The Office- Fire Drill

The best piece of comedy I have seen recently was a clip from a T.V. series, “The Office”. In this episode from the T.V. series, Dwight was giving a safety presentation, and he became very upset because nobody was paying attention to him. In the clip, he creates a “fire drill,” in which he locks all the doors and makes the door handles hot, along with creating smoke by setting the trash can on fire. He doesn’t tell anyone because he is mad because nobody was paying attention to him. Once people in the office start realizing there is a “fire,” everyone starts freaking out. The whole scene is ironic because they would have known what to do if they had payed attention during Dwight's presentation. Another funny part to the scene is that Dwight is just standing there while everyone is freaking out. In addition to that, another funny part is when Angela throws her cat into the ceiling to try to save it. Oscar also falls from the rafters, which he climbed up in an attempt to escape and save himself. The cherry on top is that Stanley gets so scared from everything going on that he has a heart attack at the end of the scene. This clip from the T.V series incorporates many of the Theories of Humor. The main theory that I saw within the scene is the Superiority theory. Usually that theory happens when people are failing in a situation or suffering in a way. Most of the scenes are made up of this theory. They are all in a situation where they are failing to get out of the fire. We as the audience are laughing at their incompetence. There also was the incongruity theory shown in the clip. This is when some violence occurs or something unexpected is connected in the scene. Overall, the scene is very funny because it is very ironic because if everyone would have just listened to Dwight, this whole situation could have been avoided.