In lecture, we have defined humor as a performative pragmatic accomplishment in speech or
any other communicative event that aims at creating a response-laughter. It sets up a type of
juxtaposition, usually through some type of incongruity whether it be a pun, ambiguity, or
indeterminacy. Humor depends on the cooperative participation of actor and audience and can be
performed in conversation, as a narrative, or as stand-up comedy. Kimberly Wilkins, widely
known as Sweet Brown, is an Oklahoma city resident who became an internet sensation after
being interviewed by local news station KFOR News Channel 4 after evacuating her apartment
building that was set on fire.
In Sweet Brown’s narrative of the chaotic scene she states that she woke up at 3am to get a
“cold pop” when she thought someone was barbequing before she realized that there was a fire.
She exclaims “Oh Lord Jesus it’s a fire!” and then began to run out of her apartment without
shoes. When describing the heavy presence of the fire she exclaims “I got bronchitis!” While
clutching her throat and after a brief pause, she says “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” This last
phrase became a humorous and widely circulated tagline that can be found on youtube in the
form of hip-hop auto-tune remixes, social media, conversations between friends and family, and
even t-shirts!
Because this humorous interview is extremely widespread, many variations of the joke can
be found on the internet. There are many performed versions of the narrative on youtube as
individuals impersonate Sweet Brown and perform acoustic covers of the remixed song. There is also a music video titled “cold poppin” which shows Sweet Brown re-enacting the scenario as
well as dancing to an R&B remix of the song in a club surrounded by dancers. In terms of text
versions of the joke, I discovered an “Ain’t nobody got time for that!” meme generator using
Sweet Brown’s face and different scenarios typed at the top of the picture and either “Aint
nobody got time for that!” or “Everybody’s got time for that!” located at the bottom of the
picture, according to the appropriateness of the scenario. Also, there is an “Ain’t nobody got time
for that!” official parody page on Facebook. When visiting my grandfather in the hospital during
