What Are You Laughing At Analysis

For example, it can draw attention to important points. David Sedaris utilized comedy to present his material in a unique way that will draw the reader in. His material was appropriate to the interests of the audience. When he asked, “Why refer to Lady Crack Pipe or Good Sir Dishrag when these things could never live up to the things their sex implied?” (Sedaris 220), he successfully evaluated the majority of his audience, a well-educated audience. Given the author’s purpose, his anticipated audience can relate to his jokes. It can make the reader ask that very same question, emphasizing his larger argument. Additionally, long pieces can hold a person’s attention longer with humor. People are more inclined to read on to the end and get the full benefit of the writing. When facilitated well, humor can effectively comment on normally serious topics like education. Cartoons can also convey humor and facilitate a point. In Roz Chast's What I Learned, the artist used especially effective written and visual text to humorously comment on her own experiences in education. She learned that “if you swallow gum, your guts get all stuck together” (Chast 244). Though silly, this made her more relatable to the audience. The purpose of comedy is to make writing more interesting and in some ways more relatable. When discussing nonfiction, elements of humor utilize techniques commonly found in fiction. These include plot, characters, and

First of all, an author must define and identify their audience in regard to their jokes. The essay, "Made You Laugh" by Marc Tyler Nobleman explains in thorough detail the analogy and concept of humor itself. For example, the article states, "Young children prefer slapstick, or silly physical humor" while adults enjoy satirical

Humor most definitely is an instinct that evolved to serve some purpose in everyone’s lives. There is a meaning The story, What Makes Us Laugh by Leon Rappoport thoroughly analyzes the different theories in people’s reactions of humor. Rappoport discusses how certain jokes succeed and fail, why we laugh when we don’t think we should, and why sometimes we might not react to humor. I found this part quite interesting when he was saying certain people react with either boredom or fascination, with boredom being more prevalent. Personally, I would be captivated in this analysis of theories because not only is it interesting, but it also teaches one further about humor than one would not expect, especially the theory of superiority.

From sorrow. From stress. No matter the magnitude of any situation, laughter will always heal an individual to an extent. The concept that causes laughter is humor: something that an individual that finds amusing or comic. What is unique about humor is that no one individual has the exact sense of humor as another individual.

Moreover, comedians/authors may change up their act when trying to appeal to a new audience and possibly while using their knowledge of the theories of humor to spice up their comedy. Furthermore, the article "Made You Laugh" contains a chart which lays out the usual comedic preferences for different ages (equivalent to the different audiences an author may try to appeal to). Essentially the chart says that young children favor slapstick comedy (physical humor), elementary school children prefer puns (I didn't "sea" that coming), teens prefer humor that their authorities may find rebellious ("you not my dad!"), and well-educated adults prefer satire (spending money for a toy for a child only to have it broken and bought again, it’s a cycle). An example of an author's writing(s) appealing

Richard Pryor once said, “There’s a thin line between to laugh with and to laugh at” (A-Z Quotes). Leon Rappoport, a professor at Kansas State University, believed in the same thin line as Pryor. Rappoport received his BA and MS at New York University, and completed his PhD in 1963 at the University of Colorado(Kansas State University). He studied psychological sciences, and concentrated his studies in decision making and human judgment, even writing a book called Punchlines: The Case for Racial, Ethnic, and Gender Humor (Kansas State University). In another book, The Sword and Shield Metaphor and Other Perspectives, Rappoport claims that humor depends on how the audience receives humor. The audience can either be on the side of the audience that is getting laughed at, or they can be on the side of the audience that is laughing with other people.

Mike Celestino is a small-time director and comedy fan, who looks at the inner workings of comedy to reflect on its effect on the shaping of American culture in his documentary, “That’s Not Funny.” The audience isn’t specific in nature, just anyone who has ears and an interest in comedy. His purpose was to argue the value of comedy, and the reflection of it on our lives. Analyzing the trends of comedy from the early times of film until now, the documentary expresses censorship and its importance on the art form. Cultural change is viewed through his demonstration of comedy history, the perception of the comedy, and successes and failures of each. Bringing in some of the largest names in stand-up ties his argument to the use of laughter to

It's important for children to learn about and understand the world around them, but studying can be boring and uninteresting. If you want to instill a love of learning in your children, you need to ditch the dull whenever you can and instead make learning fun and engaging. Here's how.

Humor affects how people relate to one another. As “much humor draws on the sophisticated use of grammar and lexicon, as well as culture-specific references, genres, and discourse patterns,” (Shively 1), it is considered the height of knowledge of the language to understand its humor. Humor is a type of ludic language play, or using words for one’s own enjoyment or amusement.

“Laughed Until We Cried” is a song written by Kelley Lovelace and Ashley Gorley, but recorded by American country music artist Jason Aldean. It was released in August of 2007 as the second single from his album “Relentless”. “Laughed Until We Cried” was an instant hit and made it to the Billboard hot country songs list. This song was a huge success because it connects to your emotions and really relates to everyone. “Laughed Until We Cried” applies various strategies to relay the message that you should make time to reflect on your memories.

The balance between humour and offensiveness creates an idea called “the line”. Humour and tastelessness share a linear progression when places on a graph. When the value of one increases the potential value of the other increases as well. The goal of the comedian then is to keep the joke above “the line”(Sabourin & DiCostanzo, 2013). The tastelessness of a joke increases as the number of people potentially offended by it increases. Very few people will be offended by airline food, and jokes about are not very funny. When continued on jokes about groups of people, such as lawyers, may not be exceptionally offensive, as with the exception of some lawyers, not very many people will be offended. Then when moving onto specific people jokes become increasingly funny. The person makes a different make and is funnier depending on your crowd. Jokes about Jesus, Muhammad, or Obama can elicit a good amount of laughter, but can also elicit boos by some crowds. This trend continues on and a comedy show becomes more of a game of chance for the comedian. At the higher ends the comedian must weigh the risks of offended people to get the largest laughs. At the

Humor, the quality of being amused, the ability to make existence enjoyable. All people have their own kind of humor, and they use it in different and intriguing ways. Some people use it to brighten the room, some use it to orate harsh things, and some even use it to avoid pain. An author who is a expert at the use of humor is Sherman Alexie. It is evident in his book The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven, where “He uses humor--or his characters use humor--to reveal injustice, protect self-esteem, heal wounds, and create bonds.”

Comedy can be defined as any act or narrative that makes a target audience to laugh or feel amused. That is the definition of comedy. However, what I find as comedy may not necessarily be any act or story that makes people laugh. What makes you laugh, may not make me to laugh. I may even derive offense in the joke being relayed as comedy. Therefore, two things are important: the target audience and the message behind the joke.

I was the “funny guy” in my clique of high school friends. Ever since I learned to read English, I enjoyed reading and collecting joke books. I exhausted every single joke book from the small community library in town. Riddles, jokes about animals and wildlife, reasons why I didn’t do my homework, lawyer jokes, and later on, ethnic jokes. I knew they were funny, but I wanted more. Perhaps it was my lack of physical achievements that made me obsess with a need to entertain my peers.

According to the Oxford dictionary “Humor,” is defined as: The quality of being amustic or comic, especially as expressed in literature or speech, but what truly makes something funny? Comedy has been around for hundreds of years; as it is being examined four concrete theories have been developed to understand the idea of comedy: Superiority, Relief, incongruity, and Benign Violation theory.