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David Tearse

Mr. Cole

ENC 2135

30 January, 2017

Spilling the Chili

The genre of comedy is both ancient and ever changing. Genres are groupings of bodies

of work that each contain their own individual guidelines and constructs that serve a certain

purpose. The typical objective of the genre comedy is to create something that is considered

humorous to the audience of which it is intended . The American adaptation of the popular

British television show The Office uses classic irony, physical comedy, and the humor of struggle

to create a complete example of how comedy can be created from multiple conditions of human

life. The Office combines multiple unrelated elements of everyday life to create a realistic display

of natural comedy. Struggle is a depressing idea that is avoided when possible and contains no

comedic connotations, similar to failure, or sadness, but these ideas can be combined to create a

completely new one. Visuals and dialogue are used together in order to invoke particular

emotions that contribute to the goal of the work as a whole. This short introduction completely

displays how a certain genre can utilize multiple aspects of comedy to create a comedic scene for

several audiences.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTEm0q-VMmg

The scene opens with an employee named Kevin who is carrying a giant metal vat in the

parking lot with pot holders on and a grin on his face which immediately lets the audience know

that Kevin is proud of what he is carrying and excited to show it to the office. The scene cuts to
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Kevin proudly resting on the pot outside the office while he continues to announce At least once

a year, I like to bring in some of my Kevins famous chili (Farrell 2009). Kevin is the only

character in the opening scene which displays the shows genre as a strongly character driven

realistic comedy. Watching Kevin struggle to carry the pot up the stairs due to the elevator being

out of service is comical because it is relatable. A lot of the humor in the office is present because

the audience is able to relate to the awkward or compromising situations that the show captures.

The calming voiceover of Kevin describing the rigorous process to cook his famous chili while

the audience is watching him dump it all over the carpet creates an ironic contrast. This

technique is often used in the genre of comedy in order to use the unexpected outcome to

surprise and humor the viewer. By using a voiceover of Kevin speaking in a calm and excited

voice, the audience is lulled into a false sense of security while also creating a set up for the

whole joke. Knowing how much time Kevin spent making the chili and seeing how proud he is

of his recipe makes it more unfortunate and hilarious when he spills it.

The second key line in the scene that signifies a turning point is when Kevin claims

Everybody is going to get to know each other int the pot (Farrell 2009) while simultaneously

losing his grip on one if the handles. This is when the pot flips over, out of Kevins hands and

lands top down with a thud as the entire batch of chili is spilled on the carpet. The chili dropping

to the floor provides an facet of physical comedy to the scene that goes beyond his struggle to

climb the stairs. The visual disaster of the chili dumping out of the pot and Kevin immediately

panicking catches the audience off guard and portrays a hilarious accident. It becomes clear that

the voiceover was prerecorded as Kevins voice continues to describe the detailed steps in

procuring the chili while he is seen on screen using office supplies and his briefcase to try and
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scoop the soiled chili back into the pot. The scene ends with Kevin stating Its a recipe passed

down from Malones for generations. Its probably the thing I do best (Farrell 2009) as his knee

slips and he sprawls out on top of the chili. This ironic ending leaves the audience sympathetic

towards Kevins situation and equally amused with his unfortunate accident. Even though the

individual ideas of someone dropping and ruining something that they worked hard on or

struggling to climb a set of stairs might not sound or look funny, when they are related to each

other and are presented in an ironic way that guarantees no real harm then it is accepted as funny

by the audience.

This individual scene as well as the show as a whole is circulated through a variety of

popular websites available to any viewer with internet access. The video database youtube.com

houses millions of clips from the show that can be viewed for free and the popular subscription

based website Netflix gives subscribers access to every episode in full. The circulation of the

show promotes the genre of character driven scene comedy because people can easily share a

clip or an episode title with their friends that they found amusing and then the audience has a

chance to grow. The American adaptation of the show is derived from the original British version

which shows that the sense of humor of the show pans to an international audience. These sites

are both accessible to all ages and countries which caters to the shows extremely large audience.

While The Office may not he considered in the genre of family friendly, the subtle

innapropriociaty of the show leaves room for younger audiences who may not understand the

humor in some of the more abstract jokes. While the show The Office is intended for a more

mature audience, this particular scene may be found amusing by viewers of a number of different

ages due to its nature of physical comedy that can be easily understood. The simplicity of the
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scene is important to its comedic value because when a joke becomes complicated it confuses the

viewer and they are less likely to respond in the intended way. The show mixes aspects of

physical comedy like this scene with character driven comedy. The Office also utilizes elements

of slapstick and intentionally awkward situations which are generally less common components

of modern comedy television. Multiple different audiences can be reached through the freedom

of this particular genre to explore so many different styles of comedy.

Whenever a piece of work is produced there is at least one genre that the creator has

intended it to fit into in order to receive the expected response. Every individual genre sets out to

create a different response and multiple genders can be presented in a single work of art. Further

amusement is created in the scene by utilizing a variety of emotions other than laughter like

sympathy and shock in order to enhance the sense of comedy. The affordances of this scene

come through the connection felt between the viewer and Kevin. Sympathy, anticipation, and

surprise are all key emotions that the creator uses in order to tie the scene together and set up the

comedic nature of the scene. Contrast can be used to make the opposing side of the situation

seem more extreme. Possible constraints of this scene in achieving its goal of fitting the genre of

comedy come from the audiences ability to realize why it should be funny. In order to find

something funny, the viewer has to understand what they are watching and find amusement in

the humor of the joke. A comedy show like the office has to constantly include content that is

created for the purpose of making the audience laugh in order to be in the genre of comedy. This

scene of The Office and the show in general draw on several classical techniques of comedy to

exhibit a realistic narrative of a troubled character. Genre is manipulated throughout the scene to
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create the joke by setting up the scene and delivering a well timed visual punch line to creatively

surprise the viewer into excitement.

Bibliography

Kevins Famous Chilli // The Office US. YouTube, uploaded by The Office US, 13 April 2015,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTEm0q-VMmg

Casual Friday. The Office: Season 5, Episode 26 written by Anthony Q. Farrell, directed by

Brent Forrester, NBC, 2009.

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Rhetorical Rationale

The process for writing my paper began with looking for an artifact that I was interested in

exploring more in depth. I began thinking about what genre meant to me and what I considered

my favorite genre to be. I have always been a fan of videography and comedy scripts and

naturally was drawn to the show "The Office" which is my favorite combination of the two. A

scene that stood out to me was the artifact that I chose because it is a short clip that embodies a

prime example of what comedy can look like. I started by asking myself why I thought this scene

was funny? What about this scene made it make me laugh? When analyzing the scene I related

individual aspects of the scene and how multiple emotions and reactions were constructed in

order to enhance the main purpose of the scene, to create comedy. I began my process by writing

out the events of the scene in detail, trying to pay attention to why the creator made the choices

he made in order to make the scene the best it could be for its purpose.

Throughout revisions following the meeting I re arranged the placement of the paragraph

where I dive into the analysis of the scene to the second paragraph in order to get right to the

major theme of my paper. The structure of my paper was the biggest struggle I had in order to

make sure I kept relating my analysis back to the genre I was exploring. I removed sentences

from my draft in my introduction that attempted to directly define genre but just missed the

mark. Initially I included the sentence Comedy can be interpreted presented and interpreted in

different ways depending on a number of factors on either side as my closing sentence. I

realized that a sentence like this was far too vague and meaningless and not a strong enough

ending to my paper so I expanded my ideas and and solidified my concluding statement. Most of
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my revisions came through re writing sentences into shorter, more concise thoughts followed by

a sentence which further explained my reasoning for my analysis.

Looking back through the assignment sheet I reviewed the marks of the paper that were

meant to be touched on regarding constraints and affordances. I then solidified a few ideas on the

possible constraints and affordances of my artifact for its relationship to the genre. When

reviewing my paper I noticed there was certain information that was out of place or did not

belong in my paper in the first place so I had to replace some sentences. By arranging my

thoughts in a more organized manner I was able to write a more clear, and concise paper.