Jesse David Fox on the Age of a Persona
I talk a lot on here about a comic’s persona, how they create it, whether or not it differs from their person/self, if so, in what ways, and whether or no...
Tag: Sarah Silverman
Amber North is Woke and Doing Comedy
In an interview for Access Atlanta, Najja Parker asks Amber North some questions about her monthly show, “Wake Up!” (8/3/2017). The material “...
Megan Garber on Comics as Public Intellectuals
This one’s an oldie, but I came across it in some research recently, and it needs to be in this discussion. Megan Garber, in an article for The Atlantic (...
David Misch on Five Jokes
In his article for Splitsider.com (7/6/2017), comic, critic, writer and teacher David Misch brings up five jokes to make a point about authenticity in comedy: L...
Laughing With Victims At Butts
Apologies for reposting, but in trying to organize the site I think it will be more useful to break the theory out from the cases. This enables me to just link ...
The Difference Between Silverman and Maher
I’ve already written about Bill Maher’s recent N-word problem; however it’s not the first time he’s been a part of a discussion about ra...
Are Audiences Dying Laughing?
Audience Metaphors There’s a lot going on in the series of interviews masquerading as a documentary, Dying Laughing. However, I’d like to start with one I’ve b...
Dick Jokes Vs. Sexual Jokes
Betsy Borns differentiates the dick joke from sexual jokes as based on “what makes the joke funny: if people laugh because the word ‘fuck’ is used, that’s a dic...
Relief Theory update
I’ll post updates as I encounter new comedy, theories or writing/blogs about either. So here’s one: Sarah Silverman references relief/release theor...
Narrators: Unreliable and Discordant
The idea that we can influence people with words (rhetoric) depends on the notion that the speaker is who they appear to be and mean what they say. Scholars ca...