Comment by fsckboy

Comment by fsckboy 4 days ago

6 replies

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>[1] https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/what-a-week-huh

>"In the episode, the character Liz Lemon, portrayed by Tina Fey, complains to character Jack Donaghy, portrayed by Alec Baldwin, about having finished a hard week of work, with Donaghey reminding her that it is still Wednesday"

I don't know any context beyond what's in this clip of Liz Lemon saying it to Jack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z3uGyBM_1c

but "what a week" by itself does not indicate that the week is over, you can say "what a week" in the middle of a week; it would imply more the multiplicity of things that have already gone wrong, and "it's Wednesday" as a response has the sense "and it's only Wednesday, more things can still happen"

dylan604 4 days ago

In writing classes, adding all of that unnecessary dialog is considered insulting to the audience. If you are trying to write a joke for the lowest denominator audience member, then you will alienate a larger portion of the audience. If every single joke needed that much additional context, it's not a funny joke. If you're going to require the writers to add that much dialog, you might as well ask them to add a laugh track

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  • fsckboy 3 days ago

    I'm not adding context to the joke, I'm pointing out that people are misinterpreting the dialog as it was written. by saying "I don't know what the additional context is", I was saying "perhaps she had just said TGIF!" and that would explain why he said "it's Wednesday"

    "What a week, thank god it's over!"

    "it's wednesday"

    would work for your lowest common denominator.

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    • dylan604 3 days ago

      But that’s NOT the joke. There’s no implication the week is over on her part. It’s more “so much has happened it feels like a week” much more than “thank god it’s over”

      Saying “a week full of mondays” doesn’t mean it’s over either.

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  • Ylpertnodi 4 days ago

    Truth be told, that's all the one of the differences between American and British comedy.

    Slapstick is cool, but irony needs to be understood.

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snarkyturtle 4 days ago

The proper context, too, is that Liz Lemon is in charge of showrunning a Saturday Night skit show and is facing many challenges. "Lemon, it's Wednesday" implies that there are many things that can go wrong in between Wednesday and Saturday.

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