1/27

Sam Braver
1/27/09
The idea that interests me the most is the section on why we laugh. It interests me because most people go through life trying to figure out why certain people laugh at certain things. You can make a very successful living if you have the ability to go up on stage and make a large group of people for a short period of time. Although this may sound easy if you know why people laugh, the point that the book doesn’t show is that you may have the jokes, but you still have to execute them in the proper way. That possible chance of failure is what causes us to become nervous when trying to perform in front of a group of people. We may know why they laugh but we can’t make them laugh. With all of the information that the book gives us, they make it sound so easy to do but the audience is always the unknown variable.
This topic is an important one to discuss because I think everyone should try and understand why people laugh. We may not be able to make them laugh but it’s very valuable information to know why they do laugh at certain times. When a person has the ability to make a group of people laugh, that person is generally like by his audience because they feel he is interesting to listen to. The writer of the book forgot to mention that we can not force people to laugh which is something I have mentioned earlier. This is so important because a comedian needs to go farther than his jokes. He needs to be able to interact with his audience and really know what they want to hear. If the audience gets what they want, then the performance will be a success.
The book gives many different reasons why people laugh, which is so true to today’s culture. There are a lot of different types of comedians around the world today telling so many different types of jokes. An example from modern culture would be the amount of comedians telling so many different types of jokes. Today, there are comedians who broadcast TV shows that venture out to anyone who wants to watch. There are comedians who strictly do shows at comedy clubs and then there are the ones who only write. All of these comedians do all different types of comedy to branch out to everyone. This way they can all make a certain number of people laugh at their jokes. With the knowledge they create from all of their shows, they are able to narrow down which jokes they should tell to certain people. With all of this information, they can try and become perfect in their profession.