Drunk Driving: using humor to get across the seriousness of drunk driving.
Rhetor is Gabriel Iglesias and the audience includes physical audience, media audience, and imagined audience. (Relates to anyone who has been pulled over for drunk driving.)
However some might find it offensive because driving while under the influence is illegal and incredibly dangerous. I have had friends who have lost someone to an accident where a drunk driver was included; this sort of experience would make the material hurtful and upsetting to the wrong person.
Include that as an audience they must enjoy the comedian in order to find his jokes entertaining, Gabriel is a rather fun and joyful so therefore he's generally well liked.
He also talks about weight. He is able to make fun of overweight people because he himself is overweight. That allows him to be able to relate and to therefore not upset heavy audience members. (People can easily accept something if it is coming from someone in the same situation, if someone thin made a joke about being fat it would be plain annoying, when Gabriel does it its entertaining.)
Since presentation is the key to a joke, Gabriel is so funny because he is very good at presentation. He uses body movements and funny voices to get his joke across which is funny to a wider range of people.
Claim: That he uses humor to talk about tough situations and build confidence.
PAPER We chose to do Gabriel Iglesias’ video on drunk driving and the different stages of fat. In the video Gabriel talks about two uncomfortable, awkward, and embarrassing situations. He manages to talk about both subjects openly, thanks to his humor. Obviously, the rhetor in this situation is Gabriel himself; however the audience is a little more difficult to define. His audience appears in several forms, there is the original audience Gabriel imagined while creating each sketch, then there is the physical audience who was there while he performed, and then there is the media audience who has seen the sketch through the television and the internet.
The original audience for his drunken driving skit includes a group of people who might have been pulled over for a DUI at some point. The physical audience seemed to respond well to his skit; however, there remains a chance that a few people in the audience were negatively affected by the topic. Many people have had someone die of DUI related accident and it is highly likely that those people were offended. Not once in his skit did Gabriel try to imply that driving drunk was okay or in any way appropriate. He made sure to make this topic as inoffensive as possible, but also found the humor in an upsetting subject. His argument behind the whole sketch is to have a little fun before going to jail; he makes it quite clear that driving drunken is illegal and punished. Gabriel does not lose the reality of the situation, but still finds and presents the humor behind it.
His original audience selection was much different for his fat sketch. The intended audience is obese people in general, who have typically posses self-esteem issues. Since Gabriel himself is large, he manages to bring up a subject that is known for being uncomfortable and awkward without being offensive. He turns "fatness" into a comedic routine. His intended goal being to shed light onto the obese population's situation, which is what humor is meant to do. Humor is meant to take a negative situation and twist it in a way to make people see it in a more positive light. One way he uses humor is by talking about the different levels of fat, he makes all fat people feel good by looking down on all the other levels of fat. Since the "damn" level is indefinable, all audience members are able to laugh at someone else, causing their self-esteem to rise. This plays on a concept learned from another one of the videos, which was that humor always comes at the expense of others. As a comedian, Gabriel's audience needs to enjoy and relate to him. He is fun and forth coming; not afraid to do things that would embarrass the average person. Gabriel puts himself out there in a way that is almost intimate, giving the audience a chance to really relate to him, which makes the audience accept him and find him funny even in situations where self confidence comes into play.
Another one of Gabriel's audiences is his media audience. This can be split further into two categories: television and internet. Gabriel's television audience is predominately older and middle age males. Males tend to watch Comedy Central - Gabriel's skit appeared on Comedy Central in 2008 - more often than females, and young children do not typically have the attention span or intelligence to understand and watch a standup comedian. Some younger children or teenagers could be an audience possibly through YouTube, just like how the members in the class saw Gabriel's sketch. He has a wide variety of audience and he could also appeal to even younger audiences around the pre-teen age, because he does many funny and weird noises during his sketch. Even though the younger crowd might not find what he is saying to be humorous they might still laugh at all the wacky other sounds that come out of his mouth.
There are two factors in making a comedian funny. They are if the audience member likes or has a positive attitude about the performer before the show begins, and the performer’s presentation of his material. If someone is going into a comedian's show and they already don't like the comedian he/she is most likely not going to find that comedian funny at all. It's the similar vice versa, if an audience member loves the comedian he/she will most likely find the comedian very funny. The second key to a successful comedian is the presentation of their material. A comedian who is more animated and active will most of the time be funnier than a dull comedian who just stands there and doesn’t move. Overall Gabriel is a fantastic comedian who knows exactly how to make people laugh and build confidence in those people.
Claim: That he uses humor to talk about tough situations and build confidence.
PAPER
We chose to do Gabriel Iglesias’ video on drunk driving and the different stages of fat. In the video Gabriel talks about two uncomfortable, awkward, and embarrassing situations. He manages to talk about both subjects openly, thanks to his humor. Obviously, the rhetor in this situation is Gabriel himself; however the audience is a little more difficult to define. His audience appears in several forms, there is the original audience Gabriel imagined while creating each sketch, then there is the physical audience who was there while he performed, and then there is the media audience who has seen the sketch through the television and the internet.
The original audience for his drunken driving skit includes a group of people who might have been pulled over for a DUI at some point. The physical audience seemed to respond well to his skit; however, there remains a chance that a few people in the audience were negatively affected by the topic. Many people have had someone die of DUI related accident and it is highly likely that those people were offended. Not once in his skit did Gabriel try to imply that driving drunk was okay or in any way appropriate. He made sure to make this topic as inoffensive as possible, but also found the humor in an upsetting subject. His argument behind the whole sketch is to have a little fun before going to jail; he makes it quite clear that driving drunken is illegal and punished. Gabriel does not lose the reality of the situation, but still finds and presents the humor behind it.
His original audience selection was much different for his fat sketch. The intended audience is obese people in general, who have typically posses self-esteem issues. Since Gabriel himself is large, he manages to bring up a subject that is known for being uncomfortable and awkward without being offensive. He turns "fatness" into a comedic routine. His intended goal being to shed light onto the obese population's situation, which is what humor is meant to do. Humor is meant to take a negative situation and twist it in a way to make people see it in a more positive light. One way he uses humor is by talking about the different levels of fat, he makes all fat people feel good by looking down on all the other levels of fat. Since the "damn" level is indefinable, all audience members are able to laugh at someone else, causing their self-esteem to rise. This plays on a concept learned from another one of the videos, which was that humor always comes at the expense of others. As a comedian, Gabriel's audience needs to enjoy and relate to him. He is fun and forth coming; not afraid to do things that would embarrass the average person. Gabriel puts himself out there in a way that is almost intimate, giving the audience a chance to really relate to him, which makes the audience accept him and find him funny even in situations where self confidence comes into play.
Another one of Gabriel's audiences is his media audience. This can be split further into two categories: television and internet. Gabriel's television audience is predominately older and middle age males. Males tend to watch Comedy Central - Gabriel's skit appeared on Comedy Central in 2008 - more often than females, and young children do not typically have the attention span or intelligence to understand and watch a standup comedian. Some younger children or teenagers could be an audience possibly through YouTube, just like how the members in the class saw Gabriel's sketch. He has a wide variety of audience and he could also appeal to even younger audiences around the pre-teen age, because he does many funny and weird noises during his sketch. Even though the younger crowd might not find what he is saying to be humorous they might still laugh at all the wacky other sounds that come out of his mouth.
There are two factors in making a comedian funny. They are if the audience member likes or has a positive attitude about the performer before the show begins, and the performer’s presentation of his material. If someone is going into a comedian's show and they already don't like the comedian he/she is most likely not going to find that comedian funny at all. It's the similar vice versa, if an audience member loves the comedian he/she will most likely find the comedian very funny. The second key to a successful comedian is the presentation of their material. A comedian who is more animated and active will most of the time be funnier than a dull comedian who just stands there and doesn’t move. Overall Gabriel is a fantastic comedian who knows exactly how to make people laugh and build confidence in those people.