I had never seen Impractical Jokers and whenever hearing about it from friends I never genuinely considered watching it, however, after experiencing the few videos within the lead blog, my mind has changed. My favorite clip from the lead blog was the first one in which they played "stalk and text". Within the video clip, the most predominant theory of comedy is superiority, displayed within the reaction of the jokers, the reaction of those being pranked, and the overall embarrassment experienced by the Murr. Superiority is shown through the reactions of the other jokers as they laugh at Murr's expense, who must willingly pretend that he is sending the texts the stranger is receiving. The other jokers take such joy in Murr's embarrassment and are thoroughly entertained by the messages they are sending to the stranger. Not only are the other jokers, and Murr himself, laughing at the cringe worthy and awkward messages they are sending to the random person selected within the food court, but also laughing at this individual's reactions to the texts and how he chooses to reply. At first the jokers send the guy a text simply saying good luck within the fake contest and the stranger replies with a simple thank you. However, the jokers second text, which questions whether the two gentlemen "lift" because they "have muscles AF!", makes both parties laugh as the two strangers giggle over the weird compliment/question, while the jokers find humor within Murr's total embarrassment. The audience and the jokers are finding humor within the situation because the jokers are making Murr look very strange and there is nothing he can do about it. Because Murr's "character" is being portrayed in an unusual way to a complete stranger, audiences laugh at his circumstance and painful embarrassment. The jokers follow up the intial question with requests for the stranger to buy Murr and soft pretzel and the man continues to reply. Although, after the jokers demand the soft pretzel in the text and call the stranger a fool, the two strangers have had enough and depart, leaving Murr beet-red and ashamed.
The amount of memes that I saw during the time of Hurricane Florence was wild. What shocked me even more and added to the humor of many of the posts, tweets, or memes was the fact that those who were being directly affected by Florence were the people making light of the situation. Like the individual who was forced to close their store that Madelyn refers to, many individuals, though suffering great losses, made these jokes and memes about the great destruction that was caused. These example of the people who were suffering the most but making the most jokes about the destruction, are perfect examples of relief theory. While most the country was terrified and worried about the effects of Hurricane Florence, some individuals were able to relieve this tension and worry through their nonchalant posts that found humor within the situation. While many of the posts I witnessed usually depicted once instance of the hurricane's devastation, the account that an individual made from the per...
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