Reviews
This is an incredibly valuable and worthwhile read, because it explores not only the remarkable influence comedy has, but it confronts the biases that can undermined great comics while allowing certain hacks to succeed... The value of charged humor cannot be overstated, especially these days, and neither can insightful tomes like this one.
Krefting (American Studies, Skidmore College) draws on experience working at stand-up, improv, and directing- plus, the jokes she includes are funny... This fresh, thoughtful investigation of the political dimensions in current American stand-up comedy is a must read for those interested in the comic.
A stand-up-comic-turned-scholar, Rebecca Krefting wittily argues for a comprehensive, intersectional rethinking of political comedy. All Joking Aside distinguishes among types of political humor and offers an original theory of "charged comedy" and cultural citizenship. Lively and provocative, this book is a game-changer, and it’s fun to read.
Feminist comedy? Oxymoronic. Women comics? Not funny. Stand-up comics with a social justice agenda? Don’t get me started. Rebecca Krefting atomizes why these stereotypes persist, illuminating the rich world of comedy committed to progressive politics. Her superb, up-to-the-minute, first-of-its-kind study argues that we build cultural citizenship through humor—nothing could be more serious.
This is the kind of introspective stuff that only comedians notice. Rebecca does a terrific job of dissecting a very complex landscape. Read this book and enjoy the view under the microscope before someone charges you a two-drink minimum for the privilege.
Book Details
Acknowledgments
Introduction. The Laughscape of American Humor
1. Making Connections: Building Cultural Citizenship through Charged Humor
2. Twentieth-Century Stand-Up: A History of Charged Humor
3
Acknowledgments
Introduction. The Laughscape of American Humor
1. Making Connections: Building Cultural Citizenship through Charged Humor
2. Twentieth-Century Stand-Up: A History of Charged Humor
3. Laughing into the New Millennium
4. When Women Perform Charged Humor: The (Gendered) Politics of Consumption
5. Robin Tyler: Still "Working the Crowd"
6. Micia Mosely: Humor out of the Mouths of Babes
7. Hari Kondabolu: Performing in the Age of Modern-Day Minstrelsy
Conclusion. How to Avoid the Last Laugh
Notes
Charged Comic Compendium
Index