The Perry Bible Fellowship

Gurewitch, Nicholas. "Now Showing." The Perry Bible Fellowship. http://pbfcomics.com/?cid=PBF209-Now_Showing.jpg. Accessed 3.29.09.

The Perry Bible Fellowship is a web comic that highlights absurdity or irony in mostly fictional settings and focuses heavily on the artistic aspects of the medium. Rarely does the strip express political views or attempt to change the reader’s opinions with a joke, but it sometimes makes observations about modern culture (this comic being one of those cases). This strip is obviously critiquing our society’s view of ancient wars and conflicts. Instead of learning any lessons from these historical events, the general populous seems to only want to see some stupefied and epic version of what was once a serious conflict. So the author turns it around on us. Instead of going to see a movie like Troy, people in the future may go to see a movie about World War II (which is an event still in the recent memory of our society) that is equally as shallow and nonsensical, and this hypocrisy is what allows for a humorous look at our culture.

The End of the World

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/end This flash animation first appeared on the internet a few years ago, but I can’t find where it was originally published, or who the author was. This version is posted on the website Albino Blacksheep (based in Toronto, Canada), which relies on members to submit content.
This classic flash animation attempts to explain how the world will end and it mostly pokes fun at two things: the political position that the world and its most powerful nations are in and cultural stereotypes. The eagerness of President Bush to wildly fire off America’s nuclear arsenal and create a nuclear holocaust is obviously an attack on his cowboy attitude, while the cigarette smoking, lazy, and effeminate Frenchmen play directly into their stereotype. Although making fun of stereotypes is not exactly the highest form of comedy, I think the nonsensical and silly attitude that the animation takes on allows for this somewhat distasteful humor to be pretty funny. On the whole, I think the flash is simply laughing in the face of death, while poking fun at the human race and all of its absurd qualities.

Wonder Showzen

John Lee and Vernon Chatman. Wonder Showzen Season 1 Episode 4: Diversity. Originally aired on MTV2 on April 1, 2005. Clip URL: http://www.clipser.com/watch_video/1753. Posted 2007. Accessed 3.29.09.

Wonder Showzen was a satire that took the form of a children’s show. It takes an absurdist view of our world, and tries to explain what is wrong with it in terms that kids might be able to understand. However, as the disclaimer at the beginning of the show states: “WARNING WONDER SHOWZEN CONTAINS OFFENSIVE, DESPICABLE CONTENT THAT IS TOO CONTROVERSIAL AND TOO AWESOME FOR ACTUAL CHILDREN. THE STARK, UGLY, PROFOUND TRUTHS WONDER SHOWZEN EXPOSES MAY BE SOUL CRUSHING TO THE WEAK OF SPIRIT. IF YOU ALLOW A CHILD TO WATCH THIS SHOW, YOU ARE A BAD PARENT OR GUARDIAN.” That essentially sums it up. The themes dealt with by this show range from God, religion, human nature, human conflict, and especially popular culture (aka: how stupid we can be). The show is extremely dark and cynical, but still manages to be funny through its highly ironic and sarcastic tone.

The Pain - When Will It End?

Kreider, Tim. "Silver Linings of the Holocaust". The Pain - When Will It End?. http://www.thepaincomics.com/silver%20linings%20of%20the%20holocaust.jpg Posted 2.22.2006. Accessed 3.29.2009.

This comic was made during the fallout of the Danish cartoon fiasco of 2005. Word got around that an Iranian newspaper was running a contest for the best holocaust comic, and Tim Kreider decided that he had to make an entry. As he states in his "Artist's Statement" (go here and scroll down), Tim's goal was to make an entry worthy of winning the contest without being anti-Semitic or simply denying the holocaust. This particular comic touches on the themes of sexuality, identity, art, society and justice by pointing out "silver linings" in a very facetious manner. The strip as a whole, however, is a bit harder to pin down, but basically his brand of humor is very similar to that of the New York Times, except with more vulgar and sexual jokes.

South Park, "All About The Mormons"

Parker, Trey and Stone, Matt. South Park, "All About The Mormons" S7E12, 11.19.03. Comedy Central.

In South Park nothing is out of reach to be made fun of, the creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone made a vow when they began that if they ever find something that they refuse to make fun of, whether for money reasons or personal reasons, they would stop writing and producing South Park. From Jews to Red Heads to AIDS and Cancer to disabilities and to celebrities, South Park is unafraid to point out what they think is wrong with society. Through satire, by making the majority of the townspeople bumbling idiots and 2 of the main characters, Stan and Kyle, the voices and eyes of reason, the show has successfully lampooned pretty much everything you can think of. To an audience of mature teens and adults.

In this episode Mormonism is ridiculed, but so is religious intolerance. A mormon family arrives in town and we are shown the history of Mormonism, and the audience can clearly see that it is ridiculous. Many members of the community do not want the mormon family to stay for fear that they will have a negative affect on the children. The religion has successfully been made fun of, but at the same time, so are the people who are intolerant of Mormonism (and any other religion for that matter). In South Park, literally no one is safe, even the writers, who both make fun of Mormonism but also recognize that people are entitled to their own beliefs, and, as long as they don't impose their beliefs on others, they should not be treated as any less than others.

This episode and all other south park episodes can be viewed for free at southparkstudios.com

Annotations and Comedic profile

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 1, 2009

Annotation 4

Chatham Mayberry

"Stem Sell." The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Comedy Central. March 16, 2009. Viewed April 1, 2009.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videold=220549&title=Stem-Sell

In this episode of the Daily Show, Jon Stewart and his assistant reporter/ comedian John Oliver comment on President Obama's executive order to reverse President Bush's that stopped funding for stem cell research. Jon Stewart is a television host, comedian, media critic, and political satirist, that has hosted the Daily Show since it started in late 1999. John Oliver joined the Daily Show in July 2006 as the senior British Correspondent. The Daily Show is a political satire show whose purpose is to analyze both politics and the media from a comedic standpoint. In this clip John Oliver makes a Bush impersonation to degrade Obama's action regarding stem cell research, stating that science is not the answer. That religion is more reliable than science, and that this country was founded to be a religious country not a scientific country. John Oliver is commenting on Bush's backward policies about science, by impersonating him as a sort of religious idiot. This piece is a satirical piece, with the second level being a message about how necessary stem cell research is to finding cures for some of the worst diseases out there. The audience of this piece is usually left leaning, meaning they are generally liberal. The audience of this episode would most likely agree with John and Jon in that Obama is doing the right thing to enable government funding of stem cell research. The audience would also agree that Bush's policy of anti-stem cell research was wrong and backward.

Annotation 3

Chatham Mayberry

"Sony Releases New $tupid Piece of Shit that doesn't Fucking Work." The Onion News Network. March 1, 2009. Viewed April 1, 2009.

http://www.comedy.com/embed/sony-releases-new-stupid-piece-of-shit-that-doesn't-fucking-work

In this particular comedic, bogus, and absolutely hilarious report by the Onion News Network on Sony's new product, two reporters, Brandon Armstrong and Jeff Tate, portray this product as worthless. This report was shown on the Onion News Network, a branch of the Onion News Paper. The Onion News Network makes fun of news by reporting news stories that are completely made up, but report them as if they are reporting real, serious events. This seriousness makes this particular clip about the new stupid piece of shit Sony just released, hilarious. This particular report is extremely satirical. The subliminal or second level of this clip is that it is meant to point out how complicated technology. The audience that is watching this clip will be able to identify, because most all of us have had trouble with hooking a gadget up to the television or computer. Coming from personal experience, whenever we try to watch a video in Lit 101, we always have a problem with the sound or hooking the television up with another gadget. Technology can be extremely frustrating sometimes, and that's what this report is trying to play off of. The audience of this piece will most likely agree with the point this report brings, that technology is extremely complicated nowadays and trying to learn how to use new technology is extremely frustrating. 

TUESDAY, MARCH 31, 2009

Annotation 2

"1997 Flashback."  The Colbert Report. Comedy Central. February 29, 2009. Viewed April 1, 2009.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/219665/february-24-2009/1997-flashback

The main actor/ producer of "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central is Stephen Colbert. Before starting the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert was a correspondent on the news parody show, "The Daily Show" which starred John Stewart. The Colbert Report airs on Comedy Central where it is one of it's premium shows. In this clip, Stephen Colbert is basically making fun of how decrepit technology was back in 1997, and how much more advanced technology is today than it was 12 years ago. Colbert is making fun of the technological prowess of 1997, through his own experience. In the clip, Colbert satirizes the slowness of dial-up internet. Dial-up was a technology we all had to endure back in 1997, and Colbert plays on his personal frustration with dial-up by having his mom call while he was on the internet, thus disconnecting the dial-up service. By filming this, Stephen Colbert is portraying to the audience how far technology has come since the dial up days of 1997. This clip serves a mocking yet insightful purpose. It is meant to mock the technology of 1997 yet it also serves to show just how far technology has come in 12 years. This clip allows us to take a step back and appreciate how lucky we are today to have the technology we currently possess. This clip was meant to entertain, and the audience it was meant to entertain  includes everybody of all ages, who have access to a television. The audience will likely see this show, and be taken aback by how far technology has come in 12 years.

Comedian Profile

Larry David

Notable Works

- Co-creator of the television series "Seinfeld"

- Creator of "Curb Your Enthusiasm"

- Wrote and starred in ABC's "Friday's"

Notable Achievements

- won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1993

Five Themes common throughout his work

1) Absurdity

2) Humor

3) Alienation

4) Friendship

5) Nihilism (belief that life is pointless)

Chatham Mayberry

"Everything's Amazing: Nobody's Happy." Late Night with Conan O'Brian. NBC. October 2, 2008. Viewed March 31, 2009.

http://www.nbc.com/Late_Night_with_Conan_O'Brien/video/clips/everythings-amazing-nobodys-happy-10208/1049744/

The comedian being interviewed on Late Night with Conan O'Brian is known as Louis C.K. This particular interview took place on the NBC television show "Late Night with Conan O'Brian." This show/ venue is a comedy show that centers around Conan O'Brian, but every show Conan O'Brian interviews a new guest. On this particular show, Louis CK and Conan O'Brian are discussing societies ignorance of how intricate and amazing technology is in today's society. Louis CK talks mostly about his past experiences/ observations of how ignorant people can be when it comes to technology. Louis CK and Conan O'Brian are trying to make the audience realize how easy we have it with all of the miraculous technology that surrounds us. The two of them are attempting to make the audience appreciate all of the technology we take for granted. The purpose of this interview is to be insightful through a comedic voice. An interview like this is designed to make people step back and appreciate all the little things in life. In this case, so people will appreciate all of the technology that we use in our everyday life. The audience this is intended for is anyone who has access to technology all around the world. The people who generally watch this show, middle-aged adults looking for some entertainment right before they go to bed at night. The audience watching "Late Night with Conan O'Brian" most likely will be indifferent to what Louis CK is talking about. Why should they take the time to be thankful for the technology they have when they are already too busy. 

Cyanide & Happiness

Cyanide & Happiness is a daily web comic from Explosm.net. This comic usually address immature types of humor, but it does it in very interesting ways. They make heavy use of their ability to draw what normally would be impossible. Often the jokes are a play on words, or a presentation of an alternate way of viewing commonly used analogies and phrases. Most of their work pokes fun at analogies by drawing what they literally would mean to show people how silly the phrase really is. People are unlikely to discontinue their use of these phrases because of this comic, but it is still very effective at shining a critical light on what we say. It causes people to look more closely at their wording, and what they actually mean, as opposed to loosely throwing out phrases whenever they feel like it. The entire website is devoted to various different forms of similar things so it is highly likely their audience is one that agrees with them and already enjoys what they are doing.
Kris Wilson, Rob DenBleyker, Matt Melvin, Dave McElfatrick. Cyanide & Happiness. 2000-2009. Explosm. http://www.explosm.net/comics/

John Cleese (1939- )

Best Known For: 

Fawlty Towers (Television Series), Monty Python's Flying Circus (Television Series), How to Irritate People (Film), Monty Python and the Holy Grail (Film), Monty Python's Life of Brian (Film), Monty Python's The Meaning of Life (Film), A Fish Called Wanda (Film).

Major Themes:

Physical Comedy, Surreal Comedy, Dark Comedy, English Culture, Character Humor

(Aron Wiegand)

America (The Book): A citizen's guide to Democracy Inaction

Stewart, Jon. "America (the book) a citizen's guide to democracy inaction". New York, NY: Warner Books, 2004.

Chapter three of America (the book), is entitled The President: King of Democracy. The chapter is set by a picture and quote by ex-president Richard M. Nixon, "[expletive deleted]". The book is designed to be a spoof of textbooks used in classrooms across the nation. The book is entirely farcical in nature, but does an decent job of outlining some of the main responsibilities and frustrations of being president. The book's textbook-like formatting gives room in the side columns for images and quotes which are almost always of a fabricated and comedic nature, the use of comic footnotes is also extremely common. The chapter focuses on the job of the president as being both powerful and full of perks, as well as a routinely hated public figure and all purpose scapegoat. The chapter has a very liberal spin and one of the repeating jokes involves  the president's inability to actually make laws, and the vice president's lack of responsibility for well... pretty much anything. As the book states in a mock letter to the newly elected VP "Congratulations on being from a region geographically disparate from that of the president. Well done!" The book contains numerous activities that serve as satirical parallels of the pointless activities in school books, such as "Ranking the presidents", "The cabinet: yes men of freedom", "Presidential nicknames", and "The Presidential Pet Challenge". The chapter includes run downs on the modern responsibilities of the president such as national security (namely the ability to declare war by calling it a "police action", or "just not telling anyone"), Legislative Power (Threatening, begging, and cajoling congressmen into making laws), and other miscellaneous responsibilities including bringing donuts to cabinet meetings. The publication is full of hilarious faux editorials written by comedians like Stephen Colbert and Ed Helms. For a book written by a room full of twenty writers in about two weeks, it has an unexpected amount of depth (at least as far as the satire goes), and balances ridiculousness with enough political history and comedic truth to pass for a fairly enlightening, yet modernly pessimistic read.

Identity Politics

In this clip, Family Guy plays off of stereotypes of Jews (mostly in the sense that they complain a great deal). They are depicted as being being ungrateful for the actions of Moses. This is funny because the depiction grasps at the stereotype closer than anything else, thus confirming certain characteristics often ascribed to Jews. The playing of of seemingly accurate stereotypes is humorous. Obviously, this type of comedy is directed towards anyone who understands the stereotypes and can laugh at them.

Family Guy. "Moses Griffin Exodus Scene." May 15, 2008. April 2, 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpHf8r2vQqU&feature=related

President Reagan Mastermind

"Saturday Night Live". President Reagan Mastermind. NBC. Studio H8, New York. December 6, 1986.

This sketch is from the 1986 season of Saturday night Live. Since its start in 1975, SNL has established a reputation for cultural  spoofs, eccentric live performance (now on a slight time delay), and hard hitting political humor. In this clip from season twelve of the show's production, and depicts Phil Hartman performing as Ronald Reagan, and was aired during the heat of the Iran-Contra affair, which was brought to the media only a month beforehand. The political history of the united states could very easily be charted by Saturday Night Live, particularly in the last year with the recent presidential campaigns having been placed in the media forefront. However, as this clip shows, SNL's taste for sharp political and cultural humor was entirely alive and biting before the modern day. In this skit, Reagan is depicted as being a criminal mastermind, and satirical themes revolve around the government's professed ignorance of the event at that time, Reagan's gentle and noble household image, his pre-presidential history as an actor, and the state of foreign affairs and wars in the middle east. The concept that our government wouldn't know about donating money and weapons to armed forces in proxy wars in the middle east, could be construed as being equally inane as having a president that is a corrupt, multilingual, evil genius with a cover up operation. At this time the show held so much media weight, that Ronald Reagan actually intended to be a guest host, but cancelled due to an overlapping debate. 

The Boondocks

McGruder, Aaron. Cartoon. "The Boondocks". Universal Press. Chicago Tribune. Teusday March 24, (Discontinued March 26, 2006). 3/28/09 .

The Boondocks is a notoriously controversial comic strip invented by Aaron McGruder, that combats many dark concepts other comics fear involvement in. This primarily includes: Racism, Justice, Ignorance, War, Cultural Divides, Entertainment, Advertising, Drugs, and Politics. The strip's main character is Huey Freeman (the name Huey being a reference to Huey P. Newton, the cofounder of the Black Panthers), a young black who adjusts to life in a white suburb of Maryland after moving from Chicago. Pretty much every one in Huey's immediate environment is a caricature or a stereotype, giving rise to a wealth of comedic situations when these extreme personalities are in conflict with Huey's cool, pessimistic rationalism. McGruder commonly rips on politics by representing political figures, particularly the president, as being relatively true to their real selves, but placed in fantastical situations. One of the longest running repeat set-up jokes in The Boondocks, involves Huey sitting in a chair with a newspaper and either reading an article in which the president is quoted, or watching a fictional press conference on television. The president's statements are either based on something he has recently said (often a direct quote), or are fabricated based on the moral implications of recent political action. For one week, president Bush was featured in every strip giving opinions on Super Soldiers, conflicting heavily with his stances on science research and general morality, and seeking justification through divine right. McGruder's work has been discontinued and cut from multiple newspapers, the most recent form of the cartoon to date is in the form of a television show on cartoon network's late-night block, Adult Swim. The Boondocks is undoubtedly the most contentious strip to appear weekly in major American newspapers, and has gotten panned multiple times for being racist and politically insensitive; but the take home message is ultimately of the struggle for black America, and how those who reinforce negative stereotypes and proliferate ignorance within the black community, facilitate it's abuse and suppression at the hands of white society and the U.S government.

George Washington

This clip is an independent work by comic artist Brad Neely. This work typifies the up-and-coming grassroots style absurdist comedy that has become increasingly popular in America today. The themes of this clip transcend from skewed representations of history to the modern day. The comedic elements of this piece are fairly forward, and it thrives on a lack of subtlety. The schoolyard style meme of over dramatic humor is the driving force behind this clip, appropriately entitled "George Washington". Our favorite founding father and first president is endlessly over touted in mainstream american culture, and this serves to be a satirical exaggeration of the tendencies of hero-worship. This clip takes all of these aggrandized qualities of masculinity and rebelliousness commonly attributed to our nation's founders, and continues to stretch them far beyond the point of realism, leading to comedic tall tales. This trend of mounting fantastic qualities, normally occurring slowly over time as the previous exaggeration becomes routinely accepted, is sped up, manifesting itself in things like Washington's comically increasing height, and growing number of genitalia. This style of themed build is used over and over again, as seen in the statement about Washington holding an opponent's wife's hand... in a jar of acid... at a party. Neely is a comic book artist from Texas who attended the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts. His first breakout works were the series Creased Comics, and the cult hit, Wizard People, which a full length voice over of the first Harry Potter film. In the past few years his involvement in the television block "Adult Swim", and the increasing popularity of his internet video comics have brought him closer to the limelight. This particular clip was an early work, which he unwittingly sold the character rights to for $250. 

Daniel Lewkow-Identity Politics

Sarah Silverman. "I Love You More." Youtube. March 26, 2007. April 1st, 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNshMFbyMzw&feature=PlayList&p=ADDCED3E81E1814A&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=3.

The song "I Love You More", performed by Sarah Silverman, exhibits a meddling of identity politics. Sarah Silverman innocently mocks African-Americans, Jews, Asians, Gays, and Puerto Ricaans by using sterotypes. These sterotypes run counter to anything that is politically correct, and would naturally infuriate anyone who values identity poltics. The performance, however, mocks Silverman herself, painting her as ignorant and is a satirical portrait of a bigot.

Daniel Lewkow-Identity Politics

In this scene, from Extras, Ricky Gervais manages to make fun of both Catholics and the handicapped. In the show, Gervais had lied about his faith, claiming to be a Catholic in order to get closer with a woman that he liked. When she asks him to "go out" Friday night, he gets dressed up for a date, only to find himself at a prayer session. The priest confronts him about his faith, in which Gervais begins the offensive mockery. For instance, he said that he fancies the woman to his right, and tries to get the priest to agree. Obviously, a Catholic priest is the wrong person to ask about sex, and Gervais plays off of that reality. Additionally, by referencing the woman's inability to talk normally or play volleyball, he gets an offensive shot in at the handicapped,

Daniel Lewkow Identity Politics

This clip, from Mean Girls, is a classic case example of comedy and identity politics. In the scene, one of the girls is surprised that Lohan's character could be from Africa and could also be white. This goes with the presumption that all people from Africa are black. Obviously, this is not true. But by innocently asking the question (and thus reenforcing the stereotype), the character continues this ignorant thinking. The other girl's response to the question ("You can't ask somebody why they're white") does not address the real issue of hte question in the first place, thus furthering the ignorance.

Look Around You

Serafinowicz, Peter, and Robert Popper. "Maths." Look Around You. Adult Swim/BBC 2.

Look Around You is a British produced show that originally aired in 2004. It recently ran on Adult Swim in 2009. There are two distinct seasons to the series. The first season parodies 70's high school science program while the second season parodies 90's TV about science of the future. The episode Math however is part of the first season of 11 minute episodes. The show makes fun of how boring science programs are; using a very dry narrator, poor camera work, and uninteresting experiments. The crux of the humor however comes from the breaking of reality. The show presents itself as an old 70's with poor film, yet computer animation is used unexpectedly to defy reality. The show also goes against our normal conceptions of science and language. Its the breaking of our conceptions that can make this show really a hit or miss type of comedy. The only way a person will find it funny is if they have a large enough background with science and those types of programs. The comedy is very dry because of the way the jokes are presented. It's not like there are specific one line jokes, but rather that the program taken as a whole is inherently funny because of the discrepancy between what the program is saying and what actual science states.

Here is the episode "Maths"

Funny Teacher Rant

"Funny Teacher Rant". The Seven Habits of Highly Ineffective Educators.Wavelength. Youtube. 3.21.07. 3. 31.09.<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ged6hKZOTqw>.

In this clip, "teachers" discuss the pressures they encounter while teaching. In the middle of the discussion one of the teachers begin to rant about her 23 year elementary school teaching career. She discusses the craziness of the changing techniques the school administration enforces. This clip illustrates that teachers have little control over the learning methods implemented in the classroom. The themes addressed in this segment include changes in the educational system and the willingness to adapt to those changes. This clip suggest that the educational system is always in flux, therefore teachers are sometimes faced with a lot of pressure when preparing their lessons or instructing their students. Some of the changes this teacher rants about include the transitions from open classrooms to “back to basics,” “whole word learning” to “hooked on phonics,” and assertive discipline to no discipline.From my perspective, I believe that these actors put on the persona of teachers to show the audience that teaching in a constantly changing educational sytem can become very difficult.

Vidur Kapur speaks on Education

Kapur, Vidur. "Indian Comedian Stand Up Comedy US vs India."Live in Bangalore". Youtube. 1.27.07. 3.31.09.

This clip is a segment of Vidur Kapur stand-up performance live in Bangalore, India. Kapur compares schools in India compared to schools in the United States. He discusses how schools in the US are more lenient in their teaching as opposed to the strictness of schools in India. Themes of the segment include academic discipline, educational systems, and positive reinforcement approaches to teaching. Kapur talks about how “dumb” students would be treated in both Indian and American school systems. In American schools students would be praised for their creativity, even if their answers to a question were not right, whereas in Indian culture students would be reprimanded for wrong answers.

Family Feud: Alligator

This is one of the most memorable segments of Family Feud, an American TV show which has been on air since 1976. Two contestants from the same family give invalid responses to the survey questions without realizing how bad their answer choices are. The audience chuckles when the contestant responds to the question, “Name an animal with three letters in its name” with “frog”. It is much funnier when the second contestant responds with “alligator”. It seems unbelievable that a person could get such an easy question wrong (“cat” or “dog”, anyone?) and by laughing and embarrassing the contestant in the spotlight, the audience is encouraging more intelligent responses in the future. It is hysterical to viewers when the second contestant comes in blind to what answer had been previously given and also provides such a lame response. The content of the show is very “fluffy”, and so derives entertainment value from our interest in watching another person deal with a pressure-situation.

“Family Feud Alligator”. Family Feud. Host Richard Dawson. ABC. 1970s. < http://www.yourememberthat.com/media/3580/Family_Feud_Alligator/>.

Uhh Yeah Dude

Larroquette, Jonathan, and Seth Romatelli. "Episode 159." Audio blog post. Uhh Yeah Dude. 25 Mar. 2009. .

Uhh Yeah Dude is a weekly podcast posted on iTunes every Monday. The show is hosted by Jonathan Larroquette and Seth Romatelli, who are two 30 somethings living in Hollywood. Jonathan is the son of the famous Night Court actor of the same name who has lived in California his entire life. Seth on the other hand is from Massachusetts. The differences between growing up on the different coasts is a topic covered in many episodes and provides lots of comedy. The main comedy however comes from the news that the two men report on. They self describe the show as "Two American Americans Saving America From Herself." Every episode each dude comes with a stack of notes on ridiculous news stories that have happened over the course of the week. The make fun of the people in the stories, but they also try to figure out why it happened. They often take the perspective of the person in the story to great comedic effect as they show how messed up the perspective is. There are also other segments unrelated to news including JAH! nathans poetry and quotes from Craigslist. JAH!nathans poetry has Jonathan reciting his poetry from his glory days writing as a Rastafarian teenager. Quotes from Craigslist include posts from Craigslist of people eliciting sex and shows the odd perversions present in our American Society. Overall, the two men analyze every aspect of American life showing the listeners that its important to reflect on our own society because that's the only way we can save ourselves from ourselves.

Here is the entire show link
Episode 159

and here is a short video clip of the podcast

Robin Williams

This 57-year-old actor is known for being the most magnetic, exciting person on film or stage. He went to Juilliard
where he studied drama. He has been in many movies, including comedies such as "Flubber", "Aladdin", "Mrs. Doubtfire", and "Man of the Year", and dramas like "patch Adams", "Dead Poet's Society" and "Good Will Hunting". He had a few drug and alcohol problems, starting in the late '70s, which caused him many problems but undoubtedly made him more electrifying on stage, making his addiction very bittersweet. one of the things he is known well for is having many accents and voices, which make people laugh a lot, because they are unusual, and he can pull them out at any time.
Robin Williams Biography. Biography.com. 1 Apr. 2009 .

here is a hilarious clip of him, which I gave an R rating.

"C students"

Rock,Chris. "C students". Never Scared. HBO. Youtube. 5.21.07. 3.31.09 .

This clip is a recording of Chris Rock’s stand-up performance in his Never Scared (2004) comedy special on HBO. In this segment, the themes of his performance act include affirmative action, race relations, and education. In particular, he discusses how job opportunities differ for African American “C students” compared to Caucasian “C students.” Rock discusses how America is “a nation of B and C students,” and although this is true, a C average African American student may not be qualified for many high position jobs. Rock concludes this segment by discussing how a Caucasian “C student just happened to be the president of the United States of America,” which illustrates the difference in job opportunities. This poses a significant question: is this difference due to inequality in the educational system, or is it due to inequality in the workforce. Using Rock’s comparison, although the African American and the Caucasian are both C students, the quality of education provided to each student could become the determining factor of who gets the better jobs. For example, the educational systems in most minority neighborhoods are very poor, whereas most educational systems serving Caucasians are very well developed. Thus, the amount of knowledge an African American C student has, may not be equivalent to the amount of knowledge a Caucasian C student has. On the other hand, this may not be the case, and the difference between job opportunities may come from inequalities in the workforce while elements of discrimination may influence who gets a job opportunity and who does not.