Introduction

In English, we were assigned to experiment with a variety of comedic improvisation exercises, study various professional pieces of visual, written, and spoken humor. Through this unit we learned comedic terms and techniques, and was able to script and deliver an original performance. I greatly enjoyed the Humor Unit, I had always wanted to learn how to do stand up and what went into making a comedy routine. Even though we were not able to perfom infront of our peers I would say this was one of my favorite units.

Humor Proposal

Analysis

Micheal Blaustein and Gabriel Iglesias(“Fluffy”) I feel have a considerable difference in humor styles. Blaustein uses banter, epigrams, and blue humor, which makes his comedy funny to some may be seen as offensive. Fluffy on the other side uses more anecdotes and exaggerism. Fluffy and Blaustein both use different tones of voices in some skits although Fluffy appears to use them more often than Blaustein.
Fluffy’s approach to telling stories is very different from Blaustein. Fluffy has a much calmer demeanor when performing, he takes his time while talking. He is very soft-spoken and has a warm welcoming feel to him. In his comedy skit called “Fluffy goes to India” he tells a story about his time in India, he went because he was performing some shows. In this skit, he uses a lot of situational humor such as “In India, you’ll see six lanes, but guess what? You’ll see 12 cars across. Yes, they have lines, but they’re there to let you know more or less the direction you want to go” It is in the way he performs that makes the comedy work, reading this quote might not make you laugh but hearing him say it is more likely to make you laugh.
Gabriel Iglesias is a very kind-hearted person and that shows in his comedy, he is also quite open about himself. Fluffy can talk about himself, not in a degrading way but a funny and happy tone. In some of his jokes/skits, he talks about his weight but it’s hardly ever in a bad light, for example, “the original 5 levels are big, healthy, husky, fluffy and damn! People ask what could be bigger than damn! The new level is called Oh hell no!” he refers to himself as fluffy hence the nickname fluffy. Since he is always honest and open with his audience it makes his skits easy to understand and sometimes makes it funnier.
The second comedian that I enjoy watching is Micheal Blaustein, who has a contrasting style of comedy. Blaustein has a stronger presence on stage (but don’t get me wrong, Fluffy still has a strong presence – it’s just not the same as Blaustein’s). In his skits, Blaustein also uses satire, in most of his performances he talks and interacts with the audience and has a conversation with the people. For example, in his skit called “college comedy, he connects with the audience asking then “I can’t do a lot of things… I also can’t spell, anyone else with me?” He continues with his story but bounces off of the audience’s reactions to help push the story along which makes it funny. In his skits he uses strong tones of voice, he doesn’t yell although he uses a very assertive voice nevertheless he still manages to make people laugh without it being a mean tone of voice.
Blaustein’s personality is quite the opposite of Fluffy. Similarly to Fluffy, Blaustein is a well-known comedian and actor. He has performed at well over 200 colleges and has gone on many tours worldwide.

Reflection

Starting with Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias, I find it inspiring that he is very open and honest with his audience and can use things about himself in his skits. When you learn about his backstory it’s quite interesting. He was born in San Diego then “Migrated” to Long Beach with his mom, Fluffy got his first comedy gig because one of his friends pushed him onto the stage when the MC for that show didn’t arrive. It just so happened that someone who books comedy shows was in the audience that night and offered him a gig. I like his use of sound effects when performing the effects he uses are small but very effective and adds a lot to the story and jokes. He uses impersonations of some people you would know and others are just stereotypical voices that aren’t related to a specific famous or well-known person.
The themes and subjects that Fluffy focuses on are family, friends, and himself. I like his subjects of comedy for a few reasons, one is the way he performs the story. Fluffy uses movements, sound effects, voices, and interaction with the audience to pull everyone into the joke. Two, in the stories about his family you can see that he loves them. One of my favorite skits is when he talks about his son and how he sometimes turns into his mom when dealing with his son, it brings a smile to my face when you see how genuine he is.
Moving onto Blaustein, He has a different style compared to Fluffy. His personality is more similar to that of a high schooler, which is not a bad thing at all. I like his personality because it reflects on his comedy. Like Fluffy he uses voice impersonations, which I feel are more exaggerated and in a way makes it funnier. Blaustein is also very expressive, he likes to add movements to the comedy and demonstrate things in the story. For example, if he is talking about basketball he will mimic throwing a ball and so on.
His sense of humor is similar to mine, Blaustein is a lot younger than Fluffy and is closer to my age. His venues are usually small so that makes it easier for him to be able to interact with his audience which is one of my favorite parts of his comedy. Blaustein has a very distinct way of interacting with his audience no matter who they are. The way he can bounce off of the people is great it almost seems like he has planned this ahead of time.
The way that he formats his routines is easy for me to follow because they aren’t long stories, unlike fluffy’s which can belong. The themes of his skits are relatable and some are situations that we might have experienced ourselves but he can add his spin to the story to make it funny.

Description of Proposed Project

For my Humor project I will be making a stand up routine with the style similar to Micheal Blaustein, The subject for this 2-3 minute routine will be about a story from seventh grade that to this day have not forgotten. I’ve always liked standup but was never confident enough or know the tools and techniques that it takes to be a good comedian, but now that I’ve done some research I believe that I will be better equipped to try.