This Youtube video shows a prank that a group of college students does to one class. In the middle of a lecture, a group of 3 students interrupt the professor in order to do a life musical performance in which they question the values of teaching and education. The prank catches by surprise the professor and the rest of the students in the classroom, whose only reaction is to laugh at what is happening. The main theme that is discussed in this video is education and the effects that it has in life. Other themes that are included in this short segment are: student-professor relations, teaching as a profession, and higher education. Although the video comes out as the evidence of a prank and its intended audience is the professor and the students in that specific lecture hall, it can appeal to everyone who has achieve some type of superior education.
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Carlos Mencia
Carlos Mencia (Ned Arnel Mencia) was born seventeenth out of eighteen children. He was born in Honduras but his parents were engaged in a domestic dispute so he was raised in California by his aunt and unlce. He is a comedian who incorporates both political and race or cultural issues in his comedy. He has his own show Mind of Mencia on Comedy Central. In this show he talks about current events issues but also incorporates his past and his background and even his brother, Joseph Mencia in his show. In this particular standup he begins by having a time machine in which he travels to the past to attempt to help his family, politicians and celebrities. Later, Carlos tackles the topic of "white guilt." Mencia complains that he gets emails from white people criticizing him for what he should or shouldn’t say about minorities. He says that White people can say things like he does but cant due to “white guilt”. This guilt for having it easier and “not having to swim here, jump a fence here,” and his solution is this is camp-like place led by “Willie Wonka” where they “fix” this white guilt mentality by having them experience “500 years of racism and oppression in one day”. He is poking fun at the overly sensitive to certain jokes and is trying to make a point that you don’t have to be overly careful of what you say to someone because they are simply a minority.
Mencia, Carlos. "Mind of Mencia." Comedy Central. 9 July 2008. Hulu LLC.
Will & Grace
Is a sitcom broadcasted on NBC from 1998-2006. The show features Will Truman and his best friend Grace Addler. Will is a successful lawyer who is also gay. Grace was his last partner before he realized he was gay. Grace is a young, straight Jewish woman who runs her own firm. The setting of the show is in New York City and focuses on their relationship. There are also their friends Karen, a very wealtyh woman who works for Grace and Jack McFarland, a struggling gay actor/ choreographer who adds many laughs to the show. Will & Grace, the show has won many Emmys but was also very controversial in its portrayal of its two gay principle characters. The show has a wide range audience. The audience might fall into thinking of the stereotypes and controversy but others might see it as a way of poking fun at the alchoholic socialite who never sees her husband, or even the flamboyant “stereotypical” gay man.
Mr Show With Bob and David: "The Limits of Science"
"Mr Show With Bob and David" 1995-1998. David Cross and Bob Odenkirk, Home Box Office (HBO). Youtube 10.07.06
Mr Show was a sketch comedy show starring Bob Odenkirk and David Cross inthe mid to late 1990s. The show featured sketches based on absurd premises often dealing with religion, politics and relatively taboo topics. In the clip below, the show makes fun of religious beliefs of the past by showing how ridiculous they were. As people of the 21st century we can look at this and laugh, wondering how people could possibly believe the things they did, because in the clip, as in real life back then, people really did believe these things and other similar ideas. This clip not only makes fun of beliefs from the past, but it can also be transposed as an observation on today's spiritual and religious beliefs. Granted science has come a long way since the middle ages, but there are still those (many people) who hold on to beliefs. As a documentary made during the middle ages (an absurd idea in itself) people watching it at the time would have believed what it said. Viewers now look at it and scoff. Which makes us wonder, what present day documentaries about science or religion will people hundreds or thousands of years from now watch and view as being absurd? This sketch works on the level of making fun of religion and it also comments that science is an ever moving forward process and it is important to always be skeptical.
Mr Show was a sketch comedy show starring Bob Odenkirk and David Cross inthe mid to late 1990s. The show featured sketches based on absurd premises often dealing with religion, politics and relatively taboo topics. In the clip below, the show makes fun of religious beliefs of the past by showing how ridiculous they were. As people of the 21st century we can look at this and laugh, wondering how people could possibly believe the things they did, because in the clip, as in real life back then, people really did believe these things and other similar ideas. This clip not only makes fun of beliefs from the past, but it can also be transposed as an observation on today's spiritual and religious beliefs. Granted science has come a long way since the middle ages, but there are still those (many people) who hold on to beliefs. As a documentary made during the middle ages (an absurd idea in itself) people watching it at the time would have believed what it said. Viewers now look at it and scoff. Which makes us wonder, what present day documentaries about science or religion will people hundreds or thousands of years from now watch and view as being absurd? This sketch works on the level of making fun of religion and it also comments that science is an ever moving forward process and it is important to always be skeptical.
Pork and Beans (Official Music Video) - Weezer
Weezer has compiled popular YouTube clips to create a music video for Pork and Beans, a song off their 2008 record The Red Album. The YouTube stars that have been chosen to be a part of the official music video for a wildly popular band are ordinary people. The video is just one example of the emerging category of celebrity: the YouTube celebrity. Thanks to the internet, everyone has the potential for fame by broadcasting themselves for millions to see.
The video makes audiences laugh when they recognize a clip that they have seen before—the humor is derived from the timing of the clips (they cut quickly from one to the next or jump back and forth) and from the “inside joke”-esque appeal between the viewer and Weezer. There is a bond of pop culture between the viewer and the famous music group that remind us that we all are connected by our humanity. The internet’s equalizing force on social status is exemplified when the YouTubers are all in the same room with Weezer in the final moments of the video.
“Pork and Beans (Official Music Video).” Perf. Weezer. Interscope Records, 2008. < http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_jGlyqoYoo>.
The Tonight Show
The Tonight Show is a late night talk and variety show, airing Monday-Friday at 11:30pm on NBC. It has been on the air since 1954, with comedian Johnny Carson serving as the longest host of the program from 1962-1972. The current host of the program is Jay Leno (pictured right). Leno has been host of the program since 1992. In just a matter of months though, Leno will leave the program to comedian Conan O'Brien (pictured left). The shows typical format over the years (though segments have changed with the hosts) is a short stand-up routine, or monologue, of topical news items, most usually from the world of politics or celebrity. After the monologue, a celebrity guest or two will have a comical chat with the host and then a musical act or stand-up act will follow. In the Johnny Carson days of the show, many famous comedians, including Ellen DeGeneres and Jerry Seinfeld, got their starts from performing stand-up routines on The Tonight Show. It was considered a high honor if Carson liked your act enough to invite you over to the couch to talk after the routine. The Tonight Show has been an integral part of American culture since its inception, fusing all forms of entertainment with humor. This what has led to its popularity over the years. It covers many of the things Americans would have been talking about that day, whether it be world news, politics, or the lives of celebrities. In taking a humorous look at all the days events, plus mixing in talking to celebrities or other news makers (even recently, a president), The Tonight Show gives people a way to end their days laughing. Though each host has taken a new approach to making people laugh, it is consistent in the way of pointing out absurdities in the world around us.
Leno, Jay, prod. The Tonight Show. NBC. Burbank, CA.
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