A-Aron

      Key and Peele have some of the funniest skits I have ever seen, my personal favorite is the substitute teacher sketch. The video up above is an interview that Key and Peele did with CBS this morning about tackling race through humor. They are asked questions about their skits and if they think it is easier for them to make them because they are biracial. I think that their comedy is special. It is not like Tosh. O because it is not out right racist. It makes the audience uncomfortable while still entertaining them. There is something so different about the humor in Key and Peele and Tosh. O. Maybe it is because Key and Peele pull at the stereotypical jokes instead of making jokes at people like Tosh. O. I do think that Key and Peele work to put together skits that bring only laughter and not to hurt people.
     I am not a huge fan of Tosh.O. My dad on the other hand loves it. I don't know if it is because of their ridiculous videos or because of Daniel Tosh and his terrible jokes. I just don't think that there is much to be said about Tosh. O. The show is always the same and it doesn't show much creativity. Key and Peele while it sometimes remains the same, it tends to show way more creativity. I think the time and effort they spend writing each sketch is really important and really pays off. Tosh. O tends to just use superiority theory as a way to make people laugh. It even uses the superiority theory when making racial jokes. That is when tension builds and I don't think it is appropriate then. I think Key and Peele tend to air more on the side of the incongruity theory. They use that and some superiority theory to make their sketches highly entertaining and my personal favorite.

Tis the season

 
  Nothing can compare to the feeling that my two favorite holidays are almost here. Alex posted her favorite vine so I thought I should share my favorite vines that depict the holiday season. Thanksgiving break is only 14 days away and I couldn't be happier for it to get here. Thanksgiving to many people means a full week of non stop eating, but to me this year it means seeing and hugging my sisters for the first time since August. I am beyond excited, but after that hug comes all the eating. My entire extended family will be in town this year to celebrate.
       The vine below depicts a family sitting around the table about to eat their Thanksgiving dinner when their son decides to run outside and smash it. You can hear their screams in the background as the turkey hits the ground. As I watch the vine I can only picture what would happen if one of my cousins or myself decided to do this. Not only would my family be furious, but they would probably never let me come home for Thanksgiving dinner again. My dad spends hours cooking the turkey and if I was to injure his art he would be crushed.

    After Thanksgiving comes the best time of year, Christmas!!! The vine below describes my life perfectly. I have started to bug my roommate already about decorating for Christmas, she finally gave in and let me start playing Christmas music. I have started to buy Christmas presents for family and friends. I love Christmas. You could call me Buddy the Elf. Whenever someone seems to hate Christmas I will send them this vine and it never fails to help them get in the spirit. I think it is because her facial expressions and tone.

    

       As Alex stated sound plays a huge part in humor. Both of these vines use sound to their advantage. The Thanksgiving one uses the family screaming to add to the feeling of the vine. It creates a sense of panic and makes the vine even more funny. While the Christmas vine uses different tones to get its point across. Without the different tones the vine wouldn't be funny. 

Hukuna Matata

      I completely agree with Elizabeth and her idea of comic relief. I think that Disney has mastered the technique of comic relief over the years. While my favorite Disney movies are Mulan and Frozen, I will forever be a huge fan of Timon and Pumbaa from The Lion King. Timon and Pumbaa taught me that Hukuna Matata means no worries and they also added the much needed comic relief to The Lion King. In the clip above they show their very own talent at making people laugh. This scene would be incredibly funny for children because of the two animals dancing and singing and then being chased, but as I watched it again and listened to the words I caught details that I hadn't heard when I was little. For example, Timon mentions dressing in drag which many young children would probably not understand but to an adult that idea could be very funny. Disney used this technique a lot and was able to hide many crude jokes within his movies. The Lion King is notorious for all the hidden crude humor within the movie. I do believe that not all movies need comic relief to be successful, but in most Disney movies comic relief is need. The reason behind this is because in most disney movies there is a death. In The Lion King Simba watches his father die, in Mulan Shane's father is killed in battle, and in Frozen Elsa and Ana lose their parents and are left orphans. To fill the void that these deaths have made Disney uses comic relief. Most of their relief is pointed towards the children, but the soon realized that since parents were watching these movies too they should add some hidden comedy in for them too. Disney will forever be a children favorite because of their use of the comic relief.

I am clumsy

    Keyu I really like what you you chose to blog about. It is something that is similar to what we watch currently, but at the same time it is completely different. There is a scene that reminds me of myself and manyAmerican movies that are shown today. It happens when Win tin-aau is trying to be a stunt double for the second time. He shows that he is able to work with Sister Cuckoo, but then he trips almost spilling coffee on her. From here forward things spiral out of control, ending with Sister Cuckoo flying out of a window. I found this part hysterical because it reminds me so much of myself. These things tend to happen to me all the time. I am completely accident prone as discussed before. It doesn't help that most of the time these accidents occur whenever I am trying to impress someone.
      I feel like this is a common occurence in many American movies. The guy is trying to impress the girl and trips and then hurts the girl or someone is trying to get a job and trips and hurts the person that is interviewing them. I think that this is found to be funny because it is something that could happen to any of us at any given time. It is almost a sense of superiority because we know that it could happen to us but instead it is happening to someone else. Whenever I trip and fall I know I bounce right back up and check to make sure no one saw what had happened. I remember when I was looking at High Schools I walked into a wall because I was to focused on the conversation I was having with someone and I landed on my butt. I quickly jumped back up and pretend nothing had happened even though I am pretty sure everyone had seen. Moments like these can happen to anyone and that is why they are so funny, at least to me.

P. S. Happy Halloween!!

We are in Africa

      KK, I agree. I love Vine and I also love animal videos. I was lucky enough to travel to Africa with my family a few years ago and above is a short clip from our trip. We absolutely loved it. We saw some amazing things on this trip, but I will never forget this video. The hippo didn't do anything funny, but for me the background noise makes the video. So a big shout out to my Uncle Greg. He has this uncanny knack for making everything he does hysterical. I don't remember a conversation I have had with him that I wasn't near tears because I was laughing so hard. When I think of my Uncle Greg I picture him with a huge smile on his face wearing his neon green glasses. My Uncle Greg has style, his favorite color is neon green and you can tell. Everything he wears is pretty much neon green. No matter what his hair will be on point and I mean sometimes there is a point. But by far the best thing about him is the way he can make you laugh at the little things. He use to be an actor in New York, so maybe he is trained to be comical but I think it is because he is just a comical person. The sounds he makes in the video adds so much to this video that without it it probably wouldn't be as funny. I know I wouldn't be laughing as hard if he wouldn't have given us that great reaction.

     I think sound has always played a huge role in movies and TV shows throughout the decades. For example, the music from Jaws tells us that a shark is coming and other shows use it today to tell us that something bad is about to happen. Another sound is the classic drum noises that are used after someone tells a joke. Everyone knows that sound and it adds emphasis to the joke. So Uncle Greg thank you for adding some laughter to my life.

Are we there yet?

As many of you probably know I come from Oklahoma, but what you may not know is I spend my summers in Michigan teaching kids how to sail. This means every summer my two sisters, two dogs, parents, and I get into the car and drive eighteen straight hours to Michigan. We have been making this drive since I was seven months old. My parents learned very quickly that the only way to keep my younger sisters and me entertained was to put a movie on. When we first started making these drives my dad took a TV and strapped it to the middle consul because cars didn’t have built in DVD players. The road trips were very long and we did not even have headphones at first, until my dad couldn’t stand the noise any longer so he pulled over and invested in the headphones you see pictured below.  

Now after making this drive every summer you get a little tired of the same movies! To make matters even more complicated all the Blockbusters went out of business and Netflix wasn’t around, so my parents had to figure out how to keep us entertained because watching the same movies over again wasn’t cutting it. That is when they had the idea to make us watch the “good stuff”, old TV shows like Gilligan's Island, Bewitched, The Brady Bunch, Little House on the Prairie and my favorite I Love Lucy. These TV shows were perfect because they provided us with endless entertainment and it was unlike anything we had ever seen before. As we watched these shows we would make little dances to the intro songs. Little things like this helped keep us entertained and for this my parents were grateful.

This is one of my favorite clips from I Love Lucy. No matter how many times I watch it I can never stop myself from laughing. I love the faces Lucy makes as the conveyor belt speeds up and she has to start eating  the chocolate. Whether I am laughing because of the superiority theory or the incongruity theory, I am not completely sure. I personally think that it deals with both theories. I find myself laughing because I feel superior to Lucy and her struggle to get all the chocolate wrapped and at the same time, and I am laughing because Lucy is so out of place. I Love Lucy is a show that could be watched with people of all ages, something so innocent that it brings laughter to everyone. There was never a show that used any form of foul language or crude humor. As my sisters and I watched I Love Lucy in the car sometimes my parents would want to hear what was happening in the background because it remind them of watching it with their siblings, when they were younger, and laughing with them.

While I Love Lucy is a show that is scripted it is also a show that remains timeless. It remains hysterical without getting too graphic. I Love Lucy first aired in 1951 and that was completely different time period than we are at today. Maybe that is why I Love Lucy has such innocent humor. I love that I Love Lucy has a humor that can be passed down through the ages. It will forever be my favorite.

Did you have a favorite TV oldie? Why do you think they are so funny? Is it because of its innocent humor? Or is it because of the memories it brings with it?

Laughing at a wedding

      This is a serious problem for me. Now usually I am not the one saying the vows, but I am known to start laughing at the worst possible moment. This has happened during my schools moment of silence, my great uncles funeral, and while speaking at my cousins wedding. Each time has been incredibly awkward. My favorite story was when I was speaking at my cousins wedding. I come from a huge family. I have tons of aunts and uncles, which means I have tons of cousins. My cousin was the first one to get married out of all of us. Like every wedding, it was a big deal and she chose me to speak in the wedding. She had been in my parents wedding and she found it fitting that I was to be in hers. She sent me the verses she wanted me to read and for weeks I practiced them. When the day finally came I was ready, I knew them by heart. I got to the podium to say the verses and looked at the sheet and then started to read the verses, I looked at the congregation and back down at the sheet and bursted into laughter. It wasn't just a small laugh. It was a full laugh, one that caused the whole congregation to start laughing with me. By the time I got it under control I had forgotten my place and just decided to start over. Afterwards I returned to my seat, bright red. After the ceremony my Aunt came up to me and I was terrified that she would be upset with me because I ruined the wedding, but instead she hugged me and thanked me for adding some fun into the wedding.

       I think we laugh at times like these because we are uncomfortable. It has to do with what is happening around us and it makes us feel out of place. When Bo Burnham makes references to things like the Holocaust and 9/11 we laugh because we are uncomfortable. We laugh out of a need for relief. It is a chance to laugh about something that is so awkward to think about making fun of. If we were to just laugh to make fun of it then it would be considered rude and terrible.