Cover
Half Title
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Foreword by Ian Wilkie
Acknowledgements
PART I: Back to basics: What is comedy and where does it come from?
1. Against Comedy (1:2)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
Notes
References
Contributor
2. Thoughts on the current state of humour theory (1:2)
Notes
References
Contributor
3. The origins of comic performance in adult–child interaction (1:1)
Overview
The development of smiling and laughter
Surprise and familiarity
Incongruity
The here-and-now
Language-based humour
Repetition
Nonsense
Superiority
Conclusion
References
Contributors
4. The science of baby laughter (4:2)
What can we learn from laughing babies?
Infant laughter in the study of humour
Infant laughter in developmental psychology
‘The Baby Laughter’ project
Conclusion
Notes
References
Contributors
PART II: Old comedy: Taproots and tropes
5. The time-travelling miser: Translation and transformation in European comedy (2:1)
Introduction
The miser in action
The alternate ending
Comedy, translation and its sources
Notes
References
Contributor
6. Conflict and slapstick in Commedia dell’Arte – The double act of Pantalone and Arlecchino (4:1)
Definitions
Slapstick and Commedia dell’Arte
The importance of a central double act
The purpose of slapstick
Conclusion
References
Contributor
7. Clowns do ethnography: an experiment in long-distance comic failure (5:1)
1 Introduction: ineptitude and clown ethnography
2 Clowns as idiots: flouting the etiquette of online
interaction
3 Clowns as eccentrics: technology and internet irreverence
4 Clowns as rabble-rousers: carnivals and shopping centres
5 Clowns as tricksters: enchantments and disenchantments
Notes
References
Contributors
PART III: Class, gender, race: Reading comedy’s issues
8. ‘To what base uses we may return, Horatio!’ – Hamlet, Comedy and Class Struggle (4:2)
Introduction
Comedy and Materialism
Dionysus, Harpo Marx and Yorick
References
Contributor
9. No other excuse: Race, class and gender in British Music Hall comedic performance 1914–1949 (3:1)
Introduction
The elusive audience
Class
Gender
Race
Further research
References
Contributors
10. ‘Women Like Us?’ (3:2)
The shock of the (not so) new
The shock of the old
A question of class
Nan, Emily and Sally Simkin
The history of comedy, the comedy of forgotten histories
Notes
References
Contributor
PART IV: Doing comedy: Giving, receiving, causes and effects
11. Pretty funny: Manifesting a normatively sexy female comic body (4:2)
The unfunniness of women
The unfunniness of sexiness
Mind the gap
Pretty funny
Notes
References
Contributor
12. No greater foe? Rethinking emotion and humour, with particular attention to the relationship between audience members and stand-up comedians (5:1)
Introduction
A phenomenological methodology
The research
Conclusion
References
Contributor
Appendix 1 The comedians
Appendix 2 Referencing
13. The roots of alternative comedy? – The alternative story of 20th Century Coyote and Eighties Comedy (4:1)
Context
Birth of Coyote
Coyote uncaged
Dead Funny
Coyote rampant
Coyote migrates south
Coyote – the final howl
Notes
References
Contributor
14. Life memory archive translation performance memory archive life: textual self-documentation in stand-up comedy (7:1)
Findings
Archiving
Ritual
Memory and mnemonics
Hermeneutics
Conclusions
Disclosure statement
Notes
References
Contributor
PART V: New comedy? Interviews with practitioners
15. Not the definitive version: an interview with Ross Noble (1:1)
1 Opening notes
2 The interview
3 Closing thoughts
Notes
References
Contributor
16. Scenes in the House of Comedy: Interview with Stewart Lee (2:1)
Opening notes
Notes
References
Contributor
17. Up and down with Barry Cryer: From an interview conducted on 22 July 2011 (2:2)
Introduction
London
Writing
Morecambe and Wise
Stand up
Young Guns
Contributor
18. Interview with Charlie Hanson (3:1)
Contributor
19. ‘Words are my weapons’: Tiffany Stevenson interview (3:2)
Contributor
20. Russell Kane: Comic chameleon (4:2)
Contributor
21. Les Dennis: Man out of time (4:2)
Contributor
22. ‘Not a funny place to live’: An interview with Chris Rock (5:2)
Contributor
23. A series of ghastly mistakes that turned out right in the end (8:1)
Notes
Contributor
24. Interview with Kate Fox – stand-up poet (8:2)
Reference
Contributor
PART VI: Critical angles: Essays on a Joan Rivers routine
25. From toothpick legs to dropping vaginas: Gender and sexuality in Joan Rivers’ stand-up comedy performance (2:2)
Introduction
Funny women? Don’t Make Me Laugh!
Balancing the gender-imbalanced comedyscape
Reinforcing/resisting dominant notions of gender and sexuality
Discussion
Acknowledgements
Notes
References
Contributor
26. Joan Rivers – Reading the meaning (2:2)
Introduction
Semiotics
The performer’s identity
Kowzan On Polysemics
Segmenting Rivers’ performance
Kowzan and an analysis of ‘the only jewish kid’
Patrice Pavis and analysing performance
Pavis and an analysis of ‘Angelina Jolie’
Conclusion
References
Contributor
27. ‘A pleasure working with you’: Humour theory and Joan Rivers (2:2)
Introduction
Superiority
Incongruity
Relief
‘A pleasure working with you’
References
Contributor
PART VII: The world of comedy: Culture and satire
28. Obscenity, dirtiness and licence in Jewish comedy (5:2)
Postscript
Acknowledgements
Notes
Contributors
29. Satire in a multi-cultural world: a Bakhtinian analysis (9:2)
Introduction
The carnival
Carnival laughter
Carnivalised literature
Satire as revolution
Abusive language or throwing shit
Identifying constructive and destructive satire: a basic framework
Putting Bakhtin to the test
Conclusion
Notes
Disclosure statement
References
Contributor
30. Silly meets serious: discursive integration and the Stewart/ Colbert era (9:2)
The nature of the beast: theoretical approaches
Terminology: describing the form
Serious comedy, serious influence
Value judgments
Jesters, fools and satire television
Animation and late-night comedy
The eras of television news
The Stewart/Colbert factor
Outside the box, outside the studio
Conclusion
Disclosure statement
References
Contributors
31. The comedian, the cat, and the activist: the politics of light seriousness and the (un)serious work of contemporary laughter (6:1)
(Un)serious laughter
Laughter and/as un/work
Serious unseriousness
The burst(s) of laughter
Disclosure statement
References
Contributor
32. Borat, Sacha Baron Cohen, and the seriousness of (mock) documentary (6:1)
Introduction
Borat and the battle of representation vs. reality
Speech acts and the inefficacies of context
Cohen’s influence on ‘Kazakhstan’
The system of différance and the institution of ‘reality’
Serious intentions
Conclusion
Disclosure statement
Notes
References
Contributor
PART VIII: New comedy? Emerging platforms and forms of expression
33. A book and a movie walk into a bar (6:2)
Jokes about adaptations
Jokes about adaptation
Jokes as adaptations
Comedy studies as adaptation studies
Disclosure statement
References
Contributor
34.
Kidding around: children, comedy, and social media (5:1)
Note
References
Contributor
35. A new economy of jokes?: #Socialmedia #Comedy (6:2)
Introduction
The industry is (still) changing
Social media as industry imperative
Has the joke changed?
Conclusion: May the best (funny) man win!
Acknowledgements
Disclosure statement
Funding
Notes
References
Contributors
36. Comedy meets media: how three new media features have influenced changes in the production of stand-up comedy (6:2)
Introduction
Prosumer
Transmedia
Culture jamming
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
Disclosure statement
References
Contributor
37. The animated moving image as political cartoon (9:1)
Static vs temporal
Metaphor
Temporality
Movement
Sound
Navigating the temporal in production
Conclusion
Disclosure statement
References
Contributor
38. Is vlogging the new stand-up? A compare/contrast of traditional and online models of comedic content distribution (9:1)
Introduction
Materials and methods
Results
Discussion
Disclosure statement
Contributor
Index
