Lippitt blog 9/2

I found Schopenhauer's formulation the most persuasive. I related to the examples used, and I found the description of the incongruity theory easy to understand. It helped me get a better grasp of the theory and what it all entails. Another example of comedy that illustrates the incongruity theory the way Schopenhauer's formulation is in the show How I Met Your Mother. In a scene, the show exaggerates the lack of suit selection Ted has by contrasting it with another main character's suit selection. The other character, Barney, has hundreds of suits, a lot of which are the same color with slightly different detailing, but Ted can never find a nice suit when Barney tells him to suit up.

The different theories of comedy do describe different types of comedy. Some types of comedy overlap using more than one theory, but overall, the theories are not the same, and they do not evoke the same emotions as the others. I do not think one gets closer to the essence. I think they all serve different purposes. Not all examples of the different theories are funny because they may not be relatable to the audience or they may not be delivered with the right tone. It also depends on the effectiveness of the joke and how it is perceived by the type of audience it is presented to. For example, in order for an incongruence joke to be funny, the audience must perceive the two things being compared in the joke as abnormal or opposite.