Humor like the kind exhibited in Oscar Wilde's classic play:
The Importance of Being Earnest is some of my favorite, or favourite for my British chaps, humor. In many ways, the comedy that makes the play so funny is the same comedy that remains in modern film, television, and the exponentially growing medium of YouTube. In some parts, the play is a comedy of manners, which parodies the lifestyle of high society, and uses witty exchanges between characters. Does this remind you of anything? Personally, this type of humor brings a
Saturday Night Live vibe to the play. For example on pages 20-21, Lady Bracknell literally takes note on Jack (Ernest), screening him for marrying her cousin. This practice would be utterly absurd for the average man in Europe at the turn of the century, but more common in the snooty upper ranks of society. This same humor is what makes the "Waking up with Kimye" sketch from SNL so funny. The megalomaniacal nature of Kanye West, the self-referential humor of Lady Gaga, and the foolishness of the universally loved Kim Kardashian points out the way these celebrities live, and satirize them. However, I would say that my favorite type of comedy, the one that tickles my funny bone the most is the satire. Wilde uses a ton of satire in the play as well, from page 6, Algernon makes an off-comment about how half of society is based on what we cannot read. Later, Lady Bracknell satirized education and deemed it completely unsound. These are just two examples from a play that roasts contemporary society at the time of the play's writing.
As for myself, I am easily entertained and as such have a wide variety of comedy that I enjoy on a regular basis. One type of humor that I think is on the rise, is the dry, sarcastic humor. I am a huge YouTube fan, watching videos from my favorite people literally every day the moment I come home. Two of these comics, or at least I think they are comics, is "SSOHPKC" and "penguinz0". (NSFW) These two combine my favorite things in life, comedy and video games. They comment over random gameplay of some of the best or most obscure titles in the industry, and just rip them to shreds with dry, sarcastic wit. But enough nerding out, I'll go mainstream now. I'll be blunt, Louis C.K. is the best comedian of all time in my opinion. Like I said earlier, satire is probably my favorite type of humor, and he absolutely knocks it out of the park at every show. I mean he just rips our society to shreds, covering topics like economic materialism and our greed, the mundane aspects of our everyday lives, the nature of humans to be complete jerks, marriage, and life as a middle aged comedian with two daughters and an ex-wife. When not at school, definitely check out his material if you have never before, you will burst out in laughter on the floor.
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