The Comic Offense from Vaudeville to Contemporary Comedy
eBook - PDF

The Comic Offense from Vaudeville to Contemporary Comedy

Larry David, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, and Dave Chappelle

  1. 176 pages
  2. English
  3. PDF
  4. Available on iOS & Android
eBook - PDF

The Comic Offense from Vaudeville to Contemporary Comedy

Larry David, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, and Dave Chappelle

About this book

The Comic Offense from Vaudeville to Contemporary Comedy examines how contemporary writer/performers are influenced by the comedic vaudevillians of the early 20th century. By tracing the history and legacy of the vaudeville era and performance acts, like the Marx Brothers and The Three Keatons, and moving through the silent and early sound films of the early 1930s, the author looks at how comic writer/performers continue to sell a brand of themselves as a form of social commentary in order to confront and dispel stereotypes of race, class, and gender. The first study to explore contemporary popular comic culture and its influence on American society from this unique perspective, Rick DesRochers analyzes stand-up and improvisational comedy writing/performing in the work of Larry David, Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, and Dave Chappelle. He grounds these choices by examining their evolution as they developed signature characters and sketches for their respective shows Curb Your Enthusiasm, 30 Rock, The Colbert Report, and Chappelle 's Show.

Frequently asked questions

Yes, you can cancel anytime from the Subscription tab in your account settings on the Perlego website. Your subscription will stay active until the end of your current billing period. Learn how to cancel your subscription.
No, books cannot be downloaded as external files, such as PDFs, for use outside of Perlego. However, you can download books within the Perlego app for offline reading on mobile or tablet. Learn more here.
Perlego offers two plans: Essential and Complete
  • Essential is ideal for learners and professionals who enjoy exploring a wide range of subjects. Access the Essential Library with 800,000+ trusted titles and best-sellers across business, personal growth, and the humanities. Includes unlimited reading time and Standard Read Aloud voice.
  • Complete: Perfect for advanced learners and researchers needing full, unrestricted access. Unlock 1.4M+ books across hundreds of subjects, including academic and specialized titles. The Complete Plan also includes advanced features like Premium Read Aloud and Research Assistant.
Both plans are available with monthly, semester, or annual billing cycles.
We are an online textbook subscription service, where you can get access to an entire online library for less than the price of a single book per month. With over 1 million books across 1000+ topics, we’ve got you covered! Learn more here.
Look out for the read-aloud symbol on your next book to see if you can listen to it. The read-aloud tool reads text aloud for you, highlighting the text as it is being read. You can pause it, speed it up and slow it down. Learn more here.
Yes! You can use the Perlego app on both iOS or Android devices to read anytime, anywhere — even offline. Perfect for commutes or when you’re on the go.
Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access The Comic Offense from Vaudeville to Contemporary Comedy by Rick DesRochers in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Sozialwissenschaften & Nordamerikanische Geschichte. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.

Table of contents

  1. Cover page
  2. Halftitle page
  3. Title page
  4. Copyright page
  5. Dedication
  6. Contents
  7. Illustrations
  8. Acknowledgments
  9. Preface
  10. 1 The vaudeville aesthetic and the migration to radio and television
  11. 2 “What’s real got to do with what we do?” Groucho Marx to Larry David
  12. 3 “The Girlie Show” as the new burlesque Mae West to Tina Fey
  13. 4 Truth and truthiness go to Washington Will Rogers to Stephen Colbert
  14. 5 The mask of minstrelsy Bert Williams to Dave Chappelle
  15. Epilogue
  16. Bibliography
  17. Index