📘 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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