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Responding to The Office

So, this week I am responding to Kimberly Kiepek's post about the popular television show, The Office.



Kimberly posted this week about a clip from The Office in which one character fakes a fire so that the other office staff can "practice" the fire procedures.  Needless to say, things don't go smoothly!

So, what did I think about Kimberly's post?

Well, just to get this out of the way right off the bat, I have honestly never watched a full episode of the Office before.  I have seen clips, but I truthfully have never found them funny.

This clip was no exception.

Now, none of this is to say that I don't like Kimberly's post or that I don't agree with her statements about the clip, I certainly do!  Kimberly did an excellent job describing how each of the three theories of comedy - incongruity theory, relief theory, and superiority theory - can all be applied to different aspects of this clip.  She gave excellent examples of each theory's representation in the clip and I can definitely see why each of those examples is "funny".  But they didn't make me laugh.  There was only one statement in Kimberly's post that I did not agree with,

"This one is sure to make you laugh."

But it didn't.  Of course, I am well aware that I am in the minority in this opinion, but, for whatever reason, even though this clip checks all the boxes of something that should be "funny", it's not (to me, anyway).

So, the question becomes, how can something be "funny", but not make you laugh?

Maybe it's because my roommate was in the room and I felt awkward laughing out loud, but you would think I would at least have smiled or wanted to laugh.  Maybe it's because I never worked in an office setting before, but so many people in my same position still find this show to be the epitome of humor.  At the end of the day, I think it just comes down to the simple fact that this is not my kind of humor.  No, I can't pinpoint exactly why that is.  No, I can't give you the magic formula of what I do and don't find funny.

But I think it is safe to say, everyone has their own types of humor that they enjoy, and THAT'S OKAY!

Just because one person doesn't find something funny does not mean that it is not funny.  It simply means that that person doesn't prefer it.  PERIOD.  And that's me with the Office.

Now, I know many of you will strongly disagree with my opinions about the Office.  I would love to hear what you think!  Please leave a comment and let me know!  :)

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  1. Shane HerronSeptember 10, 2019 at 8:31 AM

    I'm not sure if my last comment went through or not. I'm glad there will be some disagreement about the Office this year and you are the only one.

    You also bring up some nuanced differences: we can recognize something is comedy while either laughing or not and enjoying or not. We can also recognize something is not comedy and still find it enjoyable and laugh at it. Perhaps that's where superiority theory comes in.

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  2. Lauren PetersonSeptember 12, 2019 at 9:56 AM

    I also didn't laugh out loud or really smile during this episode of The Office. I have never been able to finish an episode of this show either. The only part I thought was funny was when everyone was panicking and one of the workers grabbed her cat from the cabinet drawer. I don't really understand the humor in The Office but like you said Kimberly did a great job of applying all theories to this particular scene.

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