I'm like 95% sure I showed you this video and I am so glad you decided to blog about because that gives me an excuse to watch it again! I don't know how SNL so consistently makes hilarious skits that everyone is able to laugh at yet low key relate to. Maybe they have secret magic skit genies?? This skit in particular is funny because of the time of year. I know it's a Halloween skit so obviously it has to come out in October, but I think that it was released at the PERFECT time. It was released right in the midst of Halloween hype (before the Christmas trees were set up in Home Depot but after the Halloween section of Walmart was built up).
I agree with you, Olivia, that this skit is a great example of the incongruity theory. The flashbacks to and from the pre- and post-Halloween shenanigans build up the hilarity of the skit. Much like "Mr. Show", the transitions allows for a stark comedic comparison to take place between the scenes whilst still maintaining a flow to the skit. This video also has a mix of irony mixed with reality. It's ironic to me that these poor ladies are trying to plan a cute night out in their cute costumes and it turns into mass chaos. However, everyone has experienced one of the personalities of these three women: getting the "drun-chies", becoming overly sensitive and just crying, or accidentally breaking something. JUST KIDDING. These are all characteristics that, although sometimes apply to male, stereotypically apply to the drunk female. This skit is so *relatable* because of how both men and women view it. Women relate directly to the reactions of the three main characters. Men relate indirectly to the three characters because they have been in a situation where they have had to deal with the drunk female in one of the three stages depicted in the skit.
I think you're exactly right that the transitions are key--the whole "before/during ... and then finally after" setup makes for a great comedic rhythm. It is, I suppose, "r" wordable in some ways, I wonder what a non-r-word-able Halloween skit would look like. Do people really feel like this could be them, or do we rather feel like it's something they've heard about indirectly. Maybe it would hit too close to home if we had really experienced it.
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