Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
Monday, October 8, 2012
Hypothetical Research Idea
If we were writing a research paper or giving a speech about the 10 articles that we read, mine would probably be about sitcoms and Saturday Night Live and the culture of the time they're broadcast. I feel like lots of sitcoms and SNL have an impact on how the culture views certain events that are happening in reality. At the same time, these television programs are immensely shaped by the current events and political/social/cultural climate at any given moment. As one of the articles I read said, sitcoms in the late 1960s had a very different feel than those of the 1950s because the later sitcoms mirrored the sentiments of the general public in that they were against the war in Vietnam. In a hypothetical paper or speech, I would further examine this cultural give and take between the television shows and the goings-on of the time.
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
Comedy Bibliography
Works Cited
Auster, Albert. ""Much Ado About Nothing: Some Final Thoughts on Seinfeld"" American Decades Primary Sources. Cengage, n.d. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3490201960&v=2.1&u=mlin_m_brookhs&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w>.
Carlos, Jordan. "Romney's Debate Strategy, Plus! Big Predictions." Web log post. Comedy Central's Indecision. Viacom, 1 Oct. 2012. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. <http://www.indecisionforever.com/blog/2012/10/01/romneys-debate-strategy-plus-big-predictions>.
Casey, Dan. "Demetri Martin: The Man, The Myth, the “Standup Comedian”." Web log post. Nerdist. N.p., 29 Sept. 201. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. <http://www.nerdist.com/2012/09/demetri-martin-the-man-the-myth-the-standup-comedian/>.
"Dane Cook, the Most Overrated Entertainer of the Decade." Web log post. The Stand-Up Comedy Blog. WordPress.com, 13 Feb. 2007. Web. 2 Oct. 2012. <http://standupcomedy.wordpress.com/2007/02/13/dane-cook-vicious-circle/>.
Deane, Pamala S. "Sitcom." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. 2000. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3409002262&v=2.1&u=mlin_m_brookhs&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w>.
Doherty, John J. "Saturday Night Live." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Vol. 4. Detroit: St. James, 2000. 300-22. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Cengage Learning. Web. 2 Oct. 2012. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3409002177&v=2.1&u=mlin_m_brookhs&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w>.
Edgers, Geoff. "Stand-up Comedy." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. 2000. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Cengage Learning. Web. 2 Oct. 2012. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3409002333&v=2.1&u=mlin_m_brookhs&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w>.
Marc, David. "Seinfeld." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. 2000. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Cengage Learning. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3409002207&v=2.1&u=mlin_m_brookhs&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w>.
Markowitz, Robin. "The Cosby Show." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. 2000. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Cengage Learning. Web. 1 Oct. 2012. <http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3409000573&v=2.1&u=mlin_m_brookhs&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w>.
"Season 7, Episodes 23-24: The Magician’s Code." Web log post. Have You Met Ted? N.p., May 2012. Web. 2 Oct. 2012. <http://have-you-met-ted.com/2012/season-7-episodes-23-24-the-magicians-code/>.
Comedy Final
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3409000573&v=2.1&u=mlin_m_brookhs&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w
7) Something that surprised me about this article about the Cosby Show is that, for one, it premiered at the top of the ratings charts. Normally I would assume shows would debut, garner a following and then eventually make it to the top of the ratings, but The Cosby Show started out at the top. Another fact from this article that was even more astounding is that The Cosby Show was the number one rated show in every age group. It is unheard of, at least in today's television world (or at least in my head) for a single show to be the most popular among children as well as the most popular among the elderly. I guess there was some chord that Bill Cosby struck with America that he appealed to almost literally everyone in the country. The Cosby Show aired slightly before my time, so somewhat unfortunately I never got to watch it along with so much of the country. To me, The Cosby Show has only ever been the outdated, sometimes funny sitcom that airs on Nickelodeon late at night.
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE%7CCX3409002177&v=2.1&u=mlin_m_brookhs&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w
8) For me, as long as I've been old enough to watch and understand Saturday Night Live, everything has seemed standard and down to a science. They always open the same way, without credits as they jump right into a skit. That ends with one character saying "live from New York, it's Saturday night!" as the band starts playing and the voice over goes through the cast members. The voice says the name of the host, then introduces the host, who walks out of a doorway, down a couple steps and starts the monologue. There are a few sections of skits followed by the first musical performance which is always immediately followed by Weekend Update. To me, it all seems very simply laid, but what I didn't realize is that when the show began everything they did was new. As the article says, in the beginning Lorne Michaels "wanted to produce a comedy show that would break all the rules."
http://have-you-met-ted.com/2012/season-7-episodes-23-24-the-magicians-code/
9) I enjoyed this blog post because I watch How I Met Your Mother so I knew the content the writer discussed pretty well. I agree with the writer of the blog that it was a little ridiculous of both Ted and Victoria to up and run away together when they only knew one another for a few months before she left for Germany, especially considering she had been with her fiancé for around six years. I really like the characters of the show and the relationships they have with one another, but I think that Ted doing this on a whim is just a little ridiculous.
http://standupcomedy.wordpress.com/2007/02/13/dane-cook-vicious-circle/
10) I have nothing but positive things to say about this article. I completely agree with the author that Dane Cook is unequivocally overrated as a comedian. Cook is constantly loud and all over the place. He moves a lot around the stage with his limbs flailing all around as he yells to try and get his joke across. It is completely befuddling to me how Dane Cook is as famous, successful and revered as he is. The only thing I can remember enjoying that he did is when he guest-starred on Louie with Louis C.K. Cook wasn't even funny during that scene! He and Louie had a really strange, intense heart-to-heart. As someone who gets paid to make people laugh, Cook shouldn't want to be recognized for strange, intense heart-to-hearts.
Monday, October 1, 2012
Comedy #2
3) http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=mlin_m_brookhs&tabID=T003&searchId=R1&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=2&contentSet=GALE%7CCX3490201960&&docId=GALE|CX3490201960&docType=GALE
One of the more entertaining things about Seinfeld, as I mentioned in the previous blog post and as Nicholaus Mills mentioned in this article, is that you could always count on the character's of the show to be consistently politically incorrect. George got in a fight with a "bubble boy" over a card game and Kramer got beat up because he stubbornly refused to wear a ribbon during an AIDS walk. The characters were so consistently unpleasant and grimy that the viewer couldn't help but find it downright hilarious. Larry David, a creator and executive producer of Seinfeld, created and stars in Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO. Similarly, there isn't too much of a premise, but since it is on HBO, every bad thing characters did on Seinfeld pales in comparison to David's shenanigans on his new show, on which he plays himself.
4) http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=mlin_m_brookhs&tabID=T003&searchId=R2&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=2&contentSet=GALE%7CCX3409002262&&docId=GALE|CX3409002262&docType=GALE
Sitcoms present an almost real-life television program that morphed into a comedy. For writers of them, they are outlets to poke fun at pressing social issues of the times, making amusing things that are often otherwise serious. Many of the situations posed to characters of sitcoms seem to paint characters as regular people who happen to be extremely quick and witty. Also, according to the "live studio audience," every viewer at home is an unnecessarily harsh judge of humor and should laugh as hard as the audience does at every subtle quip. I find it interesting that into the 1960's, as the US became more committed and heavily involved in a war in Vietnam, TV viewers "found solace in the hayseed humor of sitcoms," according to the article, as sitcoms dominated the ratings. On a different note, I'd be curious to watch those old sitcoms from as far back as the 50s as well as from slightly more recently (like Sanford and Son or MASH) to see if the humor is anything close to that of sitcoms today.
5) http://www.nerdist.com/2012/09/demetri-martin-the-man-the-myth-the-standup-comedian/
In this blog post/interview, Demetri Martin refers to each one-liner joke as a puzzle, and that is an idea that intrigues me. I like Demetri Martin's stand-up because he is really random and all over the place. His specials (that I have seen) are full of randomly witty one-liners that are subtly very funny. Everything I've seen him do is very blunt and frank, and Martin delivers those jokes with a weirdly straight face and without too much emotion or intonation. Something interesting about Martin's comedy is that he often uses drawings and/or large notepads of paper as props to his comedy, which is surprisingly not overdone and boring. In fact, Martin has a book coming out that is only drawings with short captions, called Point Your Face at This. I hope that, when it comes out, I'll have the opportunity to direction my face in its direction and read it.
6) http://www.indecisionforever.com/blog/2012/10/01/romneys-debate-strategy-plus-big-predictions
This blog post from Comedy Central's Indecision blog regarding the upcoming presidential election discusses things Mitt Romney will and will not say at the upcoming debate on Wednesday. All of them fall into a certain number of categories: 1) The downright absurd, 2) The would immediately ruin a campaign, or 3) Some combination of the first two. This blog is associated with the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which is one of my favorite TV shows to watch. Personally, I'm interested in politics and in the upcoming election and the idea of taking relevant political information and turning it into random humor is a very intriguing one. While he does have a liberal bias and therefore is more inclined to take digs at Romney than at Obama, I think that Jon Stewart does a good job calling Obama and his administration on their mistakes. While his show is definitely left-leaning, Stewart acknowledges that neither side is guilt free and (as a liberally-biased viewer) I appreciate that Stewart doesn't hold back.
One of the more entertaining things about Seinfeld, as I mentioned in the previous blog post and as Nicholaus Mills mentioned in this article, is that you could always count on the character's of the show to be consistently politically incorrect. George got in a fight with a "bubble boy" over a card game and Kramer got beat up because he stubbornly refused to wear a ribbon during an AIDS walk. The characters were so consistently unpleasant and grimy that the viewer couldn't help but find it downright hilarious. Larry David, a creator and executive producer of Seinfeld, created and stars in Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO. Similarly, there isn't too much of a premise, but since it is on HBO, every bad thing characters did on Seinfeld pales in comparison to David's shenanigans on his new show, on which he plays himself.
4) http://go.galegroup.com/ps/retrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=RELEVANCE&inPS=true&prodId=GVRL&userGroupName=mlin_m_brookhs&tabID=T003&searchId=R2&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&contentSegment=&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=2&contentSet=GALE%7CCX3409002262&&docId=GALE|CX3409002262&docType=GALE
Sitcoms present an almost real-life television program that morphed into a comedy. For writers of them, they are outlets to poke fun at pressing social issues of the times, making amusing things that are often otherwise serious. Many of the situations posed to characters of sitcoms seem to paint characters as regular people who happen to be extremely quick and witty. Also, according to the "live studio audience," every viewer at home is an unnecessarily harsh judge of humor and should laugh as hard as the audience does at every subtle quip. I find it interesting that into the 1960's, as the US became more committed and heavily involved in a war in Vietnam, TV viewers "found solace in the hayseed humor of sitcoms," according to the article, as sitcoms dominated the ratings. On a different note, I'd be curious to watch those old sitcoms from as far back as the 50s as well as from slightly more recently (like Sanford and Son or MASH) to see if the humor is anything close to that of sitcoms today.
5) http://www.nerdist.com/2012/09/demetri-martin-the-man-the-myth-the-standup-comedian/
In this blog post/interview, Demetri Martin refers to each one-liner joke as a puzzle, and that is an idea that intrigues me. I like Demetri Martin's stand-up because he is really random and all over the place. His specials (that I have seen) are full of randomly witty one-liners that are subtly very funny. Everything I've seen him do is very blunt and frank, and Martin delivers those jokes with a weirdly straight face and without too much emotion or intonation. Something interesting about Martin's comedy is that he often uses drawings and/or large notepads of paper as props to his comedy, which is surprisingly not overdone and boring. In fact, Martin has a book coming out that is only drawings with short captions, called Point Your Face at This. I hope that, when it comes out, I'll have the opportunity to direction my face in its direction and read it.
6) http://www.indecisionforever.com/blog/2012/10/01/romneys-debate-strategy-plus-big-predictions
This blog post from Comedy Central's Indecision blog regarding the upcoming presidential election discusses things Mitt Romney will and will not say at the upcoming debate on Wednesday. All of them fall into a certain number of categories: 1) The downright absurd, 2) The would immediately ruin a campaign, or 3) Some combination of the first two. This blog is associated with the Daily Show with Jon Stewart, which is one of my favorite TV shows to watch. Personally, I'm interested in politics and in the upcoming election and the idea of taking relevant political information and turning it into random humor is a very intriguing one. While he does have a liberal bias and therefore is more inclined to take digs at Romney than at Obama, I think that Jon Stewart does a good job calling Obama and his administration on their mistakes. While his show is definitely left-leaning, Stewart acknowledges that neither side is guilt free and (as a liberally-biased viewer) I appreciate that Stewart doesn't hold back.
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