Introduction
The Humor Project is a creative way to express what we have learned and studied about in our humor unit. Humor is hard. It’s not easy to stand in front of the class and give a stand up comedy routine, let alone produce the comedic material. The project included an analysis of two comedians and their styles, a write up about our vision for the project, and an original script that we would use to produce the final product. Overall, I enjoyed reading both Rhinoceros by Eugène Ionesco and Slaughterhouse 5 by Kurt Vonnegut, both writers that explore the realm of absurdism. Personally, I decided to focus my work on more day to day scenarios/comedic narratives through writing about grocery shopping and then doing a stand up routine. At times I had a hard time deciding what other people might find funny and jumped from a first draft on food, to a draft on driving, to a draft on babysitting. And back to the one on food. But I wish I did the one on babysitting. It’s difficult to know what jokes will land with your audience and exactly how much you should explore a personal style or borrow techniques from comedians who are professional. I wish that I would have talked about a personal experience that was more relatable, more consequential, or more me, but I think there were some aspects about the humor unit that I succeeded in.
Analysis
For my humor project, I decided to study the stand-up routines of Jim Gaffigan and Brian Regan.
Jim Gaffigan is a renowned comedian with his own Netflix show that covers his routines. His main topics include talking about food, being a father of five young children, being white, food, living in New York City, traveling, and did I mention food? He uses a variety of comedy techniques, but frequently uses exaggerated anecdotes to set the stage before moving onto comedy techniques that create more singular punchlines such as irony and exaggerism. One of his most famous stand-up routines is called “Hot Pockets” where he calls himself and the audience “white trash” for even willing to get and then eat hot pockets. He throws himself under the bus, uses his “thinking voice” or a stream of consciousness to hook the audience in and explore how he really feels in contrast to what the situation might seem to an outsider. He also uses hypothetical situations, such as explaining the warning on a hot pocket box and using a different voice for what the audience might be thinking interspersed by his high-pitched “hot pockets jingle”. In his book, Dad is Fat, Gaffigan explores longer and deeper narratives, one being about a trip to the Grand Canyon with his wife (who wasn’t his wife yet) and one of his friends and his wife and small kid. He talks about how he felt that they were zombies or weird aliens who only cared about their child, were always sleep deprived, and were frequently cranky. He also explores shorter, more hypothetical or real situations including why it’s not cool when your child is friends with a kid that has an uncool parent or when things just get really awkward. Or what it’s like to witness childbirth at home or how long it takes to get his kids out of the house when he has to sunscreen them all up for a hour before they can even try leaving the house.
Brian Regan is also a family guy and clean comedian that explores similar topics. He enjoys doing stand-up routines while incorporating longer, more flushed out narratives that are often personal past experiences. In one of his routines, he talks about going to the emergency room. He uses hypothetical questions to encourage the reader to feel like he is always in the right such as: “you’re dying and lying on the floor, so you call an ambulance. I mean, are you going to drive yourself? But also, what are you going to say? So, umm… I feel dead so could ya like come over and give me a ride?” He likes to play with the irony of situations that he or others have experienced. Like the fact that it is ironic to have to drive yourself while you’re dying to the Emergency Room. Or letting other dying people pass you in the parking lot to find a spot that doesn’t exist as you wave them past yourself, and remember you’re also dying. He tends to exaggerate everything, such as saying that he’s almost dead by the time he gets to the ER and being overly polite as he waves people on in the parking lot.
Both Brian Regan and Jim Gaffigan tend to talk about themselves, their families, and their experiences in life (alone or with their families). Topics cover similar perspectives but each uses different techniques to convey their messages.
Personally, for my project, I think that I will focus on smaller, mostly hypothetical anecdotes with punchlines. I like thinking about how people view objects, people, and situations with different perspectives. I also like playing with the idea of how extreme and exaggerated labeling food products has gotten. To accentuate this point, I’ll use even more exaggerated situations and language such as “I just want to buy beef! I don’t care if it’s gluten free or dairy free at this point! I just want to buy some meat!”
For hypothetical situations, I might incorporate some aspects of personal experiences but mostly make hypothetical situations that everyone can hopefully relate too, but in an over exaggerated way. An example of that might look something like this: “So you go to the grocery store, and you can’t even find bread. Like normal bread. There’s gluten free bread. And 100% organic rye bread with bird seed. And bread without gluten. Could I just get a piece of wonder bread? So I can make a miracle sandwich with some regular, non-dairy free cheese for once in my life? Actually, yes I would like it to be without high fructose corn syrup and ethically produced….”
I also admire their knack for improvisation. At some points, it seems as if they just came up with a joke or pun on the spot and decided to integrate it right then. Most of the times, it works out fairly well. Another thing I noticed is their ability to transition between anecdotes and jokes smoothly. For example, Jim Gaffigan talks about hot pockets, then about how it’s bad for the digestive tract, then to toilet paper, then back to hot pockets, making a complete circle that makes the stand-up routine feel finalized and complete. I want to incorporate this skill into my stand-up routine to make it feel less disjointed/more cohesive.
Another thing I admire about their techniques, especially Jim Gaffigan’s, is that they continue to keep their audience laughing. Not every line, but most lines have a punchline or something that’s funny about them. Gaffigan likes returning to previous jokes to really hit it out of the park, often using a conclusion similar to the opener. He also builds off previous stand-up routines, which I’ll be unable to do because I’m a newbie, but I will likely use his other techniques as well as Brian Regan’s as part of my routine.
Script
So I’m at the grocery store and I can’t even find bread.
Like normal bread. There’s gluten free bread. And King’s Own Hawaiian rolls manufactured in California. And 100% organic rye bread with bird seed.
Could I just get a piece of wonder bread? So I can make a miracle sandwich with some regular, not dairy free cheese for once in my life?
No. Well, I guess I’ll settle for the bread with corn syrup in it because at least it doesn’t contain high fructose corn syrup……
I mean, food labels are entirely deceptive. My younger sister firmly believed that there should be strawberries in the Cheerio box covered in strawberries. What’s actually inside? Just sugarless sawdust in circular form. NO strawberries in sight.
Grape nuts? The crunchy little clusters of gravel that’s been in your mom’s cupboard for a year? But there’s no grapes! And no nuts! Literally more sawdust. This time it’s crunchy sawdust.
Ummm. So to start my day off right I’ll have the Apple Wheaties with no apples and no wheat. It’s okay, all sawdust tastes great how my granddad eats it. Just add ¾ c apple Wheaties, ½ c milk, 1 c brown sugar.
Yes, he’s still alive.
Special K sure is special. In case you want steamrolled rice for breakfast we’ve got you covered!
Even better are the off brand cereal names.
Ooh, this box of tie-dyed sugar balls looks amazing! Maybe the Chewy Cinnamon Bread Cereal taste better than crunchy cinnamon toast? Mmmmm, gotta love it.
If you’re going to eat cereal, you have to have milk. It’s a must. No buts.
And don’t try to cheat your way out of it by squeezing random fruits or nuts to compensate for legit cows milk.
One time I was checking out at the grocery store with 7 or 8 gallons of milk in my cart. And the cashier totally breaks all rules of cashierism.
- Do not comment on what people buy
- There’s only one rule
He flat out asks me if I’m having a milkshake party! No, we just drink a lot of milk at my house.
He did not buy it. He’s probably a guy that eats his Cheerios dry anyways so what do I care.