Lead Blog Response: Hey Abbott

Sketch comedy has always been one of my favorite types of comedy. I appreciate the fact that a sketch can be made out of any situation, as long as it follows a certain formula that builds up to a punchline. Abbott and Costello's formula has surely been an inspiration to comics of today, as their sketches are timeless. Their humor, which relies on misunderstanding about things such as names and math, is something that everyone can relate to. I think a large part of their appeal comes from the fast-paced, back-and-forth type of presentation, which is humorous regardless of what they are talking about. I remember my dad showing me Who's on First when I was probably about ten years old, and even back then I found it funny. As children, words tend to go in one ear and out the other. Instead of analyzing what we heard, we relied more on the tone of the voices and focused on key repetitive words or phrases. That's why Abbott and Costello's humor is easy to understand. Whether they are talking about baseball or paying rent doesn't matter, it is the humorous confusion which is used as a vehicle to create comedy.

This sketch about a census taker (Tina Fey) and a confused old woman (Betty White) displays a similar formula, using a back-and-forth confusion between the two characters, and relying on key phrases to evoke laughter. I also saw this sketch when I was younger, and obviously did not have much of an idea about what a census was. However, I still found this sketch hilarious because of certain details, such as Betty White repeatedly saying her name was "Blarfengar Blarfengar", spelled like "Lee Smith". I think observing other people's confusion is always humorous, because as the outsider we understand what the characters cannot figure out. I would agree with Henry that sketch comedy is certainly very formulaic, although comedy in general is not always this way. Certainly comedy can be spontaneous as it occurs in our every day lives. When someone accidentally trips, or says something to make a fool of themselves, they are not intentionally following a formula. We may be able to analyze why we found it funny after the fact, but in the moment it was simply an occurrence that triggered the biological response of laughter.