
Comedy and Critique
Stand-up Comedy and the Professional Ethos of Laughter
Daniel R. Smith(Author)
Bristol University Press
1st Edition
Published on 20. June 2018
Book
Hardback
216 pages
978-1-5292-0015-7 (ISBN)
Description
Comedy and Critique explores British professional stand-up comedy in the wake of the Alternative Comedy movement of the late twentieth century, seeing it as an extension of the politics of the New Left: standing up for oneself as anti-racist, feminist and open to a queering of self and social institutions.
Daniel Smith demonstrates that the comic sensibility pervading contemporary humour is as much 'speaking truth to power' as it is realising one's position 'in' power. The professionalisation of New Left humour offers a challenge to social and cultural critique. Stand-up comedy has made us all sociologists of self, identity and cultural power while also resigning us to a place where a comic sensibility becomes an acknowledgment of the necessity of social change.
Daniel Smith demonstrates that the comic sensibility pervading contemporary humour is as much 'speaking truth to power' as it is realising one's position 'in' power. The professionalisation of New Left humour offers a challenge to social and cultural critique. Stand-up comedy has made us all sociologists of self, identity and cultural power while also resigning us to a place where a comic sensibility becomes an acknowledgment of the necessity of social change.
Reviews / Votes
"Provides a stimulating account of the way in which stand-up comedians respond to their sociological contexts and offers valuable insights into how comedians `do' sociology." Sophie Quirk, University of KentMore details
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
2 s/w Abbildungen, 3 s/w Tabellen
3 Tables, black and white; 2 Illustrations, black and white
Dimensions
Height: 206 mm
Width: 135 mm
Thickness: 18 mm
Weight
363 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5292-0015-7 (9781529200157)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
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Person
Dr. Daniel R. Smith is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Anglia Ruskin University. His research interests are in the sociology of class and culture, identity and popular culture as well as social media and celebrity. Along with Comedy & Critique, he is the author of Elites, Race and Nationhood: The Branded Gentry.
Content
Introduction;
I: Analytical Part;
The Art of Stand-up Comedy;
The Professionalization of Stand-up Comedy;
II: Synthetic Part;
Representation;
Persona;
III: Critical Part;
The Critique of Comic Reason.
I: Analytical Part;
The Art of Stand-up Comedy;
The Professionalization of Stand-up Comedy;
II: Synthetic Part;
Representation;
Persona;
III: Critical Part;
The Critique of Comic Reason.