it's comedy night at the fridge and you are ready to laugh on the stage are two performers
chester cheeseman and cornelius cobbs and they are in a comedy battle cheese man opens with some
crowd work a lot of beautiful people here tonight especially this lady here lady if you would cheese
you'd be good the crowd chuckles lightly your girlfriend who kindly joined you for this evening
of comedy leans over and whispers well that was cheesy then comes cornelius cobbs to the
mic he pulls out a cue card and reads what does a coin say when it gets a compliment what oh shucks
your girlfriend rolls her eyes and stares at you wondering if the two of you could sneak out
of this disastrous show let's get out of here and away from the corny jokes while you stare
into your girlfriend's face one part of your brain contemplates sneaking out of the show but another
part is computing something quite complex the two words she used to describe the comedians cheesy
and corny you've heard these adjectives used before but what are the differences between
the two words it's true the two comedians were not telling brilliantly clever jokes but what
about their jokes made them bad and did being cheesy and corny have something to do with it
let's start with chester and his cheesy pickup line style joke the word cheesy is often used
to describe something that is overly dramatic exaggerated or forced in addition to pickup lines
songs can also be cheesy such as a love song that makes outrageous promises such as never
gonna give you up never gonna let you down the way chester presents himself a bombastic caricature
saying a line that was so clearly rehearsed in a tone that begged for attention is undoubtedly
cheesy then there is cornelius cobbs and his corny joke simply put something is corny when
it lacks creativity and originality and feels as though it was taken from an overused source
anyone who had ever thought of the phrase ah shucks had most likely associated it with the
shocking of a corn the mental leap taking for that joke is quite short the cleverness of the
joke is perhaps at a grade 3 level where one may be old enough to understand the concept of corn
shucking and the phrase evoking flattery any adult you and your girlfriend included would feel a
little cheated when hearing that punchline it was predictable you could have told that joke yourself
it's like going to a restaurant and knowing you can cook the food better than the chef
it's disappointing when using these two adjectives at the core what you are describing is something
that is cliche overly emotional or sentimental these are the traits that these two words share
they are both predictable and excessive to a point where it becomes boring if not painful to endure
what a good story song or joke does is establish a pattern for your brain to follow but if the
pattern as it progresses is so predictable you end up knowing who the killer is or how the next
rhyme goes or how the punchline lands you end up feeling robbed of a promise of entertainment
pleasure and laughter that's the feeling you get after hearing or watching something cheesy
or corny you feel like a good feeling you should get from art was taken or blocked
you worry that you might never feel the feeling of being properly entertained again it is this
sudden pulse of panic that makes so many of us to test anything cheesy and corny so to clarify
let's draw a quick venn diagram on the left we have cheesy and on the right we have corny and in
the middle we have similarities something that is cheesy is exaggerated or forced and something that
is corny is boring in the middle we have cliche unoriginal and cloying cheesy is often seen as
being more contrived and corny is often seen as being more lazy but what feedback can you give
these two comedians you wonder as your girlfriend is getting up from receipt perhaps their failing
is that you didn't get to know the true characters behind chester cheese man and cornelius cobbs they
are just vessels for bad jokes and you don't know what they love and fear you don't know how they
actually see the world you didn't hear any raw stories or feel any strong emotions they didn't
challenge your beliefs or make any stances they are replaceable interchangeable and expendable
if you could give one piece of feedback you would tell them to say something real say something true
and perhaps in the truth it would be originality and in the originality there would be humor
can we go your girlfriend asked grabbing her bag off the back of the chair you look at her and then
once again to the two performers on stage chester says i'm on a new diet you know what it's called
what curds and weigh wow it works you look amazing says cornelius you grab
your girlfriend by the hand and rush out of the fridge together once outside you exhale all the
way home the two of you make jokes and laugh at chester and cornelius and how horrible they were
a thought strikes you perhaps there is some entertainment value in their performance after all
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