Hill Douglas FYW

Will Ferrell is without a doubt a comedic genius, and although I don’t agree that Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby is his best, it is still a hilarious movie. My favorite quote from the prayer scene is when Cal Naughton Jr. says, “I like to think of Jesus with like giant eagles wings and singin' lead vocals for Lynyrd Skynyrd with like an angel band, and I'm in the front row, and I'm hammered drunk.” This is just such an absurd and incongruous image of Jesus Christ, fitting perfectly with the incongruity theory, and it also falls in perfectly with the stereotypes of the rednecks in the movie. I also fits with the relief theory because it takes a serious subject and makes a funny joke of it. Also the image Cal makes of Jesus in a tuxedo t-shirt because he likes to party is hilarious as well. In my opinion, Will Ferrell is the king of incongruity, with Movies like Old School. The duo of Will Ferrell and John Reilly, who plays Cal Naughton, just amplifies the incong...

Sacha Baron Cohen’s unique sense of humor and approach to comedy is probably what makes him so appealing to his fans. While Ali G is hilarious, my favorite work of Baron Cohen’s is Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan . Borat was the first work of Baron Cohen’s I had ever seen, and all these years later, it is still by far my favorite. If you haven’t seen it, Baron Cohen pretends to be a reporter named Borat from Kazakhstan, and he comes to America to film a documentary about America. The film follows him taking on American culture throughout the whole country, in many awkward and hilarious situations and interactions with unsuspecting Americans. I have heard Baron Cohen’s work referred to as a “mockumentary,” which I think is a great name for the concept.  I agree that overall Baron Cohen’s humor falls under both the incongruity theory and the superiority theory. Most of his characters are often ignorant amidst other people who are n...

Key & Peele are a dynamic duo would it comes to their Comedy Central skits. They have had a pretty longstanding presence on the channel, and don’t seem to be going anywhere else anytime soon. I agree that a lot of their skits utilize the superiority theory to make the audience laugh, but I think it could also be argued that the incongruity theory is just as vital to their humor. I remember when I saw my first Key & Peele skit, and it was the East/West Bowl, where they announce the starting lineups for a college football All-American game. Poking fun at some of the absurd names athletes have, they blow things totally out of proportion with incongruous names like “Hingle McCringleberry” and “Torque [Construction Noise] Lewith.” These unimaginable names embody the incongruity theory. Other than this skit though, most of my other favorite Key & Peele skits were mentioned, like “Substitute Teacher” and “Loco Gangsters.” I think the “Loco Gangsters” skit does a great job using bo...

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....

What would our generation be without Vines? Ok yeah, we’d probably be a lot more productive, but that’s beyond the point. Vine provided a platform for teenagers all across the world to get in on the same inside jokes without even knowing each other. I can not count the number of times I have heard someone who I don’t know very well quote a Vine, and instantly there is a connection between anyone who knows what they are talking about. In my opinion, the best kind of Vines fall under the incongruity theory of humor, because many of them are just so absurd and the content usually doesn’t make much sense. I love the one of the little girl falling off the swing and turning into a bowling ball. When you see the video for the first time there’s no way someone could guess what is about to happen. The video with the brave man on the beach trying to stop the umbrellas seems similar to me as well. Richard’s inability to pay frisbee golf is a great example of the superiority theory, as we sit here...

While all three theories of humor are different in their own respects, it seems to me that a lot of times some of the theories are blended together, and not exclusively used individually. Out of the three theories, I think the incongruity theory is the most persuasive and effective. This theory seems to be used most frequently, and according to Lippitt’s “Humour and Incongruity” article, it is believed by many to encompass all of humor. Dave Chappelle’s “Clayton Bigsby” sketches are very good examples of the incongruity theory at work. In this controversial skit, Chappelle portrays a blind African-American man by the name of Clayton Bigsby. Unaware of his own skin color, Bigsby is a very influential member of the Ku Klux Klan. These two contrasting ideas are so different, yet Chappelle is able to fuse them together into an ironic comedy sketch. To an extent, the three theories cover different types of comedy, but they are often combined together or used together in some aspect. Fo...

The best piece of comedy I've seen lately would have to be The Office. The NBC sitcom managed to produce nine seasons of hilarious episodes, introducing new content as well as keeping up with older plot points and continuous character development. The reading we were assigned prompted me to analyze the office in a way that I hadn’t yet, and think more about what exactly makes the show funny. After reading the “Theories of Humor” text, I think The Office seems to exemplify aspects of the Relief Theory, but it really embodies the Superiority Theory. In my opinion, the funniest characters in The Office are Michael Scott, Kevin Malone, Meredith Palmer, and Dwight Schrute, but just about all of the characters are laughed at for their faults and failures. This is just like Thomas Hobbes’ Superiority Theory, where our laughter is from feeling superior to those who make the mistakes. We laugh at Michael Scott because of his idiotic antics and lack of a filter when it comes to controver...