Response to Jane

I love Elf!!! Perfect choice for Christmas coming up in a few days. It's easy to see how the superiority theory plays out in this movie. Buddy is ignorant in the fact that he is a grown man and still believes he is an elf. He is caught up in his childlike manner and can't let go of his past. Even though it's easy to laugh at Buddy, there are moments when I feel bad for him. He doesn't fit in at the North Pole along with the elves, and doesn't fit in coming into the real world because he's never experienced anything like it.  Although, he makes up for his misfortunes through his humor (even if he realizes it or not)

Response to Theo

I liked the connection you made between the relief theory and the incongruity theory. I think you could combine them in this instance to where it's incongruous in the fact that you don't know what's going to happen in his comedic skits, but also a relief that you don't know what he's going to do next so that the comedy isn't monotonous and bland. I enjoyed the unknowing factor that Eric Andre provided and the examples you provided the class with in your blog post. I for one enjoyed watching him and enjoyed the type of comedy he provided. He definitely keeps me on my toes and I find it quite funny how he says literally whatever comes to his mind. He talks in a serious matter, which to me makes it so much better, that the sarcastic comments will get a pretty good laugh out of me. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed Eric Andre and what he brought to the table. 

Rewrite on Hannah's Post

 Through Hannah's experiment, there were definitely flaws, but had a good meaning behind it. The general flaws were that it's harder to tell which show is funnier with one having a laugh track and one without. Also, with it being two different shows, one can't completely see which show is funnier because of the different jokes. There are too many variables and moving parts. However, for the purpose of this class, she conducted it anyways to give a general understanding of how the experiment works, and how it relates to the real unbiased experiment she researched. In the experiment she conducted, it was more accurate with it being the same show and same episode having one with a laugh track and one without. This provided a more truthful experiment with reliable results. The results showed that the show with the laugh track was generally funnier and people enjoyed it more. 
 Why is it that people liked having the laugh track? One reason could possibly be the amount of silence the show allows in place of the laughter. The silence could result in awkwardness making the jokes seem less funny or not known that a joke was said in the first place. The laugh could also be in place too emphasize the "funniness" of the joke subconsciously reminding the viewer to laugh. From what it seems, the more people that are laughing, whether or not a laugh track is involved, the funnier the joke is meant to be.  
 The Zupancic article helps clarify what we understand about the topic in general during the shows involving the laugh track. We are able to understand that "Comedy always materializes and gives a body to what can otherwise appear as an unspeakable, infinite Mystery of the other scene." (Zupancic) There is always a two sided connection in comedy. One can see that in both shows Hannah specifically gave to us, bringing in two thoughts of argument being if the laugh track makes a show funnier or not.

Response to Hannah

Friends
1.  8 it's pretty funny.
2. 10 I definitely enjoyed it
3. Naughty humor, Sarcasm, Wordplay humor, Incongruity, People doing stupid things

The Office1. 10 I had plenty of laughs 
2. 10 One of my favorite episodes
3. Putdown humor, Sarcasm, People doing stupid things, A sight gag, Naughty humor

This was a great experiment to participate in!! Great idea bringing this into the lead blog post. I'm glad I could be apart of it. I didn't realize how using the laugh track could make such a difference between the tv shows! This is definitely an interesting topic of discussion. I wounder if you could compare Friends to The Office without the laugh track on Friends. Would that be a fair test or does it give Friends an unfair advantage? 

Response to Lindsey

I love how you incorporated the barbies into the meme world. As a girl, I grew up playing with my barbies and treating them as if they were friends of my own. It was quite funny to see how my childhood could be flipped around in a more inappropriate manner (but hilarious). I agree how you tied in the incongruity theory of how we perceived barbies and how they play the typical over exaggerated role of high school drama queens. It works because we are not used to playing them out this way, but it is inevitably funny to the viewers. It took me a little bit to warm up to their comedy and processing the barbie aspect, but once I let go of what I wanted the barbies to be like, I thought it was very enjoyable and funny to watch!

Response to Faith

Leading off of this post, Trump is known for making inappropriate jokes and comments. People notice the wrongdoings of his, but he starts normalizing the issues in our American society. People in power need to be cautious of the underlying messages, when publicly speaking,  in order to not continue a vicious cycle of injustices brought on to the people. I agree with Faith in how "interactions with people, comedic or otherwise, often alter or shape our own opinions of those controversial topics." With Trump normalizing controversial topics, such as gun violence, we become insensitive to the real issues. Refer to Trump's Humor article explaining why it's an issue at hand. 

Response to Lucy

I like how you hinted on the fact that if this show aired today, it would most likely fail in today's societal environment. In today's age, it's like we are all walking on eggshells trying not to offend anyone (which is an impossible task). Michael Scott makes inappropriate jokes throughout the entire series; such as gay jokes or that's what she said jokes. It leaves us questioning how he became a manager in the first place and how he hasn't lost his job. Michael Scott doesn't seem to have much depth to his character, but through his childlike qualities and insanely inappropriate jokes, one gets a clearer sense of his mental state. He cover's his sorrows through humor, or bad humor I should say, trying to distract himself and the rest of the employees from what's really bothering him. This makes the audience feel superior to him in the way where we can laugh at how Michael embarrasses himself on the daily and continually makes a fool out of himself.