Is comedy persuasive?

We all know how it goes, that one person says something funny and everyone else laughs, but why are we laughing? There are many times that after I say something and find my family laughing at me I tend to say "It's funny because it's true." This is the same reason we tag our friends on Facebook because there is some meme about being broke, or watching Netflix instead of writing the five essays I have due throughout the week. Humor is humor because we relate to it. Because of this it can be used to persuade just as sarcasm or feelings of sadness or guilt can. Additionally the use of humor as a persuasion tool depends on the situation. Comedians may use humor to talk about a political issue, or the trials of being a sober person in New York City, but humor would never be used to convince you to donate to save animals, for that the use of sad puppies and Sara McLachlan works much better.

Humor is a powerful tool that can reach anyone. Anyone can be the audience of humor. The clip we watched in class was using humor as a tool to make people laugh and understand his experiences, and although I am not a single person living in New York City I felt that I connected with him on some of what he said, and I found it funny because it was true. I had been in situations like he talked about and felt some of the same ways he did, and so did the majority of the audience as they laughed. I think that is one of the most powerful tools of humor is to reach a large audience.