A Joke is Worth a Thousand Words

Before we begin, some caution is needed I ask you make sure that this warning is heeded The tale I recite is one of anger and loss And that saving five dollars is not worth the cost Of happiness and joy that you surely will lose If these events should happen to you The story begins in a far-off world In a land inhabited by scouting girls A land to the south, known as Kroger by most Surrounded by asphalt and a heinous host For it is there that they wait, with a table to ensnare Any lone traveler that is passing by there They wait there smiling, a facade of innocence, But of their virtuous nature I remain unconvinced Standing by the door, the girls block all passage They needed be stopped from selling cookie package I decided that action had to be taken I thought it’d be easy… I was mistaken I charged the Kroger on a Tuesday at dawn And to my surprise the children had gone “What is this deception? Some spell or a trap? They were here jus...

     The thing that amazed me the most about these actors was not their ability to make me laugh (which they did), but the absolute control that they had over their bodies. It was like watching a dancer perform. They were in complete control of everything they were doing and they used this ability to make people laugh. It was wonderful. There is something truly magical about watching someone with so much talent and skill use it for comedy. They were masters of the craft and I think that is why the scenes are still funny today. P.S. My personal favorite was Harold Lloyd, he had wonderful reactions and seemed to "play" with the camera the most.

1. Dumb and Dumber 2. The Other Guys 3. Monty Python's Meaning of Life 4. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead 5. The Big Lebowski

            One of the most interesting things that I think the class has talked about is tickle and how important it is to our development. It is something that I have never really thought about before. I know that I have been tickled, mostly by my parents when I was a child, but I never once thought that they might have been an important moment in my relationships. I had always presumed that most of my familial relations were strong because they are the ones who fed, clothed, and protected me as a child, and not because they were the first people that tickled me. I forgot how important tickle, and more broadly play, is for human development. This realization has helped since reading it. No, I am not going around trying to tickle people in order to gain friends, but I have been more friendly and fun around my current friends. It has led to stronger relationships and more bondedness between us. Fun is important part of friendship....

            We have just finished writing our midterm assignments for The Sounds of Silence and Laughter and I thought it would be fun to write a short reflection on my writing process, because it was different than any other writing assignment in my entire academic career. The assignment was to wright either a response to one of the books that we read in class, a parody, a satire, a mock epic, or a reflection on what we have discussed in class so far. I immediately knew that I wanted to write either the parody, satire, or mock epic; and I was leaning towards the mock epic. The reason for this is because I am an improv comedy team and I thought it would a lot easier for me to write something funny than write a reflection (and yes, I see the irony in me saying that as I write a reflection). I also thought that I have written comedy before (we write weekly sketch videos) and that this should be similar in nature to the thing I alrea...

            Being on the improv team, I have noticed an interesting correlation between the quality of the show and the size of the audience. Well, maybe quality is not the right word because all the shows are of extremely high quality, but the overall amount of laughter changes with the size of the audience. Larger audiences tend to laugh a lot more and be more willing to give suggestions than the smaller audiences. The latter is the easiest to explain. The more people there are, the more suggestions we will get because there are simply more people thinking of suggestions. The amount of laughter on the other hand is bit more difficult to explain. If the overall quality of the show remains the same, then shouldn’t the amount of laughter also remain constant? I think it might go back to what the Provine was talking about in Laughter ; laughter is contagious and the more people there are, the more likely the outbreak of contagious l...