The Substitute Teacher

For his blog post, Jack picked one of the funniest and most popular Key & Peele shorts: Substitute Teacher. This clip shows a new substitute at a high school mispronounce most of the names on his roster. Sound familiar? What makes this clip so funny, however, is his over-the-top reaction when the students try to correct him. He breaks his clipboard, throws everything off a table, and sends one of the kids to the principle's office (whose name he also mispronounces). The clip ends with the substitute finally pronouncing a name correctly so the student simply says "present."

I'm sure we've all had experiences with teachers like the substitute. In high school I had a teacher send one of my classmates to the assistant principal for "sneezing too loudly." This clip is not just relateable in regards to the names, but as to the teacher's temper as well. When the substitute shouts the popular line "You dun messed up A-a-ron!" and sends him to the principal, it was a very dramatic version of a situation many students have been in. This is an example of relief theory. While we may not be able to call an unreasonable teacher out in the real world, this clip allows us to laugh at the over-the-top version instead.

This clip is also a good example of benign-violation theory. It is a violation of behavioral normality for a professional to act in the way the substitute teacher did in the clip. However, the situation is benign to the audience because we will not face the wrath for laughing. Therefore it becomes humorous. It is also a violation for students to talk back to an authority, but since the substitute was being unreasonable, it becomes benign  and humorous as well.