Theories of humor

Satire is the use of humor, irony, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or unawareness, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other current issues. This style of writing is characterized by a very exaggerative, tongue-in-cheek type language that is often suggesting ridiculous solutions to problems, in an effort to get the audience to understand society’s short-comings in a way that isn’t preachy or very demanding. Popular examples in the 21st century include…

aspects of humor in it. Dave Barry, an award winning author and columnist, wrote the very rhetorical “Dave Barry 's Manliness Manifesto”. Barry’s key to making his piece humorous was by using common humor elements; such as, satire and irony. Rachel Callman, a writer for Tosh.0, is the author of “Selfie’s Word of the Year Acceptance Speech,” which is a very satirical piece which depicts a stereotypical personification of the word selfie. Both of these pieces have some elements of humor, and are…

One of the most obvious things I think anyone would notice in Oliver’s videos, is his use of humor. He does not just use humorous rhetoric to be funny, but it also gets your attention. When Oliver makes comparisons of serious issues to things that are comical, it makes viewers want to keep watching and even want to agree with him because he comes across as a funny, likable guy who knows what he is talking about. Not only do humorous comparisons make his show entertaining, but they also make what…

Creative and Critical Thinking Self-reflection Paper POON CHIU LAM 12000625 For me, I am a creative and talkative person. I always have some weird ideas and like to make them as some jokes during chit chat with friends. I though that creativity could only be fun and entertainment in my part of life. When I first heard of the name of this course--Creative and Critical Thinking, I thought that the part of creative thinking was really my course. I used to think that creativity was the key of…

Of course these are not all categories of conversational humour, which appear during natural human interactions. Apart from words there are also facial expressions, gestures and strange ways of doing something that contribute to making a person laugh. Attardo (1994: 128) presents a detailed analysis of the fallowing pun: Why did the cookie cry? Its mother had been away for so long. [a wafer] (Pepicello and Green 1983: 59). Already the first sentence “activates the scripts for cookie and…

Antonia Peacocke discusses how those who watch the show Family Guy should realize the creators’ jokes should be viewed as what they are intended to be: a harsh reality rather than crude. Peacocke argues that when taken at face value, Family Guy’s humor could potentially be considered offensive. Instead, the creator Seth Macfarlane intelligently uses satire to mock American culture. The article is overall effective with one minor weakness. The article gains a majority of its effectiveness from…

“Don’t take yourself so seriously, Know when to laugh at yourself, and find a way to laugh at obstacles that inevitably Present themselves” - Halle Berry. This quote to me means that you have to know when to laugh at yourself sometimes. If you mess up don’t be too harsh on yourself instead just laugh it up and overcome those obstacles. I did not know i was going to make this quote a part of my life. It was two summers ago and for my family's vacation we all decided that we should go to Mexico to…

Miller’s and Reeve’s tale depict to us not only a sense of humor, but additionally portrays a sense of what medieval society was like during Chaucer’s time as an author. Mainly the way shows the livelihood and depicts the social status of characters, not only in the humorous tales but also in the more somber ones. Humor is Chaucer’s discreet way of showing the environment in medieval society. To begin with, to what extent does the humor in the Canterbury Tales show us about the medieval? In the…

The Truthful Humor of “Rick and Morty” Many people in today’s American culture take a rather pessimistic view of the world. With prospects for retirement at a low, and a life of uncertainty ahead of them, humor with a nihilist spin is one way to confront these heavy issues in a light-hearted way. Cartoon Network’s comedic Adult Swim program “Rick and Morty” harnesses the uncomfortable dark feelings of a society, and uses humor in a typical cartoon fashion to provoke the minds of viewers as well…

The Cask of Amontillado, a Story of Revenge “The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe is a tragic tale of vengeance between two friends. The story uses the first person perspective where Montresor, narrates the story on how he bears a grudge against his friend Fortunato for insulting him. Poe does not disclose the insults but highlights the narrator’s obsession for revenge. However, in the narrative, Fortunato is depicted as kind, friendly and innocent while Montresor is evil. As a resulted,…