For the humor unit in english, we began by studying some famous humorists. We read one of my favorite books, Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut and analyzed the different techniques used. I really enjoyed the book as Vonnegut is my favorite author. After that, we chose our own humorists to analyze. I chose Josh Ovalle and Drew Philips, two YouTubers and content creators I really enjoy.
Humor Analysis, Reflection, and Project Proposal
My first comedic influence is Josh Ovalle. He is an avid filmographer and director and that comes across even in his shorter comedy videos, such as The source of all evil in the world. At just three minutes and ten seconds long, this video isn’t all that long, but Josh uses several comedic techniques to pack it with wit and humor. He often uses farce; in the first and second segments of the video, realistic situations are made ludicrously impossible; a boy strangles his mother without touching her just for asking him to clean the dishes, and another boy is jokingly “shot” by a girl (played by one of Ovalle’s male friends, for additional comedic effect). The characters in this second segment are good examples of caricature – an extremely lonely, lovesick boy and a girl who insists she’s “taken” and that he’s a “sick, sick man!” Caricature comes across most in the third part of the video, though. The third segment, and my personal favorite, is a fake reality show made completely by Ovalle and his friends, which they have jokingly dubbed “Stupid B*tches Enterprises.” The characters in this segment are caricatures of actual reality stars, who can already be dramatic and over the top. This segment is also clearly a parody of real reality shows. In this segment, Ovalle also utilizes blue humor by having these characters do violent or sexual things in order to make the viewer laugh.
My second influence is the Canadian mockumentary series Trailer Park Boys. In particular, I will analyze the pilot episode. The show uses a multitude of comedy techniques, particularly blue humor, black humor, blunder, exaggerism and satire. The show takes place in a trailer park and stars three somewhat trashy, stupid, Canadian men. In the pilot episode, two of them have just been released from jail (though they return many times throughout the series, an example of callback humor). These characters are definitely supposed to be caricatures of Nova Scotia’s real “trailer park boys,” and satirizes their real experiences. In addition, one of the main characters, Ricky, is known for his physical comedy and use of blendwords. He can often be found fumbling and falling in overly exaggerated ways to convey his stupidity to the viewer. He also tends to use “Rickyisms,” such as bagmitten (badminton), denial and error (trial and error), and false acriminations (false accusations mixed with self incrimination).
Both of the influences I have selected use parody and satire; in fact, both make fun of reality television but in two different ways.
I look up to both of my influences a lot, as well as others that I didn’t write about. For my project, I think parody and satire will be very important, as we hope to parody cult handouts. In particular, we are taking inspiration from Scientology but will not reference it directly to stay respectful.
Personally, I really like Josh’s more absurd take on parody, though I also like the way Trailer Park Boys keeps things (nearly) realistic. For our project, I want to keep it within the realm of possibility, while exaggerating certain aspects. Josh also uses graphics, music, and sound effects that actual reality shows use, which is something I hope to incorporate into our project – I love the idea of making something that looks normal but is packed with humor.
Another influence for this project are the satirical news outlets the Onion and the Hard Times News. Both of these publications create fully fleshed-out “news” articles that poke fun at different aspects of politics, daily life, the music industry, and more. However, I think some of their writing feels like they are trying too hard to be funny, and it takes away from the supposed realism of the article. I want to try to make sure to avoid this in my project, because it will really ruin it if the writing feels too forced.
For my finished product, I want to probably create a brochure, poster, or some other similar publication. I’m taking inspiration from the Onion and Hard Times as previously mentioned, while also basing it on real cult material, possibly from Heaven’s Gate or the Church of Scientology.
Above is my humor analysis and reflection, as well as my project proposal; below is the project itself!
Reflection
I really enjoyed this project! I loved creating the little zine and the presentation was actually pretty fun as well. In the past I have struggled with public speaking and presentations, but I feel that I did pretty well on this one! I also designed the pamphlet myself and I was pretty happy with how it turned out. I meant for it to emulate real cult or religious material, like Heaven’s Gate and Scientology.