Lead Blog Response: The Outsider

We already know that there is almost always an outsider present in comedy - whether it be a certain group targeted in a stand-up routine, that one person in a friend group who doesn't get an inside joke, or as Thomas discussed, a character within a piece of comedy. All of The Whitest Kids U'Know skits follow a specific formula: ordinary situation + bizarre element + outsider = funny. The difference, as Thomas said, is how this outsider functions in the situation. The Grapist opens with a hilariously disturbing scene, which leaves a first time viewer wondering what the heck they're watching. As the audience, we are the outsider until we realize that this is a marketing pitch. The guy in the middle immediately begins to voice all of our concerns, but no one else thinks his thoughts are valid, which generates humor and allows us to empathize with him. Gallon of PCP allows the audience to be more of a witness to the situation than an active participant. We still relate to the outsider, but he is forced to try and level his reaction to the insanity. The Classroom Skit is the most chaotic of all three sketches, and it is the audience who is left to interpret the nonsensical events. The kid whose mother was thought to be dead can be seen as an outsider, but he still does not question why they are treating a terrible situation with such joviality.

This clip from New Girl shows a character who is an outsider, but instead of questioning the insanity, he tries to play along. He succeeds in doing this, mostly because everyone is getting increasingly wasted.

True American is a drinking game that has appeared numerous times in New Girl, but it is always somewhat of a mystery to the audience. Although there are people who have tried to make sense of the rules: http://epidilius.tumblr.com/post/20882570842/rules-to-new-girls-true-american. Ultimately the game cannot make complete sense to anybody except the characters themselves (or realistically, the writers of New Girl).

In any piece of comedy, the outsider has two options: to resist the confusion or to accept it. Comedy constantly questions normalcy, and acceptance of the bizarre is certainly easier than fighting it.