📘 Part 3: Comedy Movies

This episode's vocabulary

Ridiculous (adj.) - stupid or unreasonable and deserving to be laughed at.

Grim (adj.) - worrying, without hope.

Stone-faced (adj.) - not showing any emotion.

Killjoy (noun) - a person who does not like other people enjoying themselves.

Born entertainer (noun) - born to entertain.

Take the edge off (phrase) - to make something unpleasant have less of an effect on someone.

Contingent on/upon sth (adj.) - depending on something else in the future in order to happen.

Stark (adj.) - empty, simple, or obvious, especially without decoration or anything that is not necessary.

Let off steam - to do or say something that helps you to get rid of strong feelings or energy.

Universal (adj.) - existing everywhere or involving everyone.

Slapstick (noun) - a type of humorous acting in which the actors behave in a silly way, such as by throwing things, falling over, etc.

Giggle (verb) - to laugh repeatedly in a quiet but uncontrolled way, often at something silly or rude or when you are nervous.

Tenant (noun) -

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Questions and Answers

M: Let's talk about the watching comedy films and movies. How popular are comedy films in your country?

R: Well, I think there's quite a demand now given the pandemic and generally depressing atmosphere. So you would expect at times like this, people want to see things in a much more positive light, or at least for a little while.

M: Why do people of all ages enjoy watching funny cartoons?

R: I think children enjoy the more ridiculous elements. And adults enjoy the slider sides. And everybody likes the contrast with reality. You can see this best in South Park. So like children find southpark funny, they shouldn't be watching it. But everybody knows they do. Children find it funny, because there are small children swearing, which is an adult thing. And that's insane. And then there's all these ridiculous things that happen as well. And adults enjoy the commentary, like the social and political commentary. And all of these things are happening like eight year old children do not make political observations about the world. They also generally don't swear as much as they do in South Park. So everyone's enjoying this contrast with reality. And that's what comedy is, basically, isn't it?

M: Do you agree that most people prefer watching comedy films to watching serious films.

R: Well, that will be entirely dependent on the general feeling of the age, I think. So, in times, like the Great Depression, for example, there were lots of comedy films and lots of things that were designed to sort of pick people up emotionally as it were. Lots of feel good things. Whereas we had sort of a more optimistic economic time in the 90s, and the 2000s. And things became much more grim roundabout, then you had all these grim, dark movies. So I think the context will determine what the preference is.

M: Let's talk about laughter in daily life. Should teachers use jokes and encourage laughter in the classroom?

R: Well, that will be down to the relationship between the teacher and the students and the teacher themselves. Like some teachers are stone-faced killjoys that focus only on facts and knowledge, and others are sort of born entertainers. And the student should be open to as well. I think it can take the edge off sometimes, like learning can be quite a stressful process, but you know, at the end of the day, you're in school, or you're in a class to learn things not to be entertained. So it's, it's contingent on so many things.

M: Why are some people good at making other people laugh?

R: Well, they usually develop this due to a deficiency elsewhere in their lives, don't they? It's a way to attracting and engage people. You tend to find it in people who initially were not gifted with looks or stable lives, for example. And this is their coping mechanism in the face of that sort of stark and brutal reality.

M: Does humour play a useful role in business?

R: Well, it can take the edge off certain transactions. I'm not sure it's as useful as professionalism an organization Well, unless you're like running a clone school or something like that.

M: Let's talk about the value of humor. Do professional comedians have an important social function?

R: Well, every job does or they wouldn't exist. In the case of comedians, they entertain people take the edge of life, and enable steam to be let off on various topics.

M: Is humour universal?

R: Well, the idea of things being funny is universal. I'm not sure what makes people laugh is universal, though. You can see this in the way that humor works as you move from Western to Eastern countries. So, in America, generally, the humor is more slapstick, and then it gets progressively darker and darker the further east you go. So in Britain, there's more sarcasm and irony, for example. In Germany it tends to revolve around darkness and sophisticated wordplay. And then in Russia, from my perspective, it seems like people just doing awful things to each other, but people find that quite funny here.

M: Do you agree that laughter is not always a sign of happiness?

R It can be a sign of coping with difficult and stressful situations. Lot's of people get the giggles before major speaking events, for example, or even during them, you see this in... Oh, if you ever watched the gag reels on TV shows when they're supposed to be having a serious moment and then you just lose it halfway through the scene, then that's not because they're happy. It's just because they're struggling to be serious.

M: Is it easy to fake laughter?

R: Um, it's easy to fake laughter. But it's not easy to convince people that your fake laughter is real. Those two things are very different.

M: Hmm. And is it easy for people to spot this fake laughter?

R: I think so.

M: Especially children.

R: Yeah, well, you can tell from like the tone, the facial expression, the context, these kinds of things. If someone's just sort of laughing is slightly out of tune, maybe they're not smiling in the right way. Or maybe it's clear that someone has said something grossly offensive to them, then it's clear that they're not enjoying it, but they're just putting it on.

M: But do you think it's a good idea to not take things seriously and use humour in even dangerous situations in critical situations?

R: That depends so much on what the actual situation is. Generally speaking, having elements of humor in some situations is a good idea. But to make that the central tenant of whatever it is, you're doing, no, because it's a serious situation for some reason. There's got to be a purpose behind it other than comedy

M: So in certain situations humour is not appropriate.

R: Well, it might not be appropriate, but it shouldn't be the main thing.

M: Yeah. Thank you very much, Rory for your haha answers!

R: It was more your awkward expression. You're like ha ha.

M: Yeah, that was a laughing moment.

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Discussion

R: However, what's not a laughing matter is the serious vocabulary that we use to talk about this.

M: Yes. Now let's bring some seriousness and quality into the episode. So when we think about humour, we talk about what sarcasm, irony, dark humor, right? So Rory enjoys dark humor. Don't you Rory? And sarcasm we say that Rory is sarchie.

R: I am not sarchie. I'm nice to everyone.

M: Rory is lovingly sarchie. And people can get the giggles.

R: Yes.

M: Giggles, to giggle is... That's a giggle?

R: It's the start of it and then it just keeps going. But giggle is a special kind of laughter. Like girls giggle.

R: That's sexist.

M: Do boys giggle?

R: Boys can giggle. Yeah.

M: Oh, look at those boys giggling.

R: Where?

M: Hey boys. I see boys giggling. No, no, there aren't any boys. In the studio only Vanya.

R: I see. It's because I'm a man.

M: Yeah, Vanya is a man. He is not a boy.

R: No, Vanya is a boy, I am a man.

M: You're a man. He's a boy?

R: He's not even 25. His brain hasn't stopped growing.

M: Vanya, could you go please? How do you giggle, Vanya? Give us some giggles. Oh, this?

R: That's not, that's a snort.

M: A snort. Okay. So when you do like...it's a snort when you giggle you go like... No? Usually girls giggle because we have this.. Right, I'm boring Rory to death. Okay, so, people get the giggles, people start laughing, right?

R: Unless you're like me, and you're a stone faced killjoy. So I should point out these are two separate things. If you're stone faced it just means that you never crack a smile. If you're a killjoy, it just means that you, well...

M: Kill all the joy.

R: Kill all the joy in a situation. There's a great science fiction show called Killjoys, though, if you ever get a chance to watch it. Being a killjoy is just like you suck the fun out of everything.

M: Yeah.

R: Stone faced is when you don't move your face in a funny situation.

M: Some teachers are stone faced killjoys

R: Stone face is an adjective, killjoy is a noun.

M: Nice. Yeah. But other teachers are entertainers.

R: They are born entertainers, which means that they were born to entertain. It's like it's in their blood. It's their character.

M: Yeah, they're gifted with a great sense of humour. Yes, to be gifted with. So, Rory, you mentioned that some people are not gifted with looks, but they have a good sense of humour. You've used take the edge of something quite a lot.

R: Yeah, I tend to do that and it just to take the edge off something is just, let's say it's a particularly dark situation and it makes people feel awful. You can take the edge off that you can make it seem less bad by telling a joke.

M: Humour can take the edge of life.

R: Life is pretty serious. Not as serious as death. I took the edge off that by laughing. Hopefully everyone else found it funny too.

M: Yeah, now we know what Rory gets the giggles from.

R: Death?

M: You can also use the expression of let the steam off.

R: Yeah, or just let off steam.

M: Let off steam. And, Rory, you've used it in a nice way, in a creative way. So you said something like, take the age of life enables steam to be let off on various topics.

R: Yeah, comedians do that. They provide people a chance to laugh about things which are quite serious. I'm trying to think of an example. Ed Byrne is an Irish comedian. He was talking about sexism. And, and he was saying like, there's a feminist flyer in a bathroom. And it said that men, men used to be able to beat women with a rod that's as thick as their thumb. And then the poster asked what's changed. And he said, Well, nothing has changed, because that never happened. Although you could also argue that nothing has changed either, because women will still make things up in order to have a row about something or in order to have a fight about something. And that was, like the audience find that funny. So it took the... It allowed pressure to be vented or steam to be let off on a topic like poor gender relations, for example.

M: We can say that we cope with difficult or stressful situations.

R: Yes.

M: Cope with stress, cope with problems. When I asked you should teachers use jokes in the classroom, you said that it will be down to the relationship between teachers and students. So it'll be down to something.

R: So if something is down to something, it just means it depends on it. It's just another way of saying it depends on. It depends on, it's contingent on, it relies on, it's down to.

M: Yeah, a very nice synonym. And in the other answer, you said that we'll be dependent on the general feeling of something. So see, we're using synonyms, it will be dependent on something or it'll depend on or it'll be down to the relationship.

R: I like contingent. I love the word contingency.

M: Contingency? Why?

R: Because it sounds good. It's a good word. It's band nine word for sure. No one uses this word apart from me. I've never heard anyone apart from me use the word contingency plan.

M: Wow. Okay. Good.

R: Well, no, me and my dad. That's all.

M: Give us more examples, please.

R: Well, whenever you start a business, it's good to have a contingency plan in case the business starts to fail. So it's like a backup plan.

M: Did you use the bolt humor or comedy films?

R: No, but you could say, it's the word contingent is based on contingency. Which just means that it depends on the situation.

M: Hmm. Okay. We say that the film is hilarious. Or we can say, like a great sense of humor. But we also can use the word ridiculous. So children enjoy these ridiculous elements, and ridiculous are funny in a negative way. So ridiculous scenes, ridiculous moments.

R: Like there's a scene in South Park where there's like, what is it some sort of giant mechanical dinosaur with Barbra Streisand haircut.

M: Oh, yeah, that's ridiculous.

R: Is that right? Is that what happens? Barbra Streisand turns into a giant metal Godzilla?

M: Oh, I think so. I don't remember. South Park they do this ridiculous things. And you can you also say, children enjoy ridiculous elements and adults enjoy the sly asides.

R: Yes. So a slight aside is something that not everyone notices, or it's designed not to be obviously noticed. So you can make a slight aside like you can make a sly remark. Not everyone's designed to notice it. For example, it would be like, if you give someone like a sort of backhanded compliment, like, oh, I love your shoes. I saw them in this discount store. So what it means is like, I like your shoes look nice, but they're cheap.

M: Yeah, so this is like a slight aside. Yeah, when we talk about movies, we can also talk about grim and dark movies. Some movies are comedies, funny films, but other movies are grim and dark.

R: Yeah. Oh, grim dark is actually an expression for a kind of fiction.

M: Grim dark fiction.

R: Yeah. It just describes worlds where everything has gone horribly wrong, and nothing is good about the world.

M: It's like the Joker movie. The Joker?

R: Yeah. Batman in general is grim dark.

M: Oh ,really?

R: Oh, yeah. For sure. Like the the only person like the police are useless. The only person that can get anything does. Well, if you're Christian Bale. The only person who can get things done is a man who breaks the law in order to fight criminals. That's pretty grim isn't it?

M: Yeah, but that's all superheroes, no?

R: Batman is not a superhero, though. He's a detective.

M: Batman is a superhero.

R: No, Batman, superheroes have superpowers. Batman is not a superhero.

M: He's a bat. He's a Batman. Spider Man, Ant Man.

R: Spider Man has spider powers. Batman doesn't have superpowers. He's a detective. He finds criminals.

M: Are we having this discussion? Wikipedia. Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books because published by DC Comics. So he is a superhero. Batman is a superhero.

R: Just because it says that on Wikipedia it doesn't mean it's true. If you look on the definition of superhero, there are people who are gifted with like extraordinarily, like extraordinary abilities, like the same way... Who's Scarlett Johansson character? Black Widow. Black Widow is not a superhero. Black Widow, she's an assassin.

M: Dear listener, are you buying it? Do you agree? If Wikipedia says that Batman is a superhero, he's a superhero. That's... Anyway, anyway. So I think that Batman is a superhero. And this is the most important point in this episode, dear listener. It's not about vocabulary anymore. It's not even about grammar or conditionals it's about Batman being a superhero.

R: It is actually about vocabulary because you could just call everybody a superhero and lump them into one category. That's not very sophisticated or topic specific. Is it? So if you want to have topic specific vocabulary for talking about superheroes, or heroes, then you should talk about their actual jobs.

M: Yes.

R: Yes. Thank you.

M: And the job of Batman is to be a Batman.

R: The job of Batman is to be a detective and solve crimes. That's what he does.

M: He's getting emotional. This Rory boy. And he is staring at me. He's given me the look. So we better wrap it up. Okay?

R: Okay.

M: But we agree that Batman is a superhero.

R: We don't agree at all. If you'd like to have more of if you'd like to have fewer arguments, but more of us and you're not subscribed to our social media yet. You should go and do it now. We're available on Instagram, Telegram and all of the links are in the description of the episode, and we'll see you next week.

M: Batman. Bye!

R: He's a detective!

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