Blog 5 Shaggy Dog Stories

Reading the Shaggy Dog stories are very amuzing. Some of them are really draw you in and have a great punchline. There are some however that in my opinion are very dull but still serve the purpose of drawing you in and delivering a punchline. Here is how I predicted how the other class would rank the stories.

(1) String
(3) Dentist
(4) Ghandi
(2) Lawyer


String- I predict that the other class would like String the best because it met the most criteria for what we percieve as funny.
Legnth= was the longest of all stories, and it offered a back and forth dialogue between the string and bartender which showed character and scene development.
Connections to the Audience= String is something we can all identify with. As well as a scene in a bar where this is dialogue between the bartender and subject. The back and forth banter and conflict  draws you in and you anticipate the punchline.You can imagine in your head this piece of string sitting at the bar and asking for a drink. It was the most absurd because it dealt with ther personification of an inanimate object. That always makes for a funny story.
Ironic contrast= In the story it seemed the string the "underdog" you wonder if he will ever get his drink. He is being refused by bartender after bartender and bar after, bar.
Surprise= The string "the inanimate object" uses his wit and smarts, which is absurd and comes up with an idea or plan to get his way. "He had a passerby tie him up into a bow and frazzle his ends. Then he went back into the bar, and climbed up on the barstool. "Bartender, gimme a beer!" he said loudly.
 Conflict/Wordplay= At the end of the story you assume the string gets his beer, but the bartender recognizes him. "Hey, aren't you that string that was in here a few minutes ago?" The string replied coolly, "Nope, I'm a frayed knot." A simple word phrase that we have all used and can all imagine as funny.

Lawyer-I predicted this would be in second place because I think the majority of people could relate to a good lawyer joke. At the college level it safe to assume that everyone knows what a lawyer is and the stereotypes that are associated.
Legnth=The legnth of the story worked well for what is considered funny. The plot developed very well with a beginning, middle, and end. The character development worked well with different characters being introduced into the story. The wealthy lawyer, the Czech friends, the sheriff and the absurd and infamous bears. The bears bought an element of violence which of course is an element in what the reader finds to be funny according to our analysis.
Ironic Contrast=The idea of a bear eating the Czech friend whole, and the cowardly lawyer running away is absurd and funny. One female bear and a male bear are presented which sets up the elements for the punchline. The female bear in the story gets shot which is an element of surprise.
Conflict/Wordplay="The sheriff grabbed his shotgun and dashed back to the berry patch with the lawyer. Sure enough, the two bears were still there. "He's in that one," cried the lawyer, pointing to the male, while visions of lawsuits from his friend's family danced in his head. He just had to save his friend. The sheriff looked at the bears, and without batting an eye, leveled his gun, took careful aim, and shot the female". This was a great presentation of conflict and conflict resolution which makes the punchline "getable". I like the fact that there were two references in this story, one for the Nutcracker."What did you do that for?" exclaimed the lawyer. "I said he was in the other one!

"Exactly," replied the sheriff. "Would you believe a lawyer who told you the Czech was in the male?"

Connection to audience=Again the violence panned out to a spoonerism reference the chech is in the mail, which is a phrase that a college level student can identify with.

Dentist- I predicted this would be in third place. It was not very funny to me but a little more funny than the Ghandi. It met some of the criteria for what we percieve as funny in the Shaggy Dog stories.

Length= Not very long. Story does develop with the man and dentist in a dialogue, however it lacks and overall conflict the reader likes.

Ironic Contrast= the story was just rediculous as well as the reference to the hollandaise sauce.

Word play= The word play was developed throughout the story, with the hollandaise being introduced at the very beginning and followed throughout. The punchline was definitley unexpected with a reference to "No place like home for the holidays."

Connection to audience= This is a punchline that all readers may not be able to connect with if they dont celebrate the holidays. It wasnt violent in nature and did not meet a lot of the criteria for what is perceived as funny

 

Ghandi- I predicted Ghandi to be in fourth place because of its  length and element of surprise makes it the least funniest of all the stories.

Legnth=It was the shortest of all the stories, which may take away of what the reader percieves as funny according to our analysis of the funnier stories being the longest. It didn't develop over a long period of time, and the punchline was very quick. Reader did not have time to be drawn in.
Ironic Contrast= Ghandi is a very serious religious leader. The overall joke was definitley not something the reader could have imagined when thinking about a serious of character as Ghandi. The story was initially filled with facts, that didn't draw you into the aburdity of we aspect to be funny. "He walked barefoot everywhere,his feet became quite thick and hard. Even when he wasn't on a hunger strike, he did not eat much and became quite thin and frail. He also was quite a spiritual person." These are all serious facts and then your thrown off with "Furthermore, due to his diet, he ended up with very bad breath. Served as a disconnet while eluding to the punchline.
Word Play=He became known as a super-calloused fragile mystic plagued with halitosis.
Connections to Audience= Readers would have to have seen Mary Poppins and understand the phrase "supercalifragilisticespalidoshes" in order to get the spoonerism. They would also need to know who Ghandi was in order to get the joke. It is a little harder of all the pieces to connect to a broader audience.