FYWS Hw 2: Most persuasive piece so far

I believe that the most persuasive piece of work that we've read so far is "Humour and Superiority" by John Lippitt. Reason being, John Lippitt uses the best mode to get his point across, refuting what others have been saying about the same topics. One main example of this is Lippitt's refutal of Hobbe's claim that you can not laugh at yourself, unless you have become superior of that old self. Lippitt wants to know what happens when you find something funny out about yourself? Because it is very possible for this to be true. I have had several cases of this happening. One being when I was with a group of my best friends in high school. All of the sudden I just began to start laughing  hysterically. All of my friends, bewildered by my laughter, curiously asked "why are you laughing?". Then I explained what happened earlier that day. I told them about how I was home alone with my dog, but instead of laying around and watching television, I played with my dog. All I ever wanted for that day was to put a hat on my dog, but he would just shake the hat right off. In my failure, I worked best, cutting holes on each side of the hat, and running an elastic string through the holes. Now, I had created a doggy hat that would not fall off. At the time, I was determined to make all of this work, so I did not realize how funny it was that I wanted my dog to simply wear a hat. So when I was hanging out with my friends that day, my mom got home from work and found my dog wearing his hat. Then I proceeded to laugh hysterically at what I'd achieved earlier in the day. I believe that all the different theories just describe different types of comedy, rather than reaching a larger main theory. I also believe that not all examples of incongruity, superiority, and relief aren't funny because society has changed so much. First off, different people find different things funny, but secondly, because of what's wrong and right in society makes specific things not funny anymore. Specifically with the incongruity theory. Most examples of incongruity in society today are considered as degrading, rather than funny.

My most recent and probably most favorite piece of comedy is the Office, a documentary tv show that follows around the employees of the Dunder Mifflin paper company. The show portrays comedy through the relationships of the coworkers, and by making a real world job relatable to all walks of life through the role each character plays. An example of how the comedy serves to all walks of life is through the relationship between Jim and Dwight, two of the salesmen for the paper company. They come from two completely different walks of life. Jim is married with kids, and Dwight owns a beet farm, and struggles in his search for love. Dwight also is very serious about his job, Jim is not. The comedy in these guys relationship shows up when their work life collide, creating a constant tension. While Jim plans his pranks of Dwight, the audience plays along with Jim. This creates anticipation for what is about to happen, and it always is more fun to be on the giving side of a prank than the receiving end. Overall, the long, drawn out tensions between coworkers, creates an engaging show for the audience, allowing the audience to feel apart of the Office itself.