Ryan's FYW Blog

It's crazy to think that in today's day and age, anything can be turned into a joke -- even a hurricane. I never came across the Hurricane Florence Twitter account while it was happening, but I wish I would have. Seeing a natural disaster turned into a joke would have given me just the laugh I needed when I was stuck on campus during Hurricane Florence. As Madelyn pointed out, this account does utilize relief, incongruity, and superiority theories. However, the fact that superiority theory is used makes this account more controversial. If someone who live somewhere directly in the hurricane's path saw this account, they might be offended by it. To put it into perspective, in 2016 I lived in Hurricane Michael's path and my family had to evacuate because of it. If I saw a Twitter feed joking around about Michael the same way the Florence account did, I would not be happy. This is why there is a gray area around the topic of when a joke becomes unfunny or offensive. What o...

I believe Will Ferrell is one of the funniest actors in recent comedy because of how he can bring any character to life and how he can accurately play any part he wants to. In Talladega Nights , Ricky Bobby is a failing NASCAR driver who is trying to get better at racing. Will Ferrell is able to take this somewhat boring role and turn Ricky Bobby into a hilarious and loveable character. On the other hand, in Anchorman  Ron Burgundy is a news reporter who is loved by all of San Diego. Will Ferrell is the perfect actor for this role. He plays Ron Burgundy's part so genuinely and also immaculately delivers the line "Stay classy, San Diego" at the end of every news report that no other actor could play this role better. Will Ferrell's roles also involve superiority theory and relief theory. There is superiority because when people see how dumb Ricky Bobby is in the beginning of the movie, they will laugh and some might even relate.

I remember the first times I watched Borat  and Bruno  and how hysterically funny they were. Both movies were similar not just because of the humor and real-life stunts, but they both featured the same actor as the main character. I did not know this actor's name, but I admired his ability to do voice impressions, keep a straight face while performing outrageous public stunts, and ultimately draw a genuine laugh out of everybody. It was not until I read this blog that I knew his name was Sacha Baron Cohen. Although I have not seen any of the examples Will mentioned in the post, I can totally see them coming from Sacha Baron Cohen. Will makes a good point in saying that his humor involves superiority theory and incongruity theory. An example of his incongruity can be seen in Borat  when he has to ask people for directions, and proceeds to call of the bystanders Michael Jackson. Nobody would expect a foreigner to call a stranger Michael Jackson, but  Sacha Ba...