Response to Blog Post #1

The best piece of comedy I have seen recently is an episode of The Office, where Michael insists that his employees roast him because they claim he is the main cause of stress at work. At the beginning of the episode Michael is speaking to the camera and says “Remember when people used to say boss when they were describing something really cool. Those shoulder pads are really boss man. Look at that perm that perm is so boss. It's what made me really want to become a boss. And I’d look so good in a perm and shoulder pads, but now boss is just slang for jerk in charge.” He goes into the office and tells them that he has figured out that the reason they are all stressed is because they feel “intimidated” to tell him what they really think and decides that the solution is honesty, laughter, and comedy. A roast of Michael Scott. He tells them he wants them to really make fun of anything about him and to not hold back. The camera then shows everyone's separate reaction to this news and shows how truly excited they are to be able to do this. What makes this episode, and the office in general, so funny is that Michael Scott is oblivious to his actions towards his coworkers. He is constantly offending someone and acting inappropriately in a work setting which makes the show hilarious. In the reading involving the superiority theory of humor, though it may not fit exactly with this episode of the office, I felt that it gave me a better understanding of why the character Michael Scott was made to act a certain way. In Monroe’s “Theories of Humor” when speaking of the person being laughed at it says “He is not flexible enough to adapt himself to the complex changing demands of reality.”  Michael Scott makes a fool of himself all the time because he acts like a child and is unable to understand social cues when he should really be the boss.