watching those scenes, I think that has been confirmed. It seems as if every theory of humor is utilized throughout the movie, and that usually makes for a funny film. All the scenes are even funnier after being put in context, once I read that they aren’t a real family and they were struggling drugs back from Mexico. The concept itself is incongruous, and pretty humorous as well. Out of the scenes in that video, I’d have to say my favorite is the campfire scene when they are playing pictionary, especially after reading that the other people there were a random family. Rose’s guesses are so off-kilter and inappropriate, I can’t imagine what the other family was thinking after everyone realizes it was just supposed be a skateboard. I can relate though, because my drawing skills are absolutely horrible. No one would know I was trying to draw a skateboard either. This scene is a solid depiction of the inc...

FYW Blog Week 10: Response to SNL

Saturday Night Live is a staple when it comes to late night comedy. As far as I know, it is one of the longest running shows to still have such a large and devout audience. I didn’t get into Saturday Night Live until fairly recently, when I found myself watching Youtube clips of some of the skits. It is amazing how many famous actors and comedians have been on the show, and that doesn’t seem to be changing either. Some of my favorite skits have been E-Meth and Jail Cellmate. The E-Meth skit is basically an advertisement for an alternative  way of doing meth, and they go on to advertise an electronic cigarette equivalent for meth. The Jail Cellmate skit shows someone getting put in a jail cell and their cellmate ends up being Bill Cosby, who is so old and crazy that they have to request a change. My all time favorite SNL skit though, is the one called Buying Beer, where a group of underage guys go to elaborate lengths trying to convince a gas station worker to sell them beer. Now af...

FYW Blog Week 9: Response to Home Alone

The Home Alone movies are classics that remind me of my childhood as well, and I still keep watching them whenever I see them on TV. Kevin McCallister is probably one of my favorite movie characters of all time because his shenanigans never seem to get old. Home Alone is also one of those movies that I feel like just about everyone has seen, making them quotable and referenceable films. The scenes when Marv and Harry are going through the traps are priceless as well, not to mention Kevin’s impeccable innovation in constructing such traps. The description of Kevin as “a skilled assassin, executing his crimes perfectly” is a funny way to think about an eight year old, but in this case, it could not be more true. I find the relationship between Harry and Marv to be one of the funniest concepts of the movie, because Marv is always saying or doing something extremely stupid and Harry is constantly degrading him for it. One of my favorite quotes involving them is after Harry goes through t...

FYW Blog Week 8: Response to Hurricane Florence

I agree that this concept of turning something serious, like a hurricane, into a joke can be really funny. Personally, I am a huge fan of Twitter, as it is a platform for everything from news to humor. The social media site is a great source for humor because I feel like people are always creating crazy accounts to do things just like this. While I never saw this Hurricane Florence account, I have seen many similar Twitter pages in the past that are funny as well. This particular Twitter account is a textbook example of the relief theory, as the tension was building with a serious issue like this hurricane that got almost everyone on the east coast out of school for days. This person then turned it into a comedic topic, releasing the tension that was built. At Furman we can relate to this though, as the tension built for us to be hit hard and classes were cancelled for two days, yet we didn’t get a single drop of rain during that span. The incongruity theory is definitely relevant as w...