For our humor project, Arjun and I created a comic strip that represents our feelings during second semester senior year. We studied humor projects, such as Rhinoceros and Slaughterhouse Five. In the end, we were challenged to create our own version of a humor project, which Arjun and I did in the video below.
Inspiration
One creation of comedian Scott Aukerman and his wife, Kulap Vilaysack, is a show called Bajillion Dollar Properties. This show is a parody of popular real estate shows such as Million Dollar Listing. The small cast of characters helps the audience feel connected to the stories and also makes them understand each character’s unique insecurities and foolishness. If one character seems crazy in one episode, some of the other characters will be “straight”. However, usually in the following episode, it will be switched. The funny situations that characters are put in on this show make each episode very enjoyable and entertaining. In fact, some fans of Aukerman’s show Comedy Bang! Bang! will be surprised to see recurring characters show up on Bajillion Dollar Properties. The way that Aukerman implements the half-scripted, half-improvised nature of Bajillion Dollar Properties with the introduction of silly characters is very impressive. Some of the most common types of humor used in Bajillion Dollar Properties are blunder and banter. Each situation that the characters get put in on the show, and each actors’ ability to improvise, allows natural humor to flow out of the awkwardness and stupidity of the characters.
Key and Peele, the popular duo known for their comedy sketches and skits, produces short creative videos in multiple forms of comedy. Some of these forms include banter, as shown in the video Nooice, where Key and Peele go back and forth saying “Nooice” in an argument to find who came up with the word noice first. While the entirety of the video is Key and Peele saying the word “nooice” in different tones, they are able to create an emotional story that resonates with the viewers. Another form of comedy popular in Key and Peele sketches is Caricature and Blunder. In the skit Substitute Teacher, the opening scene begins in a classroom and Key, the substitute teacher for the day, plays the role of a hard-nosed substitute from the inner city. These traits are expressed in his heavy accent and personality, as he quickly begins to rage at his class for messing with attendance. During the sketch, Key calls on students for attendance, but because of his inner city accent, the class is unsure who he is calling on. This causes him to start yelling at students and destroy class setup, which scares the students and creates a very humorous scene.