Most Likely To Be A Comedian Analysis

Psychologists, sociologists and anthropologists study humor because it is a fundamental culture value, but they still can’t determine why certain things make some people laugh and others not. There are “humor quotient” tests that are designed to measure an individual’s sense of humor, but these tests are questionable. These tests aren’t accurate because almost all humor depends on cultural background knowledge and language skills. Not every person in the whole world, or even in one country share the same background knowledge and skills, therefore they cannot have the same type of humor. “The fact remains that individuals vary in their appreciation of humor” (Rappoport 9). Since humor varies from individual to individual, humor lies in the individual. How successful or funny a joke is depends on how the person receives the joke, humor cannot be measured by a statistical

"Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it." --E. B. White

Humor is more than just amusing entertainment to pass the time. Though jokes and witty banter can be shallow, humor can go deeper than surface level to convey messages to audiences who would otherwise be close-minded about certain ideas. Humor is a great tool to get audiences to change the way they think, feel, and act. In “Saying Goodbye to Yang,” Alexander Weinstein uses humor to criticize some of society’s faults such as the way it has become heavily reliant on technology, racially insensitive, and judgmental.

Rod, Martin. Psychology of Humour: An Integrative Approach. New York: Elsevier Academic Press, 2007. Print

Humor has proven to be a trait that makes many feel good and has led some to strive to obtain this trait throughout their lives, whether it be in their partners, their career, or in every aspect of their life. Humor is such a vitally important part of our life, but how do we decide what’s funny? Aristotle is one of the few philosophers who has touched on the philosophy of humor, thus making his ideas that much more important as he has influenced most of the prominent theories regarding the philosophy of humor. The philosophy of humor can be separated into three different groups, the theories of incongruity, superiority, and relief. The Incongruity Theory has been proposed by philosophers such

Just like music, Comedy has many different genres. But, what is comedy? Is it that funny looking kid getting made fun of at school? Is it complete absurdity? Is it the humiliation of others building your own self-righteousness? Comedy is “the humorous or amusing aspects of something” as defined by my dictionary widget. While I do like this definition of comedy, in general, I do not like how the definition uses the root-word humor in the definition. Humor is very similar to comedy in the sense that it is a word that cannot be easily explained or defined. The widget defines humor as “the ability to perceive…or to appreciate a joke.” Again, another good definition, but again, I do not agree with it fully. This definition implies that humor only comes from jokes, which is certainly not the case. In a search to find out what comedy truly entails, we need to identify and understand where...

In compositions and conversations, humor indicates a state of entertainment or laughing that, during speech, can influence the outcome of the conversations persuasiveness. Humor can play a significant role in the outcome or intension of persuasion intended in a conversation. Information being exchanged between persons is influenced by the intended persuasion, as well as the possible level of humor within the intended subject. This, in turn, plays a significant role in the outcome of the persuasion, as humor can, sometimes, create influence on other’s decisions, or way of thinking about the intended subject. Persuading others to take your outlook on a subject can sometimes be greater influenced by the amount of humor within the persuasion.

In his book, Ha! The Science of When We Laugh and Why, Scott Weems refers to humor as the exercise of keeping the brain engaged. We laugh because the brain likes to jump the gun and we are always guessing where things are going. Laughter is produced when we get it wrong and are surprised. Perhaps this is why some people are so good at making people laugh at insult humor. They are experts at the surprising. There are numerous studies that have illustrated the benefits of humor ranging from being more creative after listening to a comedy album, to being better at solving brain teasers. It was even discovered by Arnold Cann at the University of North Carolina that pain tolerance became higher after watching 10 minutes of the comedian, Bill Co...

Comedy is far from scientific, but it is, at least, consistent. Many comedians follow the same routine, where they describe an ordinary event in a funny way, point out something about everyday life that most people do not notice, or simply modify the commonplace in order to draw their audience’s attention to what is missing. The first option, describing an ordinary event, is so common among comedians that it no longer makes a comedian stand out in her field. The last two options, on the other hand, involve several aspects of cognitive science, primarily language and vision. Recognizing and refining these aspects can and, in many cases, already have heightened comedy to a new level of relatability and entertainment.

Bell (2007) reports her findings on communicating humor amongst native speakers (NS) and English as a second language speakers (L2). The results of Bell’s research shows that although humor seems to be a potential mine field of confusion between NS and L2 speakers, there tends to be an effort from both parties to ensure that purposeful humor is “constructed and interpreted in such a way as to avoid misunderstanding” (p. 30). Humor is one of the most difficult things for a L2 speaker to learn. A reason for this is because, a person’s ability to comprehend words and use grammar, is insignificant without understanding the necessary social connotations. Each culture and ethnicity is comprised of different ideas of what is funny and acceptable in humor. Joking exchanges require a greater knowledge than simple speech comprehension.