sexta-feira, 18 de setembro de 2009

What is comedy?


Comedy is so subjective. What you find funny another person may find it ridiculous or even boring. What kind of comedy do you like? I am a big fan of nonsense humor. When I see a good sketch, a true knee slapper, I laugh so hard that afterwards I need to share the experience with the people around me. To illustrate my point , take a look at this sketch from the Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie comedy hour and tell me whether you find it funny. Also, if you care to comment, why not add your own video link so that we can have an idea of the kind of comedy that you like. I'm sure that we are all going to have a ball.

19 comentários:

  1. Hi Luiz Cláudio!

    This is an excellent blog! I really liked this post. I'm a little embarrassed to confess that I had never heard of Stephen Fry or Hugh Laurie before, but I found this sketch extremely funny!

    Well, I agree that comedy is very subjetive, but I also think I have a very broad range of comedy taste. I like American "forumla" (and sometimes cliche) sitcoms like Friends and Two and a Half Men, but what I also like some less popular shows and movies, like Seinfeld and Being John Malcovich (one of the funniest movies I've ever seen).

    There is one kind of humor that I really dislike, I simply can't laugh and it sometimes makes me feel bad, and teenagers love it, it's the Jackass kind of humor.

    Finally, here is a link to a video I've been using with students to teach second conditinals and get away from the cliche "If I had a million dollars..." - it's really funny, check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egCeIwjIuZM

    Ronaldo

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  2. As I was looking through my "youtube" bookmarks on my Diigo, I came accross this hilarious video, which I'm saving to begin some workshop presentation on language teaching, for even though it was meant just for fun, it challenges the usefulness of what we teach to basic students.
    It's "The One Semester of Spanish Love Song" - a knee-slapper for sure: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngRq82c8Baw

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  3. Ronaldo,
    Thanks for the comment. Your reply is the reason why I came up with this post. If you had never heard of Stephen Fry & Hugh Laurie, I had never heard of Aaron Wilburn, but he is a hoot. I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. Really funny guy. Besides that, your suggestion of using that as a way to teach second conditionals is excellent. I will certtainly do that next time I have to teach "If I had..., I would..."

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  4. "The One Semester of Spanish Love Song" is great, and it will surely add a lot of fun to your presentation. If you think about it, the same video could be made in English. Andre would be a nice choice to star this.

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  5. Hi, Luiz Cláudio.

    I haven't yet checked out the links that my friend Ronaldo posted, but I will.

    I think I like almost all kinds of humor except the kind that is based on making fun of people or is based on racial or ethnic stereotypes.

    Here's an example of something that I find very funny. The humor is quirky, but hilarious!

    All the best—

    Dennis

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  6. Dennis,
    Your video is truly funny. I had seen it before but it still makes me laugh! Check Ronaldo's videos as well. They are truly funny, and his suggestions on how to use them in class reflect his constant serch for improvement as a professional.
    It's always nice to hear from you,

    Luiz Claudio

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  7. Hey guys.
    I really liked the videos you posted.
    When it comes to comedy, I like everything.
    However, I really laugh watching bloopers. I love them! Can't get enough! Here are some from "Friends".
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t5_DzkvPu38

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  8. I liked the strip above. I love comedies and comic strips. I particularly enjoy Snoopy and Calvin.Take a peek at: http://www.veryabc.cn/snoopy/index.php

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  9. I forgot to say that I looooove Two and a half man. It´s my favorite sitcom. I watch all the episodes. Bye, my friend.

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  10. Cleide and André,
    Bloopers and comic strips. What else could you possibly want, right? Good choices, friends.
    Luiz Claudio

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  11. That's really funny. I like this type of humor, but many people don't. I don't know why. That is actually funny to see them not laughing.

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  12. One hilarious clip is this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RgL2MKfWTo

    I always laugh when I listen to it!!!

    Luiz, you´re a born blogger and I DO hope you keep posting this inspiring texts that make us feel like writing, sharing and learning with our community.

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  13. Dennis, I had already seen this video but had to watch it again because it is very funny.

    André, I too love bloopers, and here is my favorite one on youtube, it's news programs bloopers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WrpaCOb_BGk

    Cleide, I really like Two and a Half Men, I'm collecting the DVDs, I'm on 5th season now. Jake is so funny!

    Also, I had forgotten to say that one of the shows that make me laugh the hardest is Whose Line Is It Anyway, with Drew Carry. Unfortunately, it not showing on Brazilian Sony anymore, so I just get to watch bits of it on youtube...

    Ronaldo

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  14. Ronaldo,
    Your bloopers segment is great. That last part with the camera was hilarious.

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  15. Carla,
    Ken Lee is great. She reminds me of a guy I once heard in a "churrascaria" singing "New York, New York." He was as creative as the Ken Lee girl.

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  16. Hi Luis,

    Thank you for this great post! I love spending time here. Great ideas to get people involved. Can I bring students here for some fun and interaction next semester?
    I like many kinds of comedy frasier, two and a half man, or some reason I totally dislike friends, funny right?
    Bringing something funny to class or a worshop is a winner. I've just remembered a talk I attended a while ago on teaching pronunciation with videos. As an openner he had http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1TnzCiUSI0

    He had the audience laughing really hard.

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  17. Hey teacher, this is a really funny video! It's a prank call, where tom mabe makes the telemarketing caller think it's actually a murder scene. Take a look at it, I'm sure you'll find it interesting

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7OgWcwgB50

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  18. Matheus,
    Good video. Really funny. You've got to be a good actor to keep a straight face and not laugh during this prank call. Amazing!

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  19. Dani,
    I had already seen "The Man who went to Malta" and it's a great video for intrtoducing pronunciation strategies. Bring your students here whenever you feel like it. It will be my pleasure.

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