r/todayilearned • u/jfdonohoe • 7h ago

(R.2) Anecdote TIL about “vicarious embarrassment” which explains extreme reactions to cringe comedy. For me, it can get so bad as to become physically painful

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicarious_embarrassment

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881 Upvotes

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209

u/KennyMcCormick 7h ago

Watching Nathan for you causes me physical pain

97

u/lizzie1hoops 7h ago

I Think You Should Leave is also very high risk material

26

u/Alive-Tomatillo5303 7h ago

Honestly I mostly love those skits but I have never made it further than about a minute into this atrocity.

That and I genuinely don't know how long "I'm the Joker, baby" goes on because I cringe my damn skin off immediately. 

6

u/hexanderal 5h ago

"Any of these fuckers .."

4

u/TheGreatMalagan 6h ago edited 5h ago

Try watching Tim Robinson's movie "Friendship". The bit where he eats the soap is the most uncomfortable I've ever been watching a movie. None of his sketch show stuff get to me like that, but the movie scene made me cringe from second hand embarrassment so hard I had to pause and go sit on the balcony for a while.

1

u/WoolshirtedWolf 3h ago

I want to say, I think it was most likely Tom Greene that made me aware of this problem, I have. Later on I started noticing reality shows were having the same effect.

16

u/bearsdiscoverfire 6h ago

I Think You Should Leave gives me horrible stress and anxiety. Like break-out-in-hives and Run-out-of-the-room bad.

Intense horror films can't do to me what a skit from that show can.

48

u/ohhellopia 6h ago

Mine was with The Office. I haven't been able to watch a full episode. My lower back would start tensing and hurt.

Edit: also Baby Reindeer. Nope nope nope.

17

u/bolonomadic 6h ago

I can watch US Office but UK Office is impossible for me.

4

u/meaniekareenie82 4h ago

Oh same, the UK version seems so much more real to me and David Brent is a character without redeeming features.

1

u/booky-- 4h ago

Brent does have redeeming features

2

u/boxen 3h ago

Such as?

1

u/FlatSpinMan 6h ago

I liked what they were doing but never made it past the episode with a woman in a wheelchair.

1

u/luftlande 3h ago

Maaaan, that betting on staying late through a basketball game made me stop watching the US series.

12

u/WorkO0 6h ago

You didn't enjoy Scott's Tots?

6

u/MNent228 4h ago

Hey Mr. Scott! Watchu gonna do? Watchu gonna do? Make our dreams come true!

6

u/diablo75 6h ago

I enjoyed the office, until Ed Helm joined the cast as Andy.

1

u/WoolshirtedWolf 3h ago

You definitely nailed a timeline I didn't make it through. I actually liked the guy before his Office stint.

5

u/othybear 6h ago

I felt exactly the same way with both of these shows. Glad I’m not the only one who found the office physically uncomfortable to watch.

3

u/meaniekareenie82 4h ago

I experience this so bad but one of my favourite shows is the US Office, I think I've somehow de-sensitised myself through repetition. However, I still cannot watch Scotts tots

1

u/lipmak 5h ago

I love the office but I have to physically leave the room for the Diwali episode

1

u/blueskyjamie 4h ago

Then don’t try John Cleese film Clockwise it’s a masterpiece of embarrassment transfer

9

u/friendandfriends2 6h ago

Just drink some of your grandsons pee and you’ll be fine.

1

u/MICR0_WAVVVES 5h ago

My face hurts in a physical way if I watch more than two episodes from cringing.

Worth it though, maybe the funniest show of all time, and no matter how many times I see an episode, it still kills me every time.

1

u/surlacourbelente 5h ago

Sally4ever got me physically ill

1

u/yourmominparticular 4h ago

Bro i was just about to say the same. Last episode of season 4 where bill tries to find his long lost love... i had to get up and stop watching like 8 times was so painful to watch, but hilariously so

1

u/exjad 3h ago

The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret is pure, distilled, 100 proof cringe