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IST 605: Stand-Up Comedy as Social Commentary

This guide has been designed for undergraduate students interested in comedy studies, and the role of stand-up comedy as a form of social commentary.

Comedy and Social Issues

Below, you will find a sampling of scholarly articles and dissertations that explore the role of stand-up comedy as a vehicle for communicating about social issues such as health, mental health, gender, and race.

Introduction: Stand-Up Comedy Today and Tomorrow

In this article, Lintott emphasizes the importance of treating comedy as an art form, and engaging in analysis and criticism of the art. Lintott introduces The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism's special issue on stand-up comedy, stating that it provides a space for an interdisciplinary approach to comedy studies, showcasing the works of academics in varied fields, ranging from folklore studies, to history, ethics, humor theory, philosophy of race, and more. Perhaps the most useful feature of this article is the comprehensive overview Lintott provides of the issue, giving readers insight into what her colleagues have accomplished in their individual contributions.

How Can Standup Succeed in a Fragmented Culture? Nurse Blake Has One Answer

New York Times article

In this article covering Blake Lynch’s (known on social media by the handle “Nurse Blake”) performances during the New York City Comedy Festival in 2022, the author discusses the ways in which Lynch utilizes his comedy act to address the collective trauma of the nursing profession in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article highlights a contemporary example of comedic artists using their platform to comment on broader social issues, such as inequities in healthcare and poor labor conditions (insufficient pay, staff shortages, etc.). The article also addresses tactics for connecting with an in-person audience around sensitive content, as well as the use of social media to reach a virtual following.

Performing Pregnancy: Comic Content, Critique and Ambivalence in Pregnant Stand-Up Comedy

This article discusses the work of three pregnant stand-up comedians, exploring the ways in which pregnancy serves both as a physical feature of their acts, but also as a core thematic element. The authors argue that the complexity of pregnant stand-up comedy, the subversion of existing stereotypes about pregnancy in media representations, and the social commentary about maternity inequalities in society position ambivalence as central to stand-up comedy centered around pregnancy. Students will appreciate the authors’ intersectional approach, which examines the role of race, class, and sexual orientation in the comedy performances they discuss.

Laughter, Resistance and Ambivalence in Trevor Noah's Stand-Up Comedy: Returning Mimicry as Mockery

The authors of this article examine the stand up comedy of Trevor Noah through the lens of the concept of mimicry, an idea borrowed from the field of postcolonial studies. Specifically, they discuss Noah’s identity as a multiracial individual, arguing that there is power in his ability to perform from a place of racial “in-between-ness,” and how this situates him to comment on topics such as race, poverty, and police violence from a unique perspective. The authors conclude that the ambivalence embodied by the multi-faceted identities of comedians like Noah make it possible for stand-up comedy to serve as a form of political resistance.

Pointing and Laughing: Stand-Up Comedy and Anti-Mental-Illness-Stigma Advocacy 

In this dissertation, Valenta constructs a framework for critically evaluating stand-up comedy performances by assessing their alignment with anti-stigma-advocacy techniques. The author them employs the original framework to critically analyze performances by four comedians whose acts include material about their own experiences with mental health, focusing specifically on anxiety and depression. The work is autoethnographic in nature, but grounded in literature about mental illness, allowing for it to be applied more broadly beyond the author's own personal experience.