The Rhetoric of Humor
A Bedford Spotlight ReaderFirst Edition ©2017
The Rhetoric of Humor explores questions around the central concept of humor and comedic writing: What takes place when we laugh? When might jokes be inappropriate? What is the role of humor in a democratic society? How does one write an effective comedic argument? Readings by comedians, p...
ISBN:9781319020132
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The Rhetoric of Humor explores questions around the central concept of humor and comedic writing: What takes place when we laugh? When might jokes be inappropriate? What is the role of humor in a democratic society? How does one write an effective comedic argument? Readings by comedians, philosophers, journalists, cartoonists, sociologists, activists and others take up these issues and more. Questions and assignments for each selection provide a range of activities for students, while the website for the Spotlight Series offers comprehensive instructor support with sample syllabi and additional teaching resources.
The Bedford Spotlight Reader Series is an exciting line of single-theme readers, each featuring Bedford’s trademark care and quality. An Editorial Board of more than a dozen compositionists at schools focusing on specific themes assists in the development of the series. The readers in the series collect thoughtfully chosen readings sufficient for an entire writing course—about 35 selections—to allow instructors to provide carefully developed, high-quality instruction at an affordable price. Bedford Spotlight Readers are designed to help students make inquiries from multiple perspectives, opening up topics such as monsters, borders, subcultures, happiness, money, food, sustainability, and gender to critical analysis. The readers are flexibly arranged in thematic chapters, each focusing in depth on a different facet of the central topic.
"An exciting approach to writing studies, this book engages the intersections of gender, race, disability and more to show how comedy hinges on tensions of power and democratic social change."
—Abby Dubisar, Iowa State University"This reader challenges students to think critically about analyzing and composing humorous arguments for social change. It manages to be both theoretically rigorous and accessibly fun at the same time."
—Jason Palmeri, Miami University
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Table of Contents
Preface for Instructors Contents by Discipline Contents by Theme Introduction for Students Chapter 1: Act: What Takes Place When We Laugh? Leon Rappoport, What Makes Us Laugh John Morreall, From Lucy to "I Love Lucy": The Evolution of Humor Joel Warner, One Professor’s Attempt to Explain Every Joke Ever Sigmund Freud, Humor Jeffrey Klassen, He Looked into the Grim Reaper’s Eyes and Nervously Laughed Chapter 2: Scene: When and Where Does Humor Occur? Caitlin Flanagan, That’s Not Funny! Simon Critchley, Foreigners Are Funny: The Ethicity and Ethnicity of Humor Daniel Harris, How Many Light-Bulb Jokes Does It Take to Chart an Era? Katherine Leyton, Laughing It Off Michael V. Tueth, Breaking and Entering: Transgressive Comedy on Television Aleks Krotoski, What Effect Has the Internet Had on Comedy? Ian Crouch, Is Social Media Ruining Comedy? Chapter 3: Agent: Who (or What) Is a Comedian? Matt Buchanan, Why Twitter Parody Accounts Should Stay Anonymous Chris Bachelder, The Dead Chipmunk: An Interrogation into the Mechanisms of Jokes Tamar Jeffers McDonald, Romantic Comedy and Genre Amanda Lynch Morris, Native American Stand-Up Comedy Alan Shain, Perspectives on Comedy and Performance as Radical Disability Activism Karley Sciortino, Why Amy Schumer Is an Amazing Feminist Jennifer Reed, Sexual Outlaws: Queer in a Funny Way Chapter 4: Purpose: What Is the Function of Satire in a Democratic Society? Joe Sacco, On Satire: A Response to the Charlie Hebdo Attacks Tim Parks, The Limits of Satire Russell L. Peterson, Losing Our Religion Elizabeth Kolbert, Stooping to Conquer Steve Almond, The Joke’s on You Amber Day, Moving Beyond Critique Daniel J. Kenny, How John Oliver Usurped a Genre Chapter 5: Agency: How Do You Write a Comic Argument? Franklin Ajaye, First Steps to Becoming a Stand-Up Comedian Megh Wright, How Improv Helps Television’s Best Comedy Writers Conor Friedersdorf, A Modest Proposal: Dont Worry About Government Surveillance at All, Ever Michael Kimmel, Ritualized Sexuality in Nacirema Subculture Julia Drake, The Boy from Jurassic Park’s College Application Essay Paul Davidson, Consumer Joe Baratunde Thurston, How to Be the Black Employee Christian Lander, Stuff White People LikeIndex of authors and titles
Authors
Kirk Boyle
Kirk Boyle is an assistant professor in the Department of English at the University of North Carolina Asheville, where he teaches courses on rhetoric and composition, American literature and culture, modernity studies, and critical theory. Originally from Pittsburgh, he received his B.A. in English from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and his M.A. and Ph.D. in English and Comparative Literature from the University of Cincinnati. He is the author of The Rhetoric of Humor, part of the Bedford Spotlight Reader series, and the co-editor of The Great Recession in Fiction, Film, and Television: Twenty-First-Century Bust Culture.
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