Databases
Communication & Mass Media Complete
This database from EBSCO provides access to full text articles in magazines and journals related to communication studies, as well as abstracts for additional resources, and book reviews. Articles focused on the intersection between communications and media studies will provide insight into the ubiquitous nature of comedy and the variety of ways in which comedy performances are disseminated to the public.
Because the academic study of stand-up comedy is still relatively new, students will find tremendous value in viewing the dissertations and theses of researchers who acknowledge comedy as a form of social commentary worthy of criticism and analysis. Students who locate a thesis or dissertation of interest can utilize the process of reference mining to look up scholarly articles that may help to inform their own scholarly research. This ProQuest database’s subject coverage includes arts, humanities, and social sciences, all of which include the wide array of academic disciplines that inform comedy and humor studies.
Linguistics and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA)
Language plays a key role in the creation, performance, and interpretation of stand-up comedy. Students will find that the LLBA database provides access to abstracts, and often full text versions, of articles, books, and dissertations related to the verbal features of comedy.
This ProQuest database provides access to abstracts and indexing for a wide variety of publication types (books, dissertations, articles, book reviews, etc.) and takes an international approach to the discipline of sociology. Students will find resources addressing topics such as the performance of gender in stand-up comedy, stand-up comedy as a tool for social change, and discussions of race, ethnicity, and identity in stand-up comedy. This resource also provides information about introductory level resources to help students of comedy write about a variety of social issues in an informed way.
Journals
This journal explores the role of women and members of the LGBTQ community as consumers, creators, and critics of various media technologies. The journal publishes a wide variety of resource types including scholarly research, conference reports, archival news, primary source documents, and more. The publication prides itself on bringing a global perspective to its content. The journal offers a variety of articles related to gender and comedy in the areas of social media, television, and live performances.
The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism
While this journal contains a number of articles about comedy, researchers will find value in Volume 78, Issue 4, September 2020 specifically, a special issue of the publication. This issues is titled The Art and Aesthetics of Stand-Up Comedy: Philosophical Perspectives, and provides articles related to stand-up comedy as an art form, the relationship between the comedian and the audience, the ethics of stand-up comedy, and the handling of issues such as race, gender, and grief in the comedic arts.
This journal published by the American Humor Studies Association contains scholarly articles, review essays, and book reviews about American humor. While the scope of the journal includes the broad field of humor (literary humor, discussions of different formats, etc.), students will find dozens of articles that focus specifically on stand-up comedy. In addition to including pieces about political stand-up comedy and the ethics of stand-up comedy, the journal will introduce students to some of the leading scholars in the emerging field of comedy studies.
To Wit: Official Newsletter of the American Humor Studies Association
This newsletter published by the American Humor Studies Association contains book reviews, conference announcements, updates from professional organizations related to the study of humor, scholarship information, and publishing opportunities. PDF versions of past issues (March 2011-April 2016) can be found on the ASHA website. Content generated from 2016-2022 can be found on the To Wit blog. Users should be aware that publication of blog posts appears to have been discontinued in 2022.