The comedian as preacher: Bill Hicks and the rhetoric of fundamentalism / Rob King. Mo'nique: con woman and sister citizen in I Coulda Been Your Cellmate / Linda Mizejewski -- Scorched earth comedy: laughing off wounded warriors with the humor of Bobby Henline / Christopher J. Gilbert -- Maria Bamford: a/way with words / Rebecca Krefting -- Awkward embrace: Tig Notaro and the humor of social discomfort / Kathryn Kein -- Comedy from the intersections: Chris Rock on class and race / Philip Scepanski -- White comedians, strategic racist humor, and the (re)normalization of racism: Lisa Lampanelli as a case study / Raúl Pérez -- Leguizamo's comic frame: identity and the art of impersonation / Miriam M. Chirico -- "Of course, but maybe": Louis C.K. and the contradictory politics of privilege / David Gillota -- Jerry Seinfeld versus PC social media: professional dissonanace and the public intellectual as gatekeeper / Timothy J. Viator -- Standing flat-footed and talking: W. Kamau Bell talks race in an age of "post-race" / Monique Taylor -- Smartphone sociology: Aziz Ansari on intimacy in the twenty-first century / Ila Tyagi -- Stewart Huff, P.I.: intellectual at large / Susan Seizer and Aviva Orenstein -- Larry the Cable Guy: the anti-political correctness public intellectual / David R. Dewberry -- "Killer closer": Doug Stanhope and the white liberatarian stand-up tradition / Thomas Clark -- The comedian as preacher: Bill Hicks and the rhetoric of fundamentalism / Rob King.
Summary:
"Stand-up comedians have a long history of walking a careful line between serious and playful engagement with social issues: Lenny Bruce questioned the symbolic valence of racial slurs, Dick Gregory took time away from the stage to speak alongside Martin Luther King Jr., and-more recently-Tig Notaro challenged popular notions of damaged or abject bodies. Taking a Stand: Contemporary US Stand-Up Comedians as Public Intellectuals draws together essays that contribute to the analysis of the stand-up-comedian-as-public intellectual since the 1980s. The chapters explore stand-up comedians as contributors to and shapers of public discourse via their live performances, podcasts, social media presence, and political activism. Each chapter highlights a stand-up comedian and their ongoing discussion of a cultural issue or expression of a political ideology/standpoint: Lisa Lampanelli's use of problematic postracial humor, Aziz Ansari's merging of sociology and technology, or Maria Bamford's emphasis on mental health, to name just a few. Taking a Stand offers a starting point for understanding the work stand-up comedians do as well as its reach beyond the stage"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.