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...
Category: Cases and Current Events
This is the parent group for pop culture references. The sub-categories are based on how deep I’m reading between the lines. Comics Talking Shop is where they’re explicitly saying something about comedy. Comics in the News is where people are making statements about comedy by criticizing a comic’s act.
Update: Pastemagazine.com Interview with Deon Cole
Persona After reading this interview, I made some updates. The first is an update to post on Persona – where I talk about whether stand-ups “just b...
Chris Crespo, Comics with “Disabilities”
Inclusion [I’ve added this to my piece on “hot” funny women as the problem of inclusion is felt by People of Color and the differently-abled a...
Can Comedy Be Serious?
Philip Stamato of Splitsider.com, talking about late night comedy (6/28/2017) pretty much nails the premise of my humor projects: It seems like nobody can agree...
Update: Elle.com’s 2017 Women in Comedy
Here’s something I came across recently that sparked an update to the post on Persona– where I talk about the idea of comics being themselves on-sta...
TheRichest.com’s 15 Hottest Comedians
There is a perception in stand-up that beautiful women get more breaks because of their looks – breaks they don’t necessarily deserve. In his articl...
More Problems with Satire
Brian Raftery of Wired.com (11/11/2016) points to the problems with satire as it is commonly understood: In fact, my dependence on satire was so severe this yea...
Mike Birbiglia on Jokes
I’ve been a fan of Mike Birbiglia for a long time now, bought his merchandise, watched all his specials and both his movies (Sleepwalk with Me, 2012 and D...
Why Academics Should Listen to Comics
Comics are critics One of the premises of my work is that comics are social and cultural critics. Comics frequently operate in a critical mode, and they home in...
Jay Leno on Anti-Political Funny Stuff
Tim O’Shei interviewed Jay Leno for The Buffalo News (6/23/2017) about his philosophy on stand-up, and in Leno’s responses I see a few popular notio...