Holiday Traditions

I chose Jim Gaffigan's bit called "Holiday Traditions”, from his national tour Beyond the Pale. Jim Gaffigan is by far my favorite comedian; every time I watch his standup, I end up on the floor laughing. He generally talks a lot about everyday life, and how he perceives it. This is not unlike many comedians nowadays, but I would say his style is unique. What really sets him apart is the “audience voice” he does with frequency. He will tell a joke, then do a high pitched voice immediately after, which says what a rude audience member would think of the joke. It created a funny dialogue that always gets the crowd laughing. This particular piece is about Christmas holiday traditions. First he talks about the backwards nature of standard decorating. He points out that we take a tree a put inside of our house, and then take all of our lights and put them on the front lawn. He also gives his take on stockings and mistletoe. Gaffigan concludes that Christmas decorating mirrors what a drunk man would do. Next he talks about Easter, questioning what eggs have to do with Jesus. This standup reminds me of being a kid, as my Mom was really into decorating around Christmas time. I can remember every year, being dragged into the living room and forced into putting on the ornaments, and hanging the stockings, and putting fake snow on the windows. I dreaded it then, but looking back now, it was great to get to spend those times with my family. The way that Gaffigan pokes fun at the decorating is a great reminder of those memories, and I think that most people can relate. This is why I love his standup so much, he constantly sparks memories of life within your mind.

Forrest Gump said “Life is like a box of chocolates and you never know what your gonna get”, this is true for my life. I grew up as a military officer brat and traveled the world before I was 17 years old. My father’s claim to my childhood was that I was able to retrieve beer from the fridge at age 2. I chose to write about my girls. My children are what keep me going. On a bad day they make me smile. God has blessed me and I cherish what he has given to me. I chose to attach clips from Bill Cosby's standup on "brain dead" children.
Kids say the darnest things, this is so true. Bill Cosby is hillarious because he is funny (just for you Dr. Hughes). :) Bill is great at what he does because he has been there. He has children and at the age of 72 he can still rock a show. I saw him perform last year in Atlanta and he was great. He talks about children, family, love and heartache. He makes you laugh then cry then laugh all over. Cosby's standup routine set the stage for many comedians along the way. Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphy, Kat Williams and Whoopie Goldberg all agree that there success is because of Bill Cosby. Pryor is once quoted for saying that, Bill Cosby is the greatest comedian on and off the stage. This act is truely funny and I hope you enjoy it.
I may not know what tomorrow holds for me but I do know where I’m going and where I came from!!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyMSc97UksM

Genevieve Rodriguez THE OFFICE! :) WIN!

The piece I chose is from the NBC show, THE OFFICE. This episode was played after the super bowl in 2009. It is probably my favorite episode from the show. It begins with the Dwight acting sketchily toward the camera and then showing lighter fluid and several other things such as an air horn. He leaves the office and everyone is acting normal but he locks them in, hammers the key, and puts flame to the doorknob. He says that no one paid attention to his fire safety talk because he used PowerPoint and that is boring, and we can all agree that most PowerPoint presentations are very boring. He gives valid points that experience is the best teacher, but the specific experience that he is trying to make for his coworkers is a very unrealistic one, which makes this even more ridiculous and funny. One of my favorite quotes from this 5 minute scene is when he lights the cigarette and says, “Today, smoking is going to save lives.” He lights the trash can on fire and shuts the door. No one notices so he takes matters into his own hands and makes a scene. LOL! Everyone starts freaking out, which is the normal thing for people to do in this situation, but he begins is just yelling precautions at them. This is so funny because no one is listening to them. They just keep running in and out of rooms feeling doorknobs and don’t think to pull the fire alarm or get the fire extinguishers, which the camera zooms in on. Michael, the manager is freaking out and telling everyone to stay calm and it is so funny because he is telling everyone to stay calm yet he is freaking out. LOL! They start pushing and shoving each other and Angela takes a cat out of a filing cabinet, which is hilarious because no one notices that there is a cat. She then throws her cat up the roof and then he falls, which is hilarious. Kevin, being the stereotypical overweight man, goes to the vending machine and starts hoarding the snacks. Another one of my favorite quotes from this scene is when Dwight throws the popper on the ground and Andy says that the fire is shooting at them! Oscar is in the roof and falls out, and Michael throws an overhead projector out the window. Stanley has a heart attack and Michael thinks that saying that Barack Obama is president will help him resuscitate, which is hilarious because it was only three months after the election and things were still touchy with the subject. I really love this show and the humor is very dry but a lot of people can enjoy it. I agree that PowerPoint presentations are very boring and now they will know how to react. J

http://www.explosm.net/comics/755/

Black humor....

In trying to decide on something I found humorous that pertains to my own life, I had great troubles in deciding. However, there's always something in the back of the minds of many people that we can all relate to. That one thing, is our favorite movies. I cant really place an emphasis on my favorite movie of all time, but I can place an emphasis on a movie which makes me laugh no matter how many times it can be re-played. Diary of a Mad Black Woman has to be one my all time favorite movies when it comes to humor. The humor provided throughout the movie tends to find its roots in the many discriminating stereotypes of Blacks in today's society. That being said, I love black people. Especially when the black humor is soo far fetched into Black people making fun of their own race. Tyler Perry is very good at making fun of his own race, while intermixing other stereotypes in with his plays and movies. In his play-writes and movies, Perry's main character "Madea", happens to be Perry himself, dressed as an older black woman. Though I do not dress as an older black or white woman for the matter, I have been told by many that I am black on the inside for some odd reason. The interesting thing is...it fits. Personally, I enjoy many Negro Spirituals and that good ole' southern Gospel singing. After all, us white folks aint got nothin' on them black churches when it comes to singin'. Also provided in Diary of a Mad Black Woman is the typical stereotype of the Ghet-to! The stereotypes of the black ghettos of Atlanta provide many funny jokes and opportunities for laughter throughout the movie. I enjoy the black humor and stereotypes in this movie simply because we can all relate to the stereotypes in todays world, and the fact that this movie provides an atmosphere where stereotypes are "ok."

The DJ's on a Yacht

While thinking about something humorous that has happened in my life, I kept thinking about all the embarrassing moments that were absolutely horrifying at that time, but are now some of the funniest moments I can remember. I was trying to think about what some of my favorite clips are from some funny movies or TV series, and finally I came up with one that relates to my personal life. I thought about a clip from the movie Dumb and Dumber. Dumb and Dumber isn’t really one of my favorite movies that I watch over and over again, but one scene stuck out to me and when I thought about how it could relate to me in my own life, I started laughing and knew it was perfect. In one particular scene, Lloyd slips turbo lax into Harry’s drink before he is supposed to meet Mary at her house. On the drive over, his stomach begins to make strange gurgling noises, and he realizes the fact that he is about to have an explosion. Once he gets to her house, and slips into the bathroom and has, what my family calls it, an “ass-plosion” or the "DJ's" (deucy juicy). After he has experiences some violent action on the toilet, Mary knocks on the door and informs him that the toilet is not working properly. He is mortified and tries desperately to think of everything he can to fix the toilet. I personally experienced an incident very similar to this. My father lives on an island called Isle of Palms which is fifteen minutes away from Charleston in South Carolina. While visiting him for a week one summer in middle school, we were invited to party on one of his friend’s yachts. We were all having a great time on his yacht and had a great dinner, then suddenly it was interrupted by my stomach making some obscene and obnoxious gurgling noises. Attempting to be sly and nonchalant, I slipped away unnoticed and hid in a bathroom on the boat. Minutes later, I heard a knock on the door and the sound of my father’s familiar voice saying “Matt, are you ok? I hope you’re not using the toilet, it’s broken and won’t flush.” I was absolutely horrified. I immediately felt my heart sink out of my butt along with everything else and my face turn bright red. I opened the door and revealed to him what had happened. Thinking back on it now, I can’t help but laugh at myself and the complete misfortune I had, but at the time I was completely embarrassed and had no idea what to do. The worst part about the whole unfortunate incident was the fact that it was on a yacht.

The link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7GoswzefcY

Sugar Sammy

I’m writing my blog about a Canadian stand up comedian, Sugar Sammy. He’s not the most famous comedian, as none of you probably have even heard of him, but he is starting to get his name out there in Canada. In the routine he did for Comedy Now! Sugar Sammy uses his own race and other peoples’ to make fun of. Many comedians go over the black and white thing, but he is Indian and it gives it a nice twist from other racial stand ups. He starts talking about women towards the end of the routine. He tells the audience what kind of a woman he likes, and they are all pretty good qualities, but then he makes this really bad comment that would be offensive if it weren’t a joke. Good approach to get the audience in a good mood before insulting them. If it bounced off and was offensive, he followed up with right after making fun of his people, so it would make it OK to make fun of others. After that he goes into arranged marriage because it is normal in India and his parents want him to get one. In the beginning of this joke he makes it extremely inappropriate for the audience and almost puts them in a very uncomfortable situation. Again when it gets to an extreme point and turns it into a ridiculous situation that nobody could ever think of. I think Sugar Sammy is so funny because he’s quite unexpected. He’s a jerk and mean to his audience but always recovers nicely and comes out with a blast. The routine in general is all racial with all kinds of twists and turns, mostly focusing on the “outsiders” races, such as “brown” people and Latino’s.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w-6IeUl35o&NR=1

T.K. and Mike

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUaElKQOTSc&feature=related

I have been an active outdoorsman pretty much since the day I learned how to walk. I was the kid that was wandering around looking for stuff to get into. As I grew older, I was introduced into some activities in the outdoors that were a little more involved. In my younger years I would stand on the dock at the pond for hours trying to catch fish with someone holding my shirt to keep me from jumping into the pond with the fish. As the years went on I started tagging along with the grown ups of the family on deer and turkey hunting trips. When I became of age, I began carrying a gun and I was the one getting to take the shots. Before I could do this however, I had to prove that I was ready to carry a gun and be safe with it. Two of the most important parts of gun safety is knowing 1.) Where the barrel is pointed at all times and 2.) Whether the gun is loaded.
T.K. and Mike are two redneck guys that make comedy out of hunting videos. They go into the woods and do all of the completely wrong things. They aren’t safe; they act like idiots, yet it is absolutely hilarious. In one of their turkey hunting videos, the guys talk about “hunting safety” and how it is important to always know whether your gun is loaded. Not to ruin the video, but T.K. proceeds to shoot a cameraman in the leg. How is this funny you might ask? Well is all honesty, hunting can be a frustrating sport. It is a grind to get up hours before daylight for weeks at a time only to get outsmarted my mother nature half the time. Though it is extremely satisfying when you win, you are defeated the majority of the time. When times get tough, everyone can appreciate some good humor and after a long day in the turkey woods this hits the spot.

Living with a big family

The stand-up comedy routine by Brian Regan titled “Big Family Stuff” is particularly funny to me because being in a large family I have been in some of these situations or situations like the ones he describes. When he mentioned the story when his brothers did not let him play games with them, I immediately thought about a time when my brother Tom was having a party in our back yard so me and my sister had to stay upstairs or stay out of the way because it was a “big kid” party. Tom was a sophomore in high school and I was in fourth grade while Laura was in sixth grade. So it really wasn’t right that “Tom’s little sisters” were at the party. Well, Laura and I did not like this decision so we thought we asked politely if we could be at the party with everyone else and he still said no! As my room is over-looking the pool in our back yard and it was pool party, we thought my brother and his friends should have water balloons at their party! Just as Brian said his brothers didn’t let him play games and then he played a trick on them, my brother didn’t let me and Laura come to the party so we played a trick on Tom.
The scene he puts in your mind when one of the other kids got hurt, I remembered when my sister fell off her bike and although she didn’t break her arm, she skinned up both of her knees really bad. Our friends Lauren and Heather were outside playing as well and the three of us did not want to tell mom what had happened because we were supposed to be doing our homework anyway.
When Brian Regan talks about the situation with a big family you have to call your possessions, it is true. If a Laura goes to the kitchen to get a snack or something, she says, “Dibs on the remote and the chair”. Of course I listen to what she says because she is older than me and I am being nice to let her have it, but when I say, “Dibs on the remote and the chair”, normally, it isn’t before I’m out of the room that she took both of them. And it doesn’t exactly work the “I call the hump!” I always ended up on the hump no matter what I did.

Hippy Infestation

This past week on Wednesday I was watching an episode of South Park called Die, Hippy Die, were the plot line was about a hippy infestation in South Park, Vermont. The hippies invading South Park Vermont then once feeling comfortable in the town, they decided to hold a music festival to raise awareness about the horrible aspects of large corporations. I find it funny how people hold a music festival to solve a problem, and all they are doing is sitting on their butt say “let them hear you over there in Washington”. They think they are accomplishing something by smoking pot and jamming. The writers based there idea for this episode off of popular music festivals such as Burning Man and Bonnaroo. I watch this episode I was cracking up because it was exactly like Bonnaroo I attended last summer. The aspect of the hippy festival that I find so funny was how realistic the festival was to a real one. The town of South Park was all excited and for the festival, until they saw what type of people attended the concert and how they never leave because their music is just one continuous jam. I experienced this same switch of feels towards the festival when I ate at the same diner before and after Bonnaroo. The waitress we talked to before was excited about how much business they were getting since they were right on the highway heading to Bonaroo. By the time we traveled back the waitresses all looked very tired and almost pissed off. Our waitress was complaining about how she just wanted the festival to end and for things to get back normal. She was complaining about how no one was tipping because, according to her, they spent all their money on drugs. One of the funniest parts of the episode was when Carman and two others try to get into the front of the stage to put on a Creed CD to disperse the hippies and get them out of South Park. If you have ever been to a concert where there are estimated 70,000 attendees, you would know it is an impossible task to make it from the back all they to the stage. In order to accomplish the task, they build a tank with a drill in front to take the hippies out and drill their way to the front. The whole episode is just terrible funny because although they are bashing hippies, they have the personality of a hippy down to the t. There have been many shows were I wish I could drill my way to the front, but instead friends and I grab hands and push our way up until attendees just won’t let us threw anymore. I also love how the town people decided to put a stop to the “Phish” band jamming by putting in a Creed album. If there is one way to disperse hippies bad music will definitely do it.

All My Single Ladies...

Beyonce’s song, "All My Single Ladies", was released in November of 2008. This song became pretty popular because it is quite catchy, especially if you are/were single at the time. A little after the song came out, there were a plethora of YouTube videos that had come out with people “trying” to sing the song and dance along with the music. Last summer, one of my friends showed me a YouTube video of an African American woman with a clown mask on her face dancing to the song. Her hands are raised in the air, and she is jamming out to the song in a hotel room with one of her friends. First of all, she has a clown mask on which means that she probably can’t see too well. Second, she isn’t paying attention to where she is going or what exactly she is doing. All she cares about is dancing to the song, but she doesn’t want anybody to see her face. I mean it couldn’t possibly be the fact that she isn’t the world’s best dancer. Nevertheless, she continues to dance. Third, she is with her friend and they are probably bored out of their minds, so they decide that they will make a YouTube video. During the part of the song where it says “now put your hands up,” her hands go up in the air. As the song progresses a little further, she does the infamous head throwing motion. Not realizing the TV is right there in front of her when she brings her head forward, she nails her head on the TV. Clearly in pain, she takes off her mask and proceeds to turn off the video camera. This video is one of those videos where it gets funnier and funnier every time you watch it. I think it very much relates to me because I love to dance; although, I am far from being close to the real Beyonce. I have hurt myself before trying to dance. This video is so hilarious because I can see this happening to me. I would be trying to hide my face because I wouldn’t want anyone to know it was me trying to dance. Then, I would get hurt and take off my mask so that everyone is able to see my face all over YouTube. My friend and I have also made videos very early in the morning because we were bored. Of course, I embarrass myself and my roommate put them on Facebook. I also think that I do things sometimes without thinking what I actually look like, and I’m sure this is what this girl did. I am the type of person that will laugh at almost any joke, “funny” movie, anything that is intended to be funny, or for that matter things that aren’t intended to be funny. I love laughing. This video might not be that funny to other people, but I think that everything is funny!

Michael and Drew- "Sin City"

Drew and I have chosen the new comedy of this year, The Hangover. In The Hangover a group of guys spend a night in Last Vegas celebrating their friends last night of being a bachelor. What they don’t know is that it will end up being one of their craziest nights that they will experience. They start off the night by taking shots but what they don’t realize is that Alan spikes their drinks with Roofies “aka Floories.” The next morning they wake up and don’t remember a thing from the night before. Their room has been trashed but have no reason why and want to leave before the maids come and make them pay for the damage. They start to pack and remember what happened when they realize their missing Doug, they guy is getting married the next day. They start to piece things together but still don’t know what happened to Doug. They keep wondering why they don’t remember anything from the night before then Alan confesses that he had spiked their drinks at the beginning of the night. Once they piece the night together they remember they put Doug up on the roof where they began the night. They have to hurry back so Doug can make it on time to the wedding. They found a camera in the car after the wedding and decided they will look at it once and never speak of it again. I guess the saying is true “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.” We find this funny because we feel like with the guys we hang out with we can relate to what happens in the movie. I could see us doing some of the things they do in the movie like leaving a car in the middle of the freeway because we ran out of gas. We always talk about what would happen if we would take a trip to Las Vegas and ask “would we make it alive?” We think that we would make it out alive but there will definitely be a good story behind the night in “Sin City.”

Revenge on the prankster - Family guy

Have you ever this famous video called “Two Girls One Cup”? Well, Wezly and I have both seen it, unfortunately. It is a video that has been banned from pretty much every internet site now. It is a disgusting portrayal of two lesbians who defecate and play around with it and each other while being sexually explicit. In a family guy episode, Brian and Stewie portray the exact reaction that me as well as Wezly had when we were lured into watching the video. In this scene, Brian wants Stewie to help him do something, and Stewie will not do it because of an earlier event in which Brian talked him into watching the video, “Two Girls One Cup”. People who watch family guy know that Stewie sees himself as intelligent far beyond his years. He does not act like the typical infant. When he first sees the video, he reacts just like me and Wezly did our first time. He’s like ok, “there lesbians, clearly.” Then as he continues to watch the video he is horrified and reacts the same way the typical person would: by being disgusted. Brian, in the background is laughing because he knows what to expect. He knows that Stewie is going to react the way he does, and that he is going to get a good laugh out of it. It was the same way when our friends showed us this video. At first it didn’t seem like anything out of the ordinary, but then all of the sudden it became disgusting. They could laugh at our reaction because they had once been in our position. As the scene goes on, one of the hilarious quotes that absolutely kills us with laughter occurs when Stewie says “OHHHH I’m never going to be able to eat ice cream again.” This quote is so funny because if you have ever seen the video, the two women are rubbing feces’ all over each other and it looks like chocolate ice cream. Another funny thing that occurs in the video is when Stewie says “Could you imagine two dudes doing that? Oh my God, that’d be even worse. Would that even exist? Where would you even find that? Let’s type it in and see what comes up.” These lines are so funny because of the character Stewie is. He thinks he knows everything, and when he finds something that he does not know everything about, he wants to research it. This is funny to us because of how it can relate to us. We all know people who are like that and would actually go to the extent of researching anything even if it is extreme as this. This video is absolutely hilarious to both of us not only because of the way it is hillariously portrayed by Stewie and Brian, but also because of how the entire situation being portrayed relates to our life and past experiences.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASHLLZbue44

He Never Knew...

In Ralph Ellison’s An Extravagance of Laughter, he experiences something he has never experienced before. He learned, while he was in New York, that buses were a very popular way of transportation. However, unlike in the South, the North didn’t really associate your racial status as to where you had to sit on the bus. Ellison describes the way it was for him in the South: “In the South you occupied the back of the bus, and nowhere but the back, or so help you God.” Then he explained the difference between the North and the South by saying:
“ So being in the North and encouraged by my anonymity, I experimented by riding all over New York buses, excluding only the driver’s seat—front end, back end, right side, left side, sitting or standing as the route and flow of passengers demanded.
Being accustomed to the South’s “rules”, Ellison was baffled by the different choices he had in which place to sit. He was used to not having a choice because he was obligated to sit in the back of the bus in the South. Ellison claims,
“ Thus having convinced myself that no questions of racial status would be raised by where I chose to ride, I asked myself whether a seat at the back of the bus wasn’t actually more desirable than one at the front. “
Ellison realized that all this time he had complained for being made to sit at the back of the bus. He claimed, “Now that I was no longer forced by law and compelled by custom to ride at the back and to surrender my seat to any white who demanded it.” I think this is a good example of why we think “grass is always greener on the other side”, but then we find out that it is really not any better. In fact, it may be worse. Ellison found it amusing that he actually preferred sitting in the back of the bus because now he wasn’t required to sit there. Now, he had a choice to make. “And in my own personal terms, what was more important—my own individual comfort, or the exercise of the democratic right to be squeezed and jostled by strangers?” he asked himself. Did he want to conform to the old ways of the South by taking a seat at the back or did he want to take the less comfortable, more prideful front seat? His history with buses in the South and realization that the back of the bus was actually better amused Ellison.

"Nothing happens when you die"

To begin, everyone has experienced that awkward moment of fright when the person around you sneezes exceptionally loud. In that moment, one becomes very embarrassed from jumping out of fear and for the person who was experiencing the sneeze. Dane Cook uses a memory and visual technique to describe the debris that is flying out of this person’s nose. He uses a Windex sprayer to describe how the sneeze appeared to him. This relates and refreshes the memory of someone sneezing on or near you; the feeling of wetness from the sneeze feels as if someone has drenched you with a Windex bottle. Whenever someone sneezes, naturally we reply God bless you. However, in some cases, like this one, the person who sneezed appears offended by the statement. Nevertheless, we have our freedom of speech and we say this out of kindness and not out of trying to offend someone. Personally, I have never encountered someone who smarted of and became offended by it; I usually get a polite thank you in return. For Christians, or anyone in that matter, whenever someone sneezes, the polite thing to do is say God bless you. People who do not believe in God have the same rights as people who do believe in God, however, I do not agree with them boldly flaunting as if they are proud of it and do it out of hatefulness and wanting to enrage others. I know there are numerous religions, and almost all of them have some form of God, but those that do not, make it hard for me to relate with them. If you are not living for God, then whom are you living for? Yourself perhaps, but what is the point in that? What happens to you after this life? Does your soul just disappear, or do you even have a soul at all? People who do not believe in some form of God, I lose a lot of respect for, because that is disrespectful to God. It is hard for me to see eye to eye with someone who believes there is no God, the debates and disagreements are endless, there is never a middle point. It is hard to endure someone laughing at our beliefs when their own beliefs are ridiculous and incomprehensible. Dane’s way to end the religious dispute is classic, after the man becomes a tree, he tells the man that he hopes he is copped down and turned into paper that the Bible becomes printed on.

Watch Where You Put Those Hands!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRbqn9NSVpY&feature=related

What do we have here? Although this video is not very detailed it is packed chock full of hilarious footage that people probably never really see, but wish they could see. People these days are always interested in seeing something that goes against a norm. We laugh at people that have disabilities and we laugh when people can’t fit under the safety bar in roller coasters. But, do we laugh about dog’s playing with their own penis’s? Of course we laugh about this kind of stuff! I have always been the type of person to laugh at animals doing reproductive activities. I don’t find it funny because I am creepy, but because I simply find it hilarious. Although most people such as I hopefully don’t find enjoyment in this kind of thing, the thought of it can only make you laugh. A man that went by the name of Mr.Hands died from being nailed by a horse not too long ago. This footage was put on Youtube and now the whole world has seen and knows about a guy who took it in the rear by a horse. Although we didn’t find enjoyment in this, it was the fact of watching this and laughing about it that made it such a great laugh, even if someone died in the process. Because I live on a farm I have mini-horses, a donkey and chickens. I see weird stuff all the time when I am just sitting on my back porch enjoying the outdoors, but seeing these things doesn’t weird me out , but it makes me laugh. I have seen my horses mount each other, and although this is weird and freaky I find it hilarious just because it is something that you usually don’t see in real life. My mom and I were on the way to Wal-Mart one day and two donkeys were doing it on the side of the road. Although it was weird, I immediately bursted into laughter and pulled over on the side of the road. My mom was in the passenger seat and was laughing hysterically while I laid down on the horn until the show was over. I don’t know what it is, but I find all of this extremely hilarious even though I know it is a weird thing to laugh at, but at the same time I know we all do it. I think one reason why I find a clip of a dog playing with himself so funny is because it is something nobody ever sees. When you look at the dog you can see the seriousness in his eyes and his movements which makes it even doubly hilarious. I think it is extremely funny how his movements change during the video and the fact that it oddly resembles a person in dog form. This dog knows what he wants and I guess he got it because he seems really knowledgeable about what he is doing. This clip is all that it takes too make me laugh because seeing an animal doing a human activity is weird as it is, but when you see an animal do a sexual activity of a human, then it is really funny! Maybe if his tongue was sticking out while he was playing with himself it would have been funnier. The act of putting his paws in the air and switching hands was just oddly hilarious. What an odd puppy!

Project Week: Your Humor, Your History

Dear All,

Either as individuals or as pairs, you will prepare a write-up about how your personal history/experience makes a piece of your choosing particularly funny to you.  If you are writing as a pair, think about what you each have in common that would render something comic to you both!

You may choose a cartoon, a joke, a book, a poem, a commercial, a scene from a movie, a stand-up sketch... anything!  If you can link to it in your blog, do so.  If not, just be ready to help your classmates understand it -- either by showing some of it to them, or by summarizing it -- because you'll present your favorite piece of humor and your write-up to the class on either MONDAY or WEDNESDAY next week!

Have fun with this assignment, be thoughtful and deep, and write your blog with care!  It's your last one!

Best,
Jennifer

Second Chance Blog: Ellison

Dear All,

Were you unprepared for the Ellison quiz?  Do you want to prove to me that you "get" Ellison?  Just an over-achiever?  Write this blog to replace that quiz grade:

1.  How does Ralph Ellison connect history to his personal sense of humor?

2.  How does Ellison suggest that laughter is a healing force?

Make sure you quote and cite Ellison appropriately in the blog!

Best,
Jennifer

Git Er' Done-Matthew Peeler

As we all know, the Blue Collar Comedy tour has provided the entire nation with entertainment for years now. Larry The Cable Guy, Bill Engval, Ron White and Jeff Foxworthy have been providing this entertainment with each of them using their own unique style to make the performance comical for the audience. Larry The Cable Guy however sticks out. He uses the front of a down home, blue collar, fully fledged redneck to entertain his fans. Some of his most famous lines include "Git er' done" and "I don't care who you are, that's funny right there." These lines are said in such a strong accent, one cannot help but laugh! The odd thing is, "Larry" does not have this heavy accent while he is talking in a normal tone. This accent is purely a stage voice used for entertainment and well, it works. Not only does Larry make people laugh by the way he talks, but also the jokes he tells. Being the blue collar comedy tour, each comedian typically takes situations that the average American can relate to and makes them into their jokes. To me however, Larry takes these situations and takes them to a different level that is just hysterical. For example, in one of his acts, Larry talk about the child in Ethiopia that he sponsors by the name of Boobla Boobla. Larry tells the audience about Boobla Boobla and reads the crowd a letter Larry received from him. Now there are many Americans that are interested in sponsering a child and there are also many people that do, making this a theme that most individuals can relate to. Larry adds a unique twist however and makes this theme his. He flaunts his redneck accent and turns this sponsored child into a hilarious joke. (Now it may seem wrong to do this but we must remember, they are only jokes). With Larry using the talents that he has been given, he can create a funny situation even out of the worst situations. He uses his unique speaking ability and his talent to create a comical story out of a common situation that is enjoyable to all of us.

Link to boobla boobla's story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPXyEU5a94c

What Does Your Ethnicity Taste Like?

Discuss one aspect or detail of your stand-up comedian's performance and how it makes him or her comic. How does it engage the audience? What makes it unique as a method for causing laughter?

One of my favorite stand-up performances was performed by Daniel Tosh. The subject of his stand-up performance dealt with people's races and how they would taste if they were eaten. This entire routine revolves around the lovely views of racism. He says things such as, "Do you have to use salsa before you bite into Jose"? Do you have to eat five minutes later when you eat Chinese people? Then Daniel gets to the part of the routine in which makes its very comical. Although this is 2010 people are still afraid to mention anything about black people because they are scared of the fact they may say the wrong thing and offend somebody. He states that black people taste like fried chicken and the crowd goes silent. I find it funny how Daniel has big enough balls to say this, and the audience were the ones that felt in the wrong. He follows up with his comment about black people to say that white people don't get eaten. He claims that he didn't make the rules, but it is just the way it is. After making jokes about black people, which is something that always catches the attention of people, he incorporates religion into his skit to finish it off. After making fun of black people he says that he hopes he doesn't get up to heaven and finds out god is black. He says he is going to get up to heaven and God is gonna say,"Ah that ain't funny motha fucka, white people taste like Macaroni and cheese!".

I love the way Daniel Tosh says whatever he wants no matter how racist it is. This create much comic effect because we often find things that are morally wrong the funniest. Daniel Tosh incorporates the use of racism, morally wrong ideas, and profanity to grab the attention of his audience. I feel as though he does a great job in being a rude asshole because he does nothing less than keep his audience laughing. His serious face along with his sarcastic and racist ideas make it doubly hilarious. It is almost as though he is being completely serious about his stand-up, but this is just the opposite. It is funny to see someone put on a fake face as Daniel Tosh does. The racism in his skit grabs the audience by the collar because they love to hear things from other people that they would feel afraid to say themselves. Holy Shit!