Short Writing Assignment #2

The first two chapter I Comedy Writing Secrets discuss why we use comedy and why we laugh. One reason that both of these have in common is the humor and laughing make a person feel superior. I agree with this idea because sometimes in uncomfortable situations I have witnessed people using jokes and making fun of others to make them more comfortable and to win over others.
In chapter one it talked about how big business executives are hiring speech writers to make their speeches more humorous and memorable. If these executives use humor it makes them feel superior if they are bashing on their competition and it also causes the audience to feel superior when they laugh. This results in the company getting more business than their competition and it gives the company more confidence by making their competition feel inferior.
I thought the chapter on why we laugh was most interesting because before reading this book I never thought there were reasons to why a joke is a funny and I did not think that why we laugh is a universal thing. I do agree with the book that superiority and shock are two major reasons why most people laugh but I do not think you can generalize humor and say that those are two things that make everyone laugh. There are people that would be repulsed by the ending of some jokes and others that just wouldn’t find the shocking ending funny. However, I do believe that a majority if not all people laugh to feel superior because in this day who doesn’t want to feel like they are superior to the people they are surrounded by?
In my opinion I do not think someone should try to analyze why everyone else laughs. Some reasons for laughter are universal but in most cases I think it is what each individual thinks is humorous. There is no way for one person to analyze why another laughs because they do not even know what part of the brain causes laughter.
Although I disagree that everyone laughs at certain things here is an example that shock is a way to make some people laugh. http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/74/the-landlord-from-will-ferrell-and-adam-ghost-panther-mckay