Television Comedy: Different Genres and their Descriptions
Television comedy exists in different genres depending on the source of humor, the delivery method, as well as the delivery context. Many comedians can fit into several genres therefore the classifications tend to overlap to meet the needs of different fans. Comedy can be stand -up that entails a comedian performing in front of live audience by speaking directly to them. The person can narrate humorous stories, jokes, or monologues to entertain the audience. Others may use prop, music, or magical tricks to ensure that whatever they are doing is more fun. Nathan, Jeffrey in his wok "A Jew from Nebraska: An Actors Attempt at Stand-up Comedy” argues that a stand-up comedy is a major influence on American closure giving people ability to laugh at different ideas. This essay discusses three types of television comedies that include black comedy, blue comedy, and character comedy and the description that makes them different.
Black Comedy: Disturbing Themes and Emotional Impact
Black or dark comedy is associated with disturbing themes that include acts that cause pain to the characters making the audience sympathize or hate them. Some of the themes in this type include death, terrorism, rape, drug use, wars, and child abuse. This genre may lead to emotional breakdown in some viewers leading to negative impacts such as suicide. According to Sara M. Rosen in her work, Dark Humor and Suicide: Exploring Viewer Suicidality in “The Long Way" issues related to death and loss of life can evoke many emotions such as sadness and fear (1). The author also argued that before embarking on understanding of dark humor people need to know why people laugh and what may make incidences such as death humorous (2). People may not laugh at something that is considered funny but this may not be the case since to some, it s a reaction to the action on television. Laughter is meant to give humans a chance of distancing themselves from the discomforts of the environment they are in as a quick response. Laughter may also work to release accumulated stress absorbed from the situation in the comedy. Dark comedies make people to apply their psychological defense mechanisms to help in displacing the fears and facilitate creation of further distance from the action on the screen. Dark comedy also allows the audience to distance from their own mortality as well as alleviate stress and fear associated with death, rape, and other acts of violence in dark comedies.
Blue Comedy: Sexual and Gender-based Humor
Another type of comedy is the blue comedy that deals with sexual content or use of profane language. In other times, the comedy can involve gender or race-bases humor. Timmermans, Elisabeth, and Jan Van den Bulck in the work, "Casual Sexual Scripts on the Screen: A Quantitative Content Analysis addresses the relational context in which sexual scenes occur by measuring the frequency and depictions of sexual behavior. According to the authors, much of the sexual content involves passionate kissing especially in committed relationship context. However, casual sexual context consists of the depiction of sexual intercourse. Casual sexual experiences in blue comedies may be interpreted differently by people of varying cultures. According to sexual script theory, sexuality and sexual behaviors are considered social processes, which are determined by scripts that are meant to organize and interpret sexual encounters. Cases of rape in some comedies whether acted or implied are painful to the viewers as they sympathize with the victim and hate the perpetrators (Timmermans and Bulck 4). In some scenes, the characters are portrayed as being under the influence of drugs or alcohol, which can be blamed for the act. However, some victims sometimes carry the blame for behaving in a manner that puts them in danger such as venturing into risky places or being intoxicated. Blue comedy also involves gender-based humor and is also common in blue comedy. The content may offend some members, especially if the characters are negatively portrayed in the piece. Since comedies are meant to entertain rather than offend, people should positively analyze the content instead of getting offended.
Heritage Comedy: Use of Stereotyping and Racial Profiling
Heritage comedy involves the use of stereotyping and racial profiling to create humor for the audience. Some people may perceive it as offensive, especially if their race is negatively portrayed, but the motive of the comedian is more important. For instance, if the actors’ aim is to entertain the audience rather than offend them, then the viewers or listeners should not worry that their ideologies are being attacked. Banjo, et al. in "Co-viewing effects of ethnic-oriented programming: an examination of in-group bias and racial comedy exposure". Ethnic-related entertainment content has increased recently, featuring multicultural aspects of characters, especially in comedies. The humor targets ethnic and racial groups, which sometimes is seen as stereotyping and discrimination. Although there is a lot of cultural thematic content, humor is the most prominent. Black audiences, according to the authors, are quite sensitive whenever their group is portrayed in a negative manner. Heritage comedy has become common as people try to understand the reaction of others to content that relates to their roots. Viewing in groups can reveal the perception of the stereotyped group by considering their reaction whenever such comedy is aired. The viewers should understand the humor in the content and consider it as serving the purpose of entertainment (Banjo, et al. 664). In some cases, racial comedy needs to be examined to ensure that it does not lead to enmity or tensions among the viewers or cause division. For instance, signs such as a certain group applauding the comedians whenever the joke is directed towards another ethnic group and remaining silent when it is its turn reveal the existence of tension. This can reveal that the content is offending the viewers in a different way rather than being for entertainment.
Making the Audience Happy: Entertaining and Unique Comedy
People attend comedy shows to be entertained. Thus, the comedians must cater to this need. The jokes should not cause any pain or bad feeling to the viewers but make them happy. Sometimes comedy can be confused with the one-man show, which is greatly driven by character. However, the former has the ability to improvise and make the joke more fun unlike the latter. A comedian should always avoid telling a joke that has been told by another or imitate the way others do it. Being unique and original can attract the attention of the audience, making them more entertained.
Works Cited
Banjo, Omotayo O., et al. "Co-viewing effects of ethnic-oriented programming: an examination of in-group bias and racial comedy exposure." Journalism " Mass Communication Quarterly 92.3 (2015): 662-680. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Christopher_Brown67/publication/267041936_Co-Viewing_Effects_of_Ethnic-Oriented_Programming_An_Examination_of_In-Group_Bias_and_Racial_Comedy_Exposure/links/56ac5de408ae43a39809e236.pdf
Nathan, Jeffrey. "A Jew from Nebraska: An Actors Attempt at Stand-up Comedy." (2015). https://stars.library.ucf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com/"httpsredir=1"article=2426"context=etd
Rosen, Sarah M, "Dark Humor and Suicide: Exploring Viewer Suicidality in "The Long Way" (2016).Scripps Senior Theses. 777. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/77
Timmermans, Elisabeth, and Jan Van den Bulck. "Casual Sexual Scripts on the Screen: A Quantitative Content Analysis." Archives of sexual behavior (2018): 1-16. https://www.statsbiblioteket.dk/au/?locale=en#/search?query=recordID:%22summon_FETCH-LOGICAL-c2610-89b552c830073c1e75d6d980485c832cafaa38d2c276f8eaef9a08533b8e2d053%22
