It's become standard on TV in a sitcom with a group of characters to have various types. One type is the dummy. Nearly every sitcom has the dumb character. And in contrast to the dummy is the snidely superior character who is the foil for the dummy on a regular basis. Chandler insults Joey. House insults everyone. Fred Sanford insults his son. George Jefferson insults his neighbor. Insults are not necessarily witty. They can be, but Fred Sanford's catchphrase was literally "Ya big dummy!" That ain't exactly Chaucer.
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"My dearest Elizabeth, I truly believe this to be of such enormity that I shall
be joining your embrace shortly."
The snarky characters are often some of the favorites on TV. But why? They play directly to us. David Wong wrote not so long ago about how media makes you a worse person, and specifically cited the way Chandler and Joey interact. Chandler says things that never would make sense in normal discourse. He doles out wicked burns, but for the sake of whom? Us, as an audience. So we laugh and go, "Ooh, zinger!" because he just treated his best friend like a piece of shit.
In real life, you wouldn't be friends with Archie Bunker, yet he's one of the most beloved characters in TV history. The guy was a piece of shit. You'd tell Chandler to fuck his mom if he talked to you the way he talks to Joey, who's supposedly his best friend in the world. But on TV we laugh, because man, wouldn't it be great just to lay into someone like that? Wouldn't it be great to tell all the idiots they really are idiots, right to their idiot faces? That's Trump appeal.
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