Adam Nackman
Prof. Vaughan
English 300V
10/10/2014
Comedy in American Television Television in the United States of America has become one of the largest aspects of our culture. Television is a medium that is accommodating to all; it allows creative people to be able to express ideas and tell stories, while reaching millions of people, and it allows the not creative millions of people to be thoroughly entertained from anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour at a time. There are all sorts of genres of television just as there are multiple genres in any medium. There is drama, romance, action, mystery, horror, and the list goes on. However, one of the most popular, and in my own opinion important, genres of American television is definitely…show more content… Through the multitude of sketches in each episode, Nick Kroll and company are able to approach the genre of comedy in a way that allows them to play a myriad of different characters in a single episode, and gives them the freedom to create almost endless amounts of storylines and situations. What is also great about the sketches done in The Kroll Show is that most if not all of the sketches poke fun at a different aspect of American culture. Take for example one recurring sketch that Kroll does, titled “Too Much Tuna.” This sketch, in which Kroll and a partner are dressed up and play two elderly gentlemen that host a prank show, is a direct parallel to the real life reality prank show, Ashton Kutcher’s: Punk’d. The sketch is hilarious because the entire premise is that Kroll and his partner are “punking” a third character by interviewing him in a diner, and during the interview, a waitress brings over a tuna salad sandwich to the interviewee, that clearly has way too much tuna on it for one sandwich. It continues to be funny as the interviewee denies that it is too much tuna and proclaims that he actually enjoys it, while Kroll and his partner gag about such a successful prank. This, on the surface, is funny only because it is just kind of stupid. However the underlying message that Kroll is getting across here, and the underlying reason why the sketch is so brilliantly funny is that its garbage television like this that normal everyday Americans are obsessed with. By Kroll equating his “Too Much Tuna” show to the rest of the reality television world, he’s portraying the idea that America needs to get its proverbial head out of it’s ass and start obsessing about things that actually matter. It’s a reflection of what our culture now views as important, and without really saying it, tells us that we need to get our priorities straightened