Comment to Lead Blog (Ashly)

I had never heard of the show “Impractical Jokers” until now; however, the concept of the show does sound quite funny. I definitely agree with Ashly that superiority theory is one of the best explanations for the humor behind the show. The clip that Ashly included where one of the jokers had to get a guys number to enter him in a “gift card giveaway” while the other jokers used that number to send the guy completely random and absurd text messages was hilarious. What made this clip really funny was how the unknowing guy who was being pranked totally went along with all the texts. He responded to quite a few of the bizarre text messages and ultimately decided to quit responded when they called him a “fool.” Superiority theory is a contributing factor to the development of humor in two different aspects of this clip. I first noticed how the jokers must have felt superior. They were superior to the one other jokester that they were pretending to be as they texted the random stranger. This made the video very funny because the texting jokesters were able to sit back and laugh while they watched their friend uncomfortably squirm and laugh about the ridiculous texts they were sending. Additionally, superiority theory can describe why the audience and all of the jokers feel like they can laugh about the stranger’s reactions. Everyone else is aware of the joke and what is going on except the stranger that is being pranked. This is ultimately what makes this prank so funny. The audience and the jokers cannot help but laugh as they watch the confused reactions of the stranger who is trying to figure out what is going on. Being in on the joke makes people feel superior, which makes them feel able and even entitled to laugh at another person’s expense and confusion.