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Cringe comedy

Subgenre of comedy

Subgenre of comedy

Cringe comedy is a subgenre of comedy that derives humor from social awkwardness, guilty pleasure, self-deprecation, idiosyncratic humor, and personal distress. 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.

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.

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.

Examples

Notable examples in the genre of cringe comedy include:

Film

  • The 40-Year-Old Virgin
  • American Pie
  • Bean
  • Borat
  • Bridesmaids
  • Death at a Funeral
  • The Lobster
  • There's Something About Mary
  • Waiting for Guffman

Television

  • Ally McBeal
  • The Comeback
  • Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
  • Curb Your Enthusiasm
  • Da Ali G Show
  • Extras
  • Fleabag
  • Girls
  • I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson
  • I'm Alan Partridge
  • Impractical Jokers
  • The Inbetweeners
  • The Larry Sanders Show
  • The Last Man on Earth
  • Louie
  • The Mindy Project
  • Nathan for You
  • The Office
  • Parks and Recreation
  • Peep Show
  • People Just Do Nothing
  • Review
  • Veep

References

References

  1. Susman, Gary. (12 May 2013). "Discomfort Zone: 10 Great Cringe Comedies".
  2. Press, Joy. (21 January 2003). "The Comedy of Cringe".
  3. McFarlane, Brian. (2009). "A curmudgeon's canon: random thoughts on 'Summer Heights High', 'The Office' and other nasty pleasures". Metro Magazine.
  4. Carroll, Noël. (2014). "Humour: A very short introduction". Oxford University Press.
  5. Moser, Zachary. (2024-05-02). "The 20 Best Cringe Comedy Movies We Can't Look Away From".
  6. Hoeffner, Joe. (2022-08-23). "From 'Borat' to 'The Lobster': 12 Best Cringe Movies to Make You Squirm".
  7. (22 June 2022). "We Can Thank ‘Ally McBeal’ For Influencing the Modern Cringe Comedy". Collider.
  8. (3 December 2016). "A Girl-Group Themed Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Proves Even a Fragmented Episode is Better Than Most TV".
  9. Noel Murray. (2020). "Cringe TV Comedy". [[The New York Times]].
  10. (12 July 2021). "'I Think You Should Leave...' and the cult of cringe comedy".
  11. (30 April 2019). "Make America Cringe Again: Tim Robinson's "I Think You Should Leave"".
  12. (4 April 2014). "Ebiri on Alan Partridge: Steve Coogan's Character Is Best Digested in Small Doses".
  13. Luke Holland. (21 March 2016). "'Stick your finger in their ear': a crash course in pranking from Impractical Jokers". [[The Guardian]].
  14. (7 September 2012). "'The Inbetweeners': Like 'Freaks and Geeks,' But 'Less Attractive and Less Friendly'".
  15. Zinoman, Jason. (29 September 2017). "Watch the Evolution of Cringe Comedy in 9 Clips (Published 2017)".
  16. David Wilcox. (3 April 2015). "Will Forte's Fox show 'The Last Man on Earth' could use a little less cringe in its comedy".
  17. Susman, Gary. (12 May 2013). "The Mindy Project {{!}} Discomfort Zone: 10 Great Cringe Comedies".
  18. Anielski, Ryan. (23 November 2015). "'Nathan for You:' How Cringe Comedy Doesn't Have to Offend to Make Us Laugh - IndieWire".
  19. Brian Logan. (12 November 2018). "From the King of Comedy to People Just Do Nothing: why the 'cringe com' reigns". [[The Guardian]].
  20. Wade, Chris. (24 September 2013). "This Is the Episode of Peep Show That Will Get You Hooked".
  21. Aroesti, Rachel. (2016-09-22). "Bare jokes: how People Just Do Nothing made sitcoms funny again". The Guardian.
  22. Erik Hayden. (August 23, 2014). "Emmys: 5 Cringeworthy 'Veep' Moments".
Info: Wikipedia Source

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