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Taking a Stand: Contemporary US Stand-Up Comedians as Public Intellectuals

Online ISBN:
9781496835536
Print ISBN:
9781496835482
Publisher:
University Press of Mississippi
Book

Taking a Stand: Contemporary US Stand-Up Comedians as Public Intellectuals

Jared N. Champion (ed.),
Jared N. Champion
(ed.)
Mercer University
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Peter C. Kunze (ed.)
Peter C. Kunze
(ed.)
Tulane University
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Published online:
19 May 2022
Published in print:
15 November 2021
Online ISBN:
9781496835536
Print ISBN:
9781496835482
Publisher:
University Press of Mississippi

Abstract

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. Stand-up comedians deploy humor to open up difficult topics for broader examination, which only underscores the social and cultural importance of their work. 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. Comedians influence discourse, perspectives, even public policy on myriad issues, and this book sets out to take those jokes seriously.

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