AJ27079 Laughing Matters: Stand-Up Comedy As/And American Culture

Faculty of Arts
Autumn 2017
Extent and Intensity
0/2/0. 2 credit(s) (plus 3 credits for an exam). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Tom Clark (lecturer), doc. PhDr. Tomáš Pospíšil, Ph.D. (deputy)
Mgr. Bc. Tereza Walsbergerová, Ph.D. (assistant)
Guaranteed by
doc. PhDr. Jana Chamonikolasová, Ph.D.
Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Contact Person: Tomáš Hanzálek
Supplier department: Department of English and American Studies – Faculty of Arts
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
The capacity limit for the course is 15 student(s).
Current registration and enrolment status: enrolled: 0/15, only registered: 0/15, only registered with preference (fields directly associated with the programme): 0/15
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
Stand-Up Comedy is one of the United States’ original contributions to the world of humor and this course will argue for taking it seriously as an art form within which the aesthetic, the psychological and the political can intersect to create an enormously powerful discourse that entertains while negotiating fundamental issues in American society. After introducing some basic theories of the funny from Freud to postmodernism, this course will set off to explore the nature of Stand-Up as a literary genre and its cultural function in American society since the late 1950s. What defines Stand-Up and how has it evolved? Is it cathartic, social criticism, a form of Jeremiad? We’ll study the routines of greats ranging from Lenny Bruce through Richard Pryor and George Carlin all the way to Sarah Silverman, Louis CK and many other performers in the process (and perhaps try our own hand at a one-liner or two). We will be looking at the roots of radical stand-up comedy in 1960s counterculture, the essential role and negotiation of race and gender in the field, the free speech/hate speech controversies surrounding issues such as rape jokes and the question of stand-up comedy's impact as a political discourse. This course requires a fair amount of preparatory academic reading, an interest in watching, analyzing and discussing profuse amounts of stand-up comedy and is not suitable if you are disturbed by politically incorrect and highly obscene language.
Language of instruction
English
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught only once.
The course is taught: in blocks.
Note related to how often the course is taught: Intenzivní kurz. Proběhne v týdnu od 18. do 25. září 2017.
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