Week 2: Bill Dance

It can easily be argued that all humor, in one form or another, is in fact superiority humor.  I believe that it is the most persuasive and broad of the three fundamental theories of humor.  In most situations, I believe that people laugh because they feel superior to someone, or someone feels superior to them.  Most of the time we do not even recognize the feeling of superiority. 

For anyone who does not know, Bill Dance is a professional fisherman with his own television show.  On the show, Bill shares his vast knowledge of fishing, boating, and other closely related topics.  Dance is one of the most recognizable professional fishermen in the world due in large part to his show which has aired for many years.  One would assume that a man with such experience and know-how would have less mishaps than the average, casual fisherman. 

Time and time again, Bill Dance has proved this assumption to be false.  As you can see from the video in the link below, Dance is no stranger to the follies that we would consider to be below him.  There are dozens of videos similar to the one below that are dedicated to nothing but the misadventures of Bill Dance.  Most of these bloopers make us feel superior to him in some way without us recognizing it.  We watch him run across a log and fall to the ground, close the tailgate on his truck and break the ends off of his expensive fishing rods, or just stray too close to the water’s edge and slide right into the muddy pond below.  Whether we realize it or not, we laugh because at those moments we feel superior to Mr. Dance.  In our minds we tell ourselves that we would avoid these mistakes and slip ups, especially if we were being paid handsomely for our years of experience and wisdom.  In that moment we don’t necessarily choose to feel superior to Bill Dance, but somewhere down in our subconscious, we most certainly do feel superior. 

One could certainly make the case that these bloopers and other forms of comedy similar to them include parts of the other theories of comedy, and I do not disagree with that idea.  Certainly, our expectations versus the reality of the situation are a good example of incongruity, but I would argue that the incongruity and relief that could be found are not the reason that we find ourselves laughing.  Superiority in one way or another is the reason we are laughing. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iK_h-2kot6s