Watch Twins Baseball

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hE5TkHCtlYI

This has to be one of the single funniest commercials that I have ever seen. Furthermore, its hilarity can be explained almost entirely by its use of low humor: funny faces and incongruity. At the beginning of the commercial, you see a normal birthday party for children who look to be about five or six years old. Some of them are wearing birthday hats and looking extremely excited. In fact, they are looking much more excited than you would expect. Thus, within the first seconds of the commercial, a tension in built up and you know something strange is going to happen. When it is announced that Torii Hunter of the twins has arrived at this otherwise ordinary birthday celebration, the children go absolutely wild. Incongruity theory combined with the release of tension built up in the opening explains why this is so hilarious. It could hardly be expected that the centerfielder for the Minnesota Twins would randomly show up to an otherwise ordinary birthday party. What makes this even funnier is Hunter’s entrance onto the set. He opens the door ever so slightly, peeks into the room and makes a ridiculously excited look. It is completely unexpected that Torii Hunter would be even close to as excited as the children over this event, but it appears he is. Our expectations of the situation were so much lower than the outcome, thus it is funny. Adding to the excitement and hilarity of the moment is the fact that the birthday boy makes the most surprised/happy face you could ever think of and Torii Hunter continues to make funny faces while pointing at him. If you were to asked what you would expect in this situation, I don’t think you would expect a highly choreographed entrance by Torii Hunter involving music, funny faces and an otherwise normal birthday. Despite this initial surprise incongruity, the commercial then begins to set a pattern of equally outrageous behavior including Torii Hunter dancing around a chair and bobbing for apples. In the final scene, Torii Hunter hits a piñata apparently breaking a window and hitting a car. The reactions of the children are all abnormal. Rather than surprise, they all look unhappy. This is also highly surprising, as you would not expect five year olds to be that unhappy about a fairly funny occurrence.
While not even considering the argument of this commercial, it’s obviously really funny. However, the commercial is also implicitly arguing that going to Twins games is fun. By showing Torii Hunter as a fun-loving guy involved in an experience that involves surprise and incongruity, the makers of the commercial are making an analogy to the fun that can be involved in a baseball game. After all, a baseball game involves surprises, tension and sometimes-unexpected results. By using humor to make viewers enjoy this commercial, the creators are giving them an experience that is meant to make them want to go to Twins games.