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Response to: Katherine's Comedy Blog

Jim Gaffigan

 I completely agree with Katherine's statement that Jim Gaffigan's main approach towards comedy is in relation to the superiority theory. A quote from Katherine's blog states, "Gaffigan's main style of comedy is self-depreciation mixed in with relatability," which is the ideal definition of the superiority theory. Sticking with the relatability aspect, the superiority theory can often correlate with the relief theory as well. Gaffigan often balances the superiority with the relief theory by using comically high pitched voices in terms of internal monologue to give the impression that everyone has the same insecurities. The audience tends to laugh at these types of jokes because Gaffigan makes fun of an ironic situation where the audience was oblivious to the topic at hand until Gaffigan actually points it out in his own ridiculous way.


Comments

  1. Caroline BassSeptember 28, 2018 at 10:42 AM

    Great post, Faith! I especially liked that you focused on the way Gaffigan uses comical voices to connect with the audience. That silliness definitely helps remove the "censor" we have when a serious topic is brought up. This idea also emphasizes the importance of delivery--there are plenty of comedians that should be funny in theory, but their delivery is poor and they therefore don't have as much success.

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  2. Shane HerronSeptember 28, 2018 at 12:45 PM

    The role of voices is, I think, almost always understudied in analysis of comedy. How many examples of comedy that are supposedly funny for a certain reason actually would not be funny without the voice? And we could use the same voice and make almost anything funny. I wonder if this actually undercuts any particular theory too?

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