This fall I will be offering POPC 6800: TV Comedy for the first time. This 3-credit seminar will look at many varieties of televised comedy, including sitcoms, stand-up, sketch comedy, animated comedy, and hybrid genres (comedy/reality, stand-up/sitcom, stand-up/reality, mockumentaries, fake news).
Areas of focus include:
- cultural politics: how do various comedic formats allow for or preclude critical engagement with hegemonic beliefs about gender, race, class, and sexual orientation?
- comedy criticism: what expectations do scholars and popular audiences bring to their reception of comedic texts, particularly of the possibility and desirability of integrating politics with comedy?
- aesthetics: what makes comedy funny or unfunny? what role do quality, aesthetics, and performance play in the political or comedic success or failure of a comedic text?
Comics analyzed include:
- Dave Chappelle
- Margaret Cho
- Stephen Colbert
- Bill Cosby
- Ellen DeGeneres
- Kathy Griffin
- Richard Pryor
- Roseanne
- John Stewart
- Wanda Sykes
Shows analyzed include:
- Aqua Teen Hunger Force
- Flipping Out
- In Living Color
- Jackass
- Punk'd
- Reno 911
- Saturday Night Live
- Scrubs
- The Simpsons
- Weeds
- Will & Grace
- full name
- P number
- current degree program
- reason for taking the course
