Cringe comedy explained

Cringe comedy is a subgenre of comedy that derives humor from social awkwardness, guilty pleasure, self-deprecation, idiosyncratic humor, and personal distress.[1] A type of a cringe comedy are pseudo-reality TV shows, sometimes with an air of a mockumentary. They revolve around a serious setting, such as a workplace, to lend the comedy a sense of reality.[2]

Typically, the protagonists are egotists who overstep the boundaries of political correctness and break social norms. The comedy will attack the protagonist by not letting them become aware of their self-centered view, or by making them oblivious to the ego-deflation that the comedy deals them. Sometimes an unlikable protagonist may not suffer any consequences, which violates people's moral expectations, and also makes the audience cringe.[3]

Theory

Humor theorist Noël Carroll explains this kind of humor in relation to incongruity theory and annoyance:

Imagine the cutlery laid out for a formal dinner. Suppose that the salad fork is in the wrong place. If you are the sort of person who is disturbed by such deviations from the norm, you will not be capable of finding this amusing. On the other hand, if you are more easy-going about such matters and also aware of the incongruity, it may elicit a chuckle. That is, you may find the error amusing or not. But if you find it genuinely amusing, you cannot find it annoying.[4]

Examples

Notable examples of television programs in the genre of cringe comedy include:

Notes and References

  1. Discomfort Zone: 10 Great Cringe Comedies . Time . Gary . Susman . 12 May 2013 .
  2. Web site: 21 January 2003 . Joy . Press . The Comedy of Cringe . Village Voice . I’m not sure why this Comedy of Cringe is so pleasurable to watch . https://web.archive.org/web/20180915202916/https://www.villagevoice.com/2003/01/21/the-comedy-of-cringe/ . 2018-09-15 .
  3. McFarlane. Brian. 2009. A curmudgeon's canon: random thoughts on 'Summer Heights High', 'The Office' and other nasty pleasures . Metro Magazine. 160. 134–138.
  4. Book: Carroll, Noël. Humour: A very short introduction. Oxford University Press. 2014. 978-0-19-955222-1. 34.
  5. Web site: A Girl-Group Themed Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Proves Even a Fragmented Episode is Better Than Most TV. 3 December 2016. 19 November 2017. 4 August 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190804171819/https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2016/12/a-girl-group-themed-crazy-ex-girlfriend-proves-eve.html. dead.
  6. Web site: Shapiro . Tevya Turok . Cunk On Earth: If Monty Python made a history mockumentary . Daily Maverick . 2023-03-09 . 2024-07-01.
  7. News: 2020 . Noel Murray . Noel Murray . Cringe TV Comedy . . September 27, 2020 . 0362-4331 .
  8. News: Itzkoff . Dave . Flight of the Conchords: Aimless, and That's O.K. . The New York Times . 15 July 2016.
  9. Web site: Burnett . Daynah . Flight of the Conchords, PopMatters . PopMatters . 4 March 2024 . 21 June 2007.
  10. Web site: 'I Think You Should Leave...' and the cult of cringe comedy. NME. 12 July 2021.
  11. Make America Cringe Again: Tim Robinson's "I Think You Should Leave" . The New Yorker. 30 April 2019.
  12. Web site: Ebiri on Alan Partridge: Steve Coogan's Character Is Best Digested in Small Doses . Vulture . 4 April 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140407054010/https://www.vulture.com/2014/04/movie-review-alan-partridge.html . 2014-04-07 . a key step in the rise of humiliation comedy — the crucial link between Basil Fawlty of Fawlty Towers and David Brent/Michael Scott of The Office..
  13. News: 21 March 2016 . Luke Holland . 'Stick your finger in their ear': a crash course in pranking from Impractical Jokers . . We join them for an afternoon of cringe comedy .
  14. Web site: 'The Inbetweeners': Like 'Freaks and Geeks,' But 'Less Attractive and Less Friendly' . . 7 September 2012 . the cringe comedy at its core . 19 November 2020 .
  15. Web site: 29 September 2017 . Zinoman . Jason . Watch the Evolution of Cringe Comedy in 9 Clips (Published 2017) . . https://web.archive.org/web/20170929212353/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/29/arts/television/larry-david-curb-your-enthusiasm-cringe-comedy.html . 2017-09-29 .
  16. Web site: Will Forte's Fox show 'The Last Man on Earth' could use a little less cringe in its comedy . David Wilcox . 3 April 2015 . 19 November 2017 .
  17. 12 May 2013 . Susman . Gary . The Mindy Project Discomfort Zone: 10 Great Cringe Comedies . Time .
  18. Web site: 'Nathan for You:' How Cringe Comedy Doesn't Have to Offend to Make Us Laugh - IndieWire . Ryan . Anielski . . 23 November 2015 . 19 November 2017 .
  19. News: 12 November 2018 . Brian Logan . From the King of Comedy to People Just Do Nothing: why the 'cringe com' reigns . .
  20. Web site: This Is the Episode of Peep Show That Will Get You Hooked . Chris . Wade . 24 September 2013 . Slate.com . the apex of the comedy-of-humiliation also seen on The Office and Curb Your Enthusiasm. . 19 November 2020 .
  21. News: Bare jokes: how People Just Do Nothing made sitcoms funny again . Aroesti . Rachel . 2016-09-22 . The Guardian . 2018-04-18.
  22. Web site: August 23, 2014 . Erik Hayden . Emmys: 5 Cringeworthy 'Veep' Moments . . 10 November 2020 .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Cringe comedy".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.