Humor

Background:

The humor project is a multi media based project that challenged us to create a sketch, stand-up routine, or other project reflecting our studies in the art of comedy. I decided to create a comedic narrative video inspired by some of my favorite comedians, such as Dave Chappelle, George Carlin, and Eric Andre. It stars an alcoholic marriage counselor who tries to give couples advice while ironically being in a failed marriage himself. One thing I enjoyed about the production process was video editing, as I liked trying to get the timing down to achieve the most comedic effect. I am also just a big follower of comedy in general and really enjoyed getting the opportunity to study and practice some of the methods that my own favorite comedians have used.

Humor Study:

Two of the comedians that have most inspired my own sense of humor are Dave Chappelle and George Carlin, who I’ve both enjoyed since entering high school. While the two of them both tackle humor that analyzes and observes society, the way the two of them express their musings and ideas have some differences. For instance, Chappelle’s humor is a lot more oriented around observing and satirizing the lives of African Americans, often contrasting them to the lives of white people. He frequently uses similar techniques when doing sketch comedy as well as stand up. For example, if we were to compare his Chappelle’s Show sketch entitled “Reparations” to his stand up bit on police brutality, we would be able to see his combination of black comedy and exaggerism shine through. The “Reparations” sketch imagines an America where all African American citizens received compensation for the centuries of American slavery, making them all insanely rich, causing them to quit their jobs and leading to funny scenarios, such as Colin Powell slapping Dick Cheney. Meanwhile, in his stand up bit about police brutality, Chappelle pokes fun at the fear black people have of policemen and police brutality, joking about getting beaten by policemen in his own house for the crime of “breaking in and hanging up pictures of his family everywhere”. This is because his house is “too nice. It ain’t a real nice house, but they’d never believe I lived in it.” This lampoons the stereotype of blacks being more poor than whites, as well as the trend of police brutality and framing blacks for ridiculous crimes or ones they did not commit. Both of these bits of black comedy are highlights of Chappelle’s use of exaggerism and satire of dark subjects such as slavery, police violence and racism. George Carlin’s comedy on the other hand, relies more on observant, satirical and situational comedy or unspoken truths aimed to criticize the ridiculous aspects of society and the people around us. For example, Carlin was often a critic of what he referred to “soft language”, or the “language that takes the life out of life”, and he has an entire segment of one of his performances on the usage of euphemisms. In this bit he describes multiple euphemisms he finds either too decorated, unnecessary or nonsensical, such as contra killers being referred to as “freedom fighters”. To this asks “Well if crime fighters fight crime and firefighters fight fire, what do freedom fighters fight?” He uses these points to state how guilty white people have developed euphemisms to “hide their sins” as well as how people in general hide from reality with euphemisms, noting how the government says “neutralize” instead of kill and how nuclear radiation is measured in “sunshine units”. He also makes heavy utilization of black and blue humor to emphasize his points, delving into multiple taboos. He at one point even provocatively discusses rape jokes to criticize toxically masculine attitudes towards rape noting the absurdity of people saying things like “she was asking for it”. This then leads into a point about how feminists as well as the government want to control the things that you say as well as when you can and cannot say things.


Humor Script

Sketch Name: “Marriage Council-ling”

Shot opens with an empty chair behind a desk, coughing and sputtering noises made off camera

Dr. Fill enters and stumbles into chair

“*burp* uh good after-morning sir and uh… ma’am, yeah. Name’s Dr. Fill. That’s F-I-double L… I think.”

“Gonna let you know – had a little bit to drink when I woke up this morning, *swigs another bottle* and there’s more where that came from.”

“So if I sound a little barfy, don’t worry… I only barf when I think about my w- *almost hurls*”

“Anyway what were you …a-holes saying again? Oh yeah, your lives suck. Uh…”

“Mhm. Mhm. *drinks* So you think he’s not really listening to your problems… Yeah ok ok…”

“First of all. *looks at guy* It’s no one’s fault. Ok well it’s hers but that’s not important. A relationship is like, y’know an agreement right? Like you have some ground rules you gotta follow. Unbreakable vows. Like what’s a good example, uh… Oh yeah! The Treaty of Versailles! …Oh wait.”

“Point is, y’all gotta learn to work with one another, all perfect Disney princess marriage like y’know?”
k;rk;r;l;r;lsflfv
“Alright so I’ve heard the broad. What’s your deal, horse face?”

“Mhm. Lack of trust? Mhm. Can’t go out no more? Mhm. Ok listen, Johnny Bravo I don’t know what you think this, but this ain’t high school no more ya feel me? Y’all kids hooking up so much it’s like you’re egghead science bums breeding pandas in the zoo.”

“*drinks* Ya can’t do that man! It’s not open season! I know you’re lady’s talking so much nonsense she probly has her own translator but bruh. Cheating’s not the way dude.”

Huh whazzat? You’re faithful? Yeah that’s what she told me, the frickin’ – *gags* urp – oh sorry sorry.

And then what? I’m supposed to tell you how to live your life? Miss me with that – this ain’t a church, bud! You don’t just walk up to me and expect me to know what’s what… I can’t run that race, tiger!

Ok ok advice, advice, uh… so you know like Romeo and Juliet? Give me more of that. Or like, Les Mis – Marius and Cosette or whatever, give me more of that true loving partnership garbage right? Or uh… I don’t know, Mario and Luigi! Whatever floats your flotsam.

What? She didn’t do the dishes? Yo. Were you raised in a barn? Did papa McDonald tell ya to live off the land? Be at one with nature and animals, let all their muck and spit and grime soak into our fine dining ware? Are you a hippie, Ms.? Do you like hippies, Ms.? Cuz that’s just what you are. A dirty hippie.

Oh. Oh so you say he never takes out the recycling like you agreed? Well ok then! *crumples paper and tosses offscreen* YOU LIKE THAT?! GO GET IT!!!

NO. GET UP AND PICK IT UP! Throw it away. THANK YOU. See you gotta be more direct.

*continuously crumples and tosses papers* Huh you like that? Mr. Oscar the Grouch, living in trash? YOU LIKE TRASH YOU GREEN FUZZY SCAT?! DO YOU? CUZ THAT’S WHAT YOU’RE GETTING!

Ugh. Oh man. It’s been a rough one man it really has been. She just up and left me y’know. And for who? Jared from accounting! I thought she hated Jared from accounting! I know I sure did! But then… man.

No. No. I don’t wanna hear it. Ya’ll are talking up a tornado while I’m trying to rest my brain. AND MY HEART. Which she RIPPED OUT AND SPAT ON! God man, give me a second.

First the kids. She just had to… had to take them y’know? She had to just grab em’ by the hand and drag them away from their old man. She spit in my coffee mug, man. You don’t do that to a man.

Tch. Alcohol problem, what would she know bout’… *glug*

*slumps lifelessly in chair*

Bruh.

What am I doing man? It’s just all gone to hell in a feetbasket. Not even a handbasket. A filthy, crusty, feetbasket.

*taps table* You notice I don’t have a desk? Frick do I need a desk for anyway?

*sniffs air* yeah. I think I have a… slight drinking problem.

…

*glugs*

[CUT]

Interview with couples:

Girl: So… the experience was… completely bizarre to say the least.

Guy: Yeah, like – he had the worst advice, he was drunk off his ass…

Girl: And then he went on this tirade about some woman named… well did she have a name? *looks at Guy 2*

Guy: I mean… he didn’t really address her by name, just kinda called her some… alarming things…

Girl: But I think in the end, we managed to work things out…

Guy: Yeah hell if I’m gonna end up like him.

Girl: We made sure he was… compensated. Not just because we had to but… to make sure he’ll… be alright.

[CUT]

Dr. Fill looks up to see a new rack of beer bottles.

Heh. Those guys know me so well.

Humor Video

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Live Humor Viewing

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Honors Absurdist Essay

Part of my work as an honors was to write an analytical essay comparing some of the works we studied in class. For my essay, I chose to compare Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros with Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five.

While Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros and Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five are both works that use absurd narratives and characters to illustrate satirical messages on conformity and warfare, the outlooks and fates of their protagonists help show the different ways they express their political viewpoints.
When one compares the works’ respective audiences, they will find a commonality in attitudes regarding war and militarism. While Ionesco speaks on the concept of conformity and sheepishness towards authority, Vonnegut discusses the effects of war on the people who are drafted to participate, who are referred to as “children”. Ionesco’s point is illustrated through this moment in Rhinoceros where an obstinate colleague of the main character Berenger is turned into a rhinoceros. Berenger says, “But now I come to think it over, Botard’s behavior doesn’t surprise me. His firmness was only a pose. Which doesn’t stop him from being a good man, of course. Good men make good rhinoceroses, unfortunately. It’s because they are so good that they get taken in” (Ionesco 89). Berenger claims that he was not surprised by Botard’s pretentious and defensive behavior and that ultimately he is good man, making him a prime target for transformation. When he refers to “good men”, Berenger seems to be referring to honest and hardworking people, who end up being swept up in the waves of conformity. Well-meaning people who are not suspicious of change can be in danger of conforming to dangerous things, such as dangerous political or social ideas. On the other hand, Vonnegut hopes to discuss the debilitating effects of war on people, shown best through this passage in which protagonist Billy Pilgrim is shown in a mental institution dreaming of traveling through time. The novel shows that “Billy knew nothing about it. He dreamed on, and traveled in time and so forth. The hospital was so crowded that Billy couldn’t have a room to himself. He shared a room with a Harvard history professor named Bertram Copeland Rumfoord. Rumfoord didn’t have to look at Billy, because Billy was surrounded by white linen screens on rubber wheels. But Rumfoord could hear Billy talking to himself from time to time.” (P.189) The major gimmick of the book is Billy Pilgrim being “unstuck in time”, essentially meaning his mind jumps through different flashbacks of his life in the war, his marriage and apparent abduction by Tralfamadorian aliens. Vonnegut gives him this condition to show the traumatic effects that the world war had on Pilgrim’s psyche, paralleling that to real life veterans suffering from post war trauma.
Ionesco and Vonnegut also both speak mainly on social and political factors that threaten our human way of life. In Rhinoceros, Ionesco shows the danger of rolling over to dangerous regimes while in Slaughterhouse Five, Vonnegut satirizes the effects of political and economic warfare on the people.
In Rhinoceros, Ionesco shows the dangers of conforming to regimes simply because they do not sound dangerous or misleading, using the plague of rhinoceros transformation as a metaphor for the wave of conformity and sameness. One of the characters, Dudard, has accepted the spread of the condition and believes people have chosen to become rhinos, opting to join them. He says, “I shall keep my mind clear. As clear as it ever was. But if you’re not going to criticize, it’s better to do so from the inside. I’m not going to abandon them. I won’t abandon them.” When he mentions keeping his mind clear this refers to people who are overly flexible to change to the point of being sheepish, shown further by Dudard’s hesitation to “criticize” the transformed people, refusing to acknowledge the absurdity by doing so. In the end, Dudard willingly joins the rhinos, just like the process of conformity takes people who end up feeling left out. Meanwhile, Vonnegut continues his message of the nature of war with one of the opening sections of the novel, in which the unreliable narrator is confronted by his war friend’s wife about the novel he is planning to write. She says, “Well, I know, you’ll pretend you were men instead of babies, and you’ll be played in the movies by Frank Sinatra and John Wayne or some of those other glamorous, war-loving, dirty old men. And war will look just wonderful, so we’ll have a lot more of them. And they’ll be fought by babies like the babies upstairs.” (P.14) The term “babies” is used to represent the soldiers who are sent off to war, their innocence and hope torn from them from the atrocities of wartime. The wife believes the narrator will make another typical story of how war is glorious and heroes are born from it, using handsome masculine actors like Frank Sinatra and John Wayne to show how appealing the military is. In the end, the book is subtitled “The Children’s Crusade” to show how these battles are ones fought by “children” not prepared for the horror of combat.
The respective protagonists of both works, Berenger from Rhinoceros and Billy Pilgrim from Slaughterhouse Five, are both developed in different ways to help illustrate their narratives’ message. Their goals, outlooks and overall fates are written in order to emphasize each works’ satirical themes. By the end of Rhinoceros, Berenger is the only citizen of the town who has not been transformed, and he refuses to let his individuality be stripped. He cries out in solitude: “I’ve gone past changing. I want to, I really do, but I can’t, I just can’t. I can’t stand the sight of me. I’m too ashamed! I’m so ugly! People who try to hang on to their individuality always come to a bad end. Oh well, too bad! I’ll take on the whole of them! I’ll put up a fight against the lot of them, the whole lot of them! I’m the last man left, and I’m staying that way until the end. I’m not capitulating!” (P.107) While at first Berenger agonizes at the thought of being left alone, calling himself ugly and despairing at how people who try to “hang on to their individuality always come to a bad end”, he then turns around and vows not to be transformed. Berenger has realized what becomes of people who are left in the dust by everyone else who conformed to something dangerous. Vonnegut’s protagonist Billy Pilgrim’s predicted death at the hands of a sniper helps illustrate what Billy has come to believe as he travels back and forth through time. The passage shows Billy preaching in a town square, saying “No, no, it is time for you to go home to your wives and children, and it is time for me to be dead for a little while – and then live again.” At that moment, Billy’s high forehead is in the crosshairs of a high-powered laser gun. It is aimed at him from the darkened press box. In the next moment, Billy Pilgrim is dead. So it goes” (Vonnegut 142). This passage also shows us the most used phrase in the novel, “So it goes” – this phrase represents acceptance of death – a belief expressed by the all-seeing Tralfamadorian aliens who kidnap Billy. As Billy sees more and more people meet horrible fates in the war he comes to see death as little more than a rite of passage, almost a trivial thing to be worrying about.
Ionesco and Vonnegut were both writers who aimed to bring their world views into their works. While Ionesco discussed the process of conformity and its dehumanizing effects through one individual’s struggle against becoming a rhinoceros, Vonnegut constructs an anti-war message and fatalistic viewpoint through the life and struggle of a war torn veteran who encounters all seeing aliens. In the end, both authors offer a perspective on the social and political forces that humanity continues to face, perspectives that will help people continue to think critically.