Tuesday, November 1, 2016

Response to Thomas

The Whitest Kids You Know uses a formula that often includes a straight man that calls out what is clearly wrong in a situation. It is ironic that the least funny character is the most humorous part of a skit.
A very famous straight man in modern pop culture is Jim Halpert from The Office. He is the straight man to Dwight Schrute who is so entertainingly serious. Jim loves to play pranks on Dwight and get him worked up and angry. Jim’s classic reaction to Dwight’s antics is a glance at the camera hoping someone else is seeing what he is seeing.
This is a perfect example of how Jim, remaining serious, is able to bring out a funny reaction from Dwight. Jim has appeared to have wrapped all of Dwight’s belongings including his desk and chair. Dwight, quite frustrated and clearly done with Jim’s shenanigans, angrily sits down to and empty wrapping paper shaped like a desk and chair. Jim remaining calm and rather serious, is able to bring about something very funny through others.
Another very popular straight man in television is Leonard in Big Bang Theory. He too has a partner, Sheldon,  is very high strung and odd like Dwight in The Office. Leonard will often point out how ridiculous or nerdy his friends are acting but then will get called out by his love interest and fellow straight man Penny for also being quite ridiculous.

This is a perfect example of Leonard mocking Sheldon’s odd qualities and making the audience laugh and the both of them. Sheldon’s actions alone are funny, but Leonard’s willingness to mimic him takes the audience right over the edge with laughter.

1 comment:

  1. It seems like you're hitting on the sort connection between straight man and what we might call the odd couple--one in which neither reaction is exactly that of an "ordinary" person, but in which it is still a kind of counterpart. One of the things people pointed out about aspects of the Woody Allen was that it had moments when there was no comic counterpart, something that confirmed the comedy. At other times it did, of course, but one of the features of comedy is that reactions can enhance or draw out incongruity.

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