Comments: Substitute Teacher

First off, I want to say that you did a great job picking this clip, as well as a great job picking the piece of comedy apart. Towards the end off your excerpt on the piece of comedy, you talk about the relief theory regarding the always present tension and awkwardness with a substitute teacher. This makes me think of some of the times I had substitute teachers in lower and middle school, and we always played jokes on them. The most common joke we would play was changing names with a friend. Before the teacher would walk in, you would grab a friend and exchange names for the class period. The teacher ultimately would catch on about halfway through class due to the occasional slip ups by the students, but the result would be tons of laughter and enjoyment from the students, making the sub feel awkward. I agree with the point you make about the incongruity theory being a play here, but more importantly I want to talk about the superiority theory point you make and the racial issue you bring up. How far can you go with a so called "racial joke"? When is too far, too far? Personally, I find some racial jokes funny, even when it is about my race, but I find it hard to laugh anymore at racial jokes due to societal circumstances. I think it's always to far with racial jokes. Overall, great job on the lead blog post for this week, Sophia.