#thea314

In this comedy performance I found on Youtube (I looked up comedians vs hecklers), I came across comedian Troy Bond, whose video is titled, "Heckler calls me a racist", and boy, was she RAGEBAITING.

After Troy made a political joke about feeling bad for voting for Joe Biden and being one of the most pro-anti-Trump comedians as a joke, a woman in the crowd—a Black woman—became highly offended and called Troy a "bitch." Troy responded, shouting, "Why do you think I'm doing this for a living? Do you think I was a football player? I'm a bitch, damn it!" He continued, "There's nothing you can say to me that I haven't already said six inches from the mirror." He concluded with, "You're the first person going in my suicide note tonight. Have a good night, Kamala Harris." And the crowd went wild, including the black lady getting escorted out of the comedy club.

Scenario: At a Coffee Shop

1. Assumption

This is the basic belief the audience naturally makes based on everyday experience.

If someone orders a complicated coffee, they’re probably really into coffee.

That’s normal. We’ve all seen the person with the long order.

2. Target Assumption

This is the specific assumption you’re going to mess with for comedy.

People who know a lot of coffee terms are knowledgeable and sophisticated.

This is what you’re setting up to knock over.

3. Interpretation (What the audience thinks is happening)

You present information that supports the target assumption.

“The guy in front of me orders a triple-shot oat-milk half-sweet caramel macchiato with cinnamon foam and pauses like he’s choosing a wine for royalty.”

Audience interpretation:

This guy knows coffee

He’s refined

Maybe a little pretentious

So far, everything lines up with their assumption.

4. Re-interpretation (The comedy turn)

Now you add new information that forces the audience to re-evaluate everything.

“Then the barista asks, ‘Is this your usual?’ And he goes, ‘I don’t know. My girlfriend texted this to me. If this is wrong, I’m not going home tonight.’”

💥 Re-interpretation:

He’s not sophisticated

He’s scared

He’s basically a hostage

The audience has to mentally rewind:

“Ohhh — he never knew coffee. He’s just following instructions under threat.”

THEA 314 Comedy In Performance - Assignment 1 - Something I saw funny and why Reflection Blog

Ricky Gervais' Monologue - 2020 Golden Globes Awards

One of the funniest things I’ve seen was watching Ricky Gervais’ opening monologue at the 2020 Golden Globe Awards. If you’re not familiar with Ricky Gervais, he’s a British comedian famous for his brutally dark humor and absolutely zero regard for anyone’s comfort level—especially powerful people. He’s also legendary for roasting the audience right to their faces, which is exactly what he did that night.

From the moment he stepped on stage, it was chaos (the entertaining kind). He casually dropped sensitive rumors, bold allegations, and painfully true comments about the actors sitting just a few feet away from him. Some jokes had people laughing out loud, while others sucked the air out of the room and left the audience visibly sweating. You could practically hear the collective gulp.

One of my all-time favorite jokes was when he said people would be better off at home watching a Netflix show called Afterlife, instead of sitting through the Golden Globes. The show, he explained, is about a man trying to kill himself after his wife dies of cancer—but plot twist—he doesn’t kill himself because there’s a second season. Ricky then compared that situation to Jeffrey Epstein, and boom… the room went wild in the most uncomfortable way possible. Nervous laughter everywhere. The joke hit hard because Epstein was linked to many powerful, well-known A-list celebrities that people admire, making it extra tense. (Epstein, for context, was infamous for horrific crimes, including human trafficking—especially involving children.)