Uproarious

How Feminists and Other Subversive Comics Speak Truth

Cynthia Willett, Julie Willett

• Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press
• Year: 2019
• Topic: Social Sciences
• eBook ISBN:
  9781452962221
• Subtopic: Social Philosophy
• Index: Social Sciences

A radical new approach to humor, where traditional targets become its agents
 
Humor is often dismissed as cruel ridicule or harmless fun. But what if laughter is a vital force to channel rage against patriarchy, Islamophobia, or mass incarceration? To create moments of empathy and dialogue between Black Lives Matter and the police? These and other such questions are at the heart of this powerful reassessment of humor. Placing theorists in conversation with comedians, Uproarious offers a full-frontal approach to the very foundation of comedy and its profound political impact.
 
Here Cynthia Willett and Julie Willett address the four major theories of humor—superiority, relief, incongruity, and social play—through the lens of feminist and game-changing comics such as Wanda Sykes, Margaret Cho, Hannah Gadsby, Hari Kondabolu, and Tig Notaro. They take a radical and holistic approach to the understanding of humor, particularly of humor deployed by those from groups long relegated to the margins, and propose a powerful new understanding of humor as a force that can engender politically progressive social movements. Drawing on a range of cross-disciplinary sources, from philosophies and histories of humor to the psychology and physiology of laughter to animal studies, Uproarious offers a richer understanding of the political and cathartic potential of humor.
 
A major new contribution to a wider dialogue on comedy, Uproarious grounds for us explorations of outsider humor and our golden age of feminist comics—showing that when women, prisoners, even animals, laugh back, comedy along with belly laughs forge new identities and alter the political climate.
 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction: Revamping the Four Major Theories on Humor
• 1. Fumerism: Feminist Anger and Joy from Roseanne Barr to Margaret Cho and Wanda Sykes
• 2. Fighting Back against Islamophobia and Post-9/11 Nationalism: Dean Obeidallah, Maysoon Zayid, Hari Kondabolu, and Others
• 3. Can the Animal Subaltern Laugh? Mocking Alpha Males with Georgia and Koko
• 4. A Catharsis of Shame: The Belly Laugh and SlutWalk
• 5. Solidaric Empathy and a Prison Roast with Jeff Ross
• Conclusion. Humor Can’t Wait: In the Tragic with Tig Notaro and Hannah Gadsby
• Acknowledgments
• Notes
• Index