This clip from The Office made me laugh out loud in the library, y'all.
I think Parker has good insight into why people think tv shows like The Office (and as he mentioned, Friends) are popular today. While I totally agree with his statement that it adds to the effect of a certain clip when the viewer has connection to the characters, the clip he picked didn't need that. I can confidently make that statement because while I have seen a few episodes of The Office I would definitely embarrass myself trying to identify the characters and their personality traits. I see the humor in the clip similarly to Parker as I like how they are making light out of a serious situation. I would have mentioned the dry humor here, unlike some clips we have watched in class that are a different genre of comedy, this is scripted and dry. This type of humor works because characters are taking themselves seriously while representing ridiculous situations. I appreciate this kind of sarcastic humor. Parker's post definitely appealed to my personal sense of humor!
You're not the only one who LOLed at it. It's interesting that you catalogue the humor as particularly dry, and this would of course fit in with the British origins of the series. Unlike other forms of dry humor, though, it is also quite zany--maybe that's the shift that's taken place with its Americanization: it's British dry humor with a touch of American nuttiness?
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