The humor unit brought out a new light in our classroom. Through reading and analyzing plays like The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde, as well as stepping to the side to read Slaughter House 5 by Kurt Vonnegut, we learned how to incorporate satire, banter, caricature, and many other humor techniques into literature.
The Idea
The humor unit was one I was most looking forward to, and my friends were too. I paired up with Ellie Schwarz for this project, and our very first idea was to simulate a conversation over text. We had an explosion of ideas regarding how to throw in different humor techniques and be able to produce something that our classmates could not only laugh at but also relate to. We took influence from a podcast Ellie was really interested in and from various text stories we had seen on apps such as Snapchat.
Brainstorming
- Which form of humor are you planning to develop? (See menu.)
- Comedic Narrative.
- What is the subject (or, in the case of satire, the target)? Why did you choose this subject?
- Having foreign immigrant mothers.
- Which comedic tools/techniques do you plan to use, and why? (List at least 3 main ones and explain briefly how you plan to use them):
- Anecdotes, Banter, and Caricature
Why do you think this is the right humor project for you? (If you have a group, can you assure me that everyone is invested in this idea and you won’t have trouble getting everyone to contribute meaningfully?) What makes you excited about this idea? What are some potential pitfalls you wish to avoid?
We text 24/7. Seriously, we could have hung out for 48 hours non stop, and still within the first five minutes of leaving each other, one of us will text the other. We think we’re pretty funny in our text chats, and we wanted to share the laughter so we thought this would be the perfect chance to showcase our personalities and text humor. We wish to avoid a boring storyline/ skit because we know our idea can easily be a miss, but we are excited to defy the odds!
The Script
Ellie – Girl
Can my mom RELAX like …
Hrisha – Omg what
Ellie – She literally thinks I’m not gonna graduate bc of digital media
Like as if I’m not Master Flo’s fav
Hrisha – Pshhhh ur like Daniela with her health credits
Girl if ur mom saw my 69% rn
Master Flo *distressed emoji x3
Ellie – I just have to do like five 100 point assignments and I can walk across the stage, it’s fine.
Hrisha – My moms pissing me off too dude
Ellie – No bc I literally had a feeling
Hrisha – No u dont understand
This woman f*cking ate my greek yogurt
All I wanted to do was come home after my run and enjoy a nice yogurt bowl and SHE ATE IT ALL.
Ellie – Ur lying
Why would she do that.
Hrisha – I don’t know like is she fr
I LITERALLY STARTED BAWLING CRYING AND SHE HAS THE AUDACITY TO LOOK AT ME AND LAUGH AS IF THAT WOULD CREATE PEACE IN THIS SITUATION.
No I’m actually mad there is fully smoke coming out of my ears
Ellie – Inconsiderate asf.
Hrisha – Hope it was bussin, Vani.
Ellie – Omg this one time, I was making a smoothie and I asked my dad to grab me yogurt from the fridge to thicken the smoothie, and before he could hand it to me he DROPPED the whole container and there was just yogurt splattered all over my kitchen cabinets, walls, and floor, and since then I have never been able to add yogurt to my smoothies.
Hrisha – NOOOOOO HAHAHA
Ellie – LMAOO
Hey so
I have Greek Yog
Hrisha – Oh no way *Smirk emoji
Ellie – Yup
U coming over o what ?????
Hrisha – I’m at the red light on El Camino bruv be there in 5
We used real scenarios from our lives as inspiration for this conversation. (Yes I really did cry when my mom ate my greek yogurt. And yes I actually did have a 69% in digital media at the time.)