FYW Blog Week 4: Response to The Office

The Office is without a doubt one of the most successful TV shows of all time, and that is in large part due to the writers’ utilization of the incongruity theory. The majority of the show’s humor spurs from absurd one-liners and ludicrous situations. These fit under the realm of the incongruity theory because a lot of incongruous humor is unexpected and doesn’t totally make sense, much like the words and actions of The Office’s cast. Another appeal to the show is that many adults are able to relate to The Office, even if it is perhaps an exaggeration of the everyday awkwardness one experiences in their office.
I agree that the incongruity theory is the best to describe the show, and it is also the best theory to describe one of my favorite lines from all nine seasons. After Jim and Pam’s wedding, Kevin Malone gives his recap of the nights events. “What an awesome party. The best wedding I've ever been too. I got six numbers. One more would have been a complete telephone number. This was epic,” said Malone, “My Kleenex shoes were a huge conversation piece, but man, my dogs are barking.” So many things about this just don’t quite go together. He is wearing Kleenex boxes as shoes, he got six random digits throughout the night to almost compose a random phone number, and to top it all off, he puts his feet in the ice machine. In my opinion, the absurdity and unexpectedness of this situation, and many others in the Office, are what makes it so funny. Kevin Malone isn’t the only incongruous character in the show either, it seems that most of the humor overall derives from the writer’s brilliant ability to utilize the incongruity theory through every single one of the characters.

Comments

  1. Shane HerronSeptember 20, 2018 at 6:12 PM

    That's a good point about Kevin. He does seem to be one of the characters who is less about making awkward situations and more just about being a totally goofy person. That's part of real office life too I guess, the one guy who we just genuinely fine really entertaining even if he is not trying to be entertaining.

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