# 02/01 WK 03 UT/ WK 02 NYU

## IN CLASS <a href="#in-class" id="in-class"></a>

**ANNOUNCE:** \
**NYU Students,** can you post your blog URLs [**here**](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MQSAVnYq5eAdVIONsKF6gaJwiY468BiyMroAq5V5nkU/edit?usp=sharing) too, so it's easier for me to distinguish who's NYU. Also, especially for students who have just joined the course: you can find all class presentations and class recordings [**here**](https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/143BEwy_O9ZqHsgVmbhO9g7PlPBmOdaXa?usp=sharing)**.**\
\
Dr. Charlotte Kent will be visiting our class next week! See the talk description and read her bio [**here**](/humor-makes-us-better-storytellers/weeks-schedule/02-08-wk-04-ut-wk-03-nyu.md)**.**\
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**LAST CHANCE** TO SIGN UP FOR **"LAUGH OUT LOUD"**  <https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1y_adnlHyC2eDLk8NYTuMQtljX7YiJocDLNfEI85CzI4/edit?usp=sharing>  sponsored by WSPARK & DSLCOLLECTION ON SANSAR: ART EXHIBITIONS IN THE METAVERSE, opening April 9th. Prof Lanina and Prof Gannis are working with NYU Prof Snow Yunxue Fu on a Comedy Hour in the virtual (social VR) Washington Square Park. We will be including students, who are interested from this class, in the event (this means you need to have a moving image work or avatar performance ready to go one week **BEFORE** April 9th!). <br>

**READ ABOUT THE EVENT**>>  [😂 Laugh Out Loud](/humor-makes-us-better-storytellers/laugh-out-loud.md)&#x20;

\*This is an **extra credit** opportunity. If you would like to participate, sign up here BEFORE Feb 1. All students who sign up and make a work will receive extra credit, however Pro Snow Yunxue Fu will be the curator of the event, and will make final selections of works for inclusion.\
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**PRESENTATIONS:** Sarah Tahir

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**UNPACKING COMEDIC LICENSE & CONTEXT, CULTURAL IDENTITIES, HISTORY, POLITICS**: Yuliya Lanina, Presentation and Q & A

\
**CLASS EXERCISE:** "Cry Until you Laugh" \
This is an open work session. You will be addressing how comedians can incorporate personal adversity into their work.

* **PART 1:** “Support or challenge this claim: Comedians use their humor in order to deal with their own personal pain?” You'll have 10 minutes to write about this and then we will discuss together as a class.
* **PART 2:** Brainstorm a list of difficult or challenging situations that you have confronted in your lives (e.g., being cut from a sports team, failing a class in school, online harassment, the illness of a relative).&#x20;
* **PART 3:** Now divide into groups of three or four, and each group will choose a scenarios from the class list out of which to develop a comedic sketch. This sketch can be produced as a comic strip, an animation, a performance, a video story, a written story or in some other form
* **PART 4:** Ask yourselves: What about this situation might be humorous from an outsider’s perspective? -What aspects of this scenario might be too uncomfortable to enact, for both the actors and the audience? -How can you realistically portray this event while at the same time revealing the inherent humor in it? -What surreal occurrences, exaggerated characters, or funny plot twists might be added to avoid dealing with the scenario in a way that will make the audience uncomfortable?
* **PART 5:** Be prepared to share your comedic sketch in class next week. If it is a time-based, the sketch should **not exceed 5 minutes.**

## ASSIGNMENT 03 <a href="#assignments-for-the-week" id="assignments-for-the-week"></a>

**VRL  (1) READ** How comedy makes us better people <https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160829-how-laughter-makes-us-better-people> || In preparation for Charlotte Kent's visit next week:**(2) VIEW** <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksL_7WrhWOc>  and **(3) READ** "The Myth of Sisyphus" by Albert Camus <http://dbanach.com/sisyphus.htm>  **(4) WRITE & POST on your**[✍ Process Blog](/humor-makes-us-better-storytellers/process-blog.md)your responses to the two VRL assigned. Do **not** write a summary. In other words, do not regurgitate what you absorbed. Discuss any epiphanies or insights that occurred while reading, what points of view you agreed with or that you didn't. **(5) PREPARE** your[ **"Cry Until you Laugh"** ](/humor-makes-us-better-storytellers/micro-assignments/01-cry-until-you-laugh.md)Comedic Sketches to be presented in class next week.&#x20;


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