Friends Episode "The One with Phoebe's Rats"


Friends Episode:
The One with Phoebe's Rats

By: Lucy Waszak



       The best piece of comedy I have seen recently is this particular clip from the popular comedy T.V show, "Friends". In this episode, Phoebe is raising rats with her boyfriend. She accidentally brings them along to a party and her friend, Rachel, opens the box of them thinking it is a gift, but is surprised to discover a family of rats. This is typical of the character Phoebe and fits with her character's personality very well, especially when she sets bedtimes for the rats and treats them like her own children. She continues to treat it as if she is fostering children, instead of rats, for the entire episode even when she is giving them up. This is what makes the whole situation even more ironic and funny because they are just rats. This could somewhat go along with the incongruity theory of comedy because the idea of raising rats as children and treating it so seriously just does not make much sense and makes us laugh because it is not expected. The two ideas, fostering rats and then raising them like children, do not relate and make us feel uneasy. The reading helped me better understand what the show was trying to convey, which was the idea that the two ideas contradict each other so greatly. I could also see how they were trying to somewhat use the superiority theory in making Phoebe's actions seem so inferior, which then makes us laugh at her for that.

Comments

  1. Shane HerronSeptember 7, 2018 at 9:40 AM

    Are quirky characters in general well explained by superiority theory?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Response to Alex's Post

  Friends and the Three Theories of Humor The comedy TV show, Friends, is definitely a great example of a piece of comedy that utilizes the three theories of humor throughout all episodes of the show. I definitely agree that the show is hilarious and likely makes people laugh from a combination of these three theories. First, I agree with the point made that Chandler Bing’s humor and jokes throughout the show are an example of the superiority theory. I have definitely noticed throughout all of the episodes that Chandler adds little side comments and jokes to make himself seem higher up than everyone else. There are even times that the other characters comment on Chandler’s sarcastic remarks. One example I found of his humor being an example of the superiority theory is when Chandler is on the phone and says, “I got her machine”. Joey responds by asking, “Her answering machine?”, to which Chandler replies, “No, interestingly enough her leaf blower picked up”. Thi...
Read more

Response to Hannah's Post

I’ve already seen both episodes, but of course I watched them again because these are my two favorite shows. After watching the Friends Episode I would rate this episode an 8 on funniness. The whole idea of Joey pretending he is still in a movie but is actually just dressing up as a gladiator was so funny to me. There have definitely been episodes I’ve found funnier, but this one was still very good. I would give this episode a 7 for enjoyment. The plot is somewhat predictable that Joey’s friends would fly out to Vegas and find out he is not in a movie. I still enjoyed it, especially the smaller plots taking place during the episode, like Ross walking in on Rachel, and Joey’s hand twin. I think there was slapstick humor, definitely sarcasm, incongruity, slight naughty humor, and people doing stupid things. Next, for The Office Episode, I would give this episode a 9 for funniness as I found myself laughing to myself for most of the episode. For enjoyment, I would give it a 10 bec...
Read more

Response to Lindsey's Post

I have surprisingly actually seen these Barbie memes before on instagram and twitter, but I don’t know if I’ve seen the actual videos on youtube before. I always wondered where these memes actually came from, but now it makes sense that they’re from a youtube series. I liked how you used the three theories of humor to analyze this piece of comedy. I think that the Barbie meme videos are almost a reality tv show since it is documenting their lives, which would then make it superiority theory since it is almost belittling their actions. Reality shows are a perfect example of the superiority theory since it is looking down on their actions and in a way making fun of them. I also think it could be an example of incongruity theory since it is so strange that people are getting their entire lives filmed and we laugh at how you would not expect people to have their entire life filmed. The whole ideas that barbies are being filmed and acting completely different than what one would believe ...
Read more