fms 490 standup comedy as social discourse dr. bambi haggins lesson 1: comedic social discourse:...

FMS 490Standup Comedy As Social Discourse

Dr. Bambi Haggins

Lesson 1:Comedic Social

Discourse:What’s Standup

Got To Do With It?

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Lesson 01 Agenda

• Course Business

• Standup Comedy: The Riskiest Art?

• Comedic Social Discourse: What’s Stand Up got to do with it?

• Let’s Watch Some Standup!

Pryor Bruce

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Section 1: Course Business

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Course Manifesto• Dying is easy, comedy is hard—it can also be considered

obscene or profane by some. The stand up comedy (and/ the stand up based comedy produced) in the course may describe or depict sex, violence and other acts and ideologies that might be considered immoral or amoral by some standards. When examining standup comedy as social discourse, one should be prepared to engage texts that test social boundaries.

Groucho

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Course Materials

• All readings are available in pdf on course site.

• All screenings are available either here on OR on Netflix (see syllabus)

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Course Expectations

• Participation in all Course

activities

• Interaction with Peers

& Professor

• Completion of a critical & creative process which culminates in final project

Carlin

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Course Objectives

• Reading Comedy

as Social Discourse– Persona– Performance– Content– Context

Chelsea & Chuy

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Online Seminar (aka eBoard)

• Participation– E-Board As Online Seminar– Thought Questions at the end of each

lecture– Initial Post to Answer 1 of the Thought

Questions (300 words min.)– At Least one response to the comments of

other folks on the E-Board– Conversational Posting– Communication with Instructor

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Final Project• Students are required to design

their final project in consultation with the Professor.

• Discernible relationship to standup comedy or a particular comic

• Three parts to each project:– Proposal, – Presentation,– Product

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Option 1: Research Paper

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Option 2: Scripts

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Option 3: Digital Media

• Proposal: Website/Podcasts/? a) Focusing on a specific comic, a sub genre of standup

comedy, or…

b) Focusing on some aspect of standup industry;

c) Critical Observations regarding the chosen focus;

• Final Projecta) Produce Series of Podcasts (a total of 30-

40 minutes);

b) A digitally-based creative project

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The Proposal• Proposals will be

submitted to instructor (posted on eBoard);

• Peer Review is required; should include suggestions, questions, etc. to be supplied via the eBoard;

• Due on the eBoard until within a day after it was posted.

Bob Sagat

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The Presentation• Presentation

includes PowerPoint or Podcast for their final project in progress;

• Must be shared with classmates(formats vary depending upon project).

Rodney Dangerfield

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Peer Reviews

• Required for both the proposal and the presentation.

• Should include suggestions, questions, etc. and constructive criticism shared via the eBoard.  

Smothers Brothers

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Section 2Standup Comedy

The Riskiest Art

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Standup: The Riskiest Art• Stand-up is a

comedic art form.

• Usually, a comic performs in front of a live audience, speaking directly to them.

• Just the comic & a mic

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The Prizes• Laughter

• Skewering social & political mores

• Varying Levels of Stardom

• Social/Cultural/Political Impact

Ellen

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The Penalties

• Heckling

• Open Ridicule

• Infamy

• Silence

• Ennui

Michael Richards

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Section 3Comedic Social Discourse:

What’s Standup Got to Do With It?

Foucault & the Functions of Discourse

• Michel Foucault (1926-1984), French philosopher and social theorist.

• Discourse create a world.

• Discourse generates knowledge & truth.

• Discourse says something about the people who speak it.

• Discourse is intimately involved with• socially embedded networks of

power. 21

Standup Comedy as Social Discourse

• Comedy is made up of discursive processes of creation, negotiation, observation, reaction & revision:

• Standup Comedy embodies multiple discourse and multiple ideologies.

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The Roles of the Comic• Negative Exemplar

• Mediator

• Articulator of culture

• Socio-Political Commentator

• Creator of Community Experience

• Provocateur23

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Is Being Controversial Always Good?

• Case Study #1: Tracy Morgan

• Anti Gay Rant• Public/Industry

Response (Go to CNN

Clip 1)

• Amends & Apology (Go to CNN Clip 2)

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Is Being Controversial Good?

• Case Study #2: Chelsea Handler

• Anti-Serbia Comment

• Responses?

• Apology-NONE

Go to “Chelsea Insults Serbia?

Standup &Subjectivity• Comedy is extremely

subjective.

• Taste cultures, lived experiences, ideologies & articulations of identity inflect the creation & reception of comedic social discourse

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Section 4: Let’s Watch Standup!

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Insert Image Here

Add Image

Caption w/ Credits

Here

Make 'Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America“When I’m Bad, I’m Better: The Groundbreakers”

Directed by Michael KantorWritten by Laurence Maslon & Michael Kantor

(Airdate 21 Jan 2009 PBS)

Please go to the screening section for the lesson and watch this PBS

documentary.

For Your Consideration:• We have discussed how

comedy, in general, is subjective and that every media text has an ideological agenda of sorts. Consider the choice of the groundbreakers: discuss one comic you think should have been included and why.

(Posted on the eBoard)

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For Your Consideration:

• How do the comic personae of the comics in “The Groundbreakers” correspond the roles of the comic discussed in the lecture & in the Lentz article?

(Posted on the eBoard) 29

For Your Consideration:• Discuss the

relationship between Foucault’s assertions regarding the functions of discourse and the functions of the comic.

(Posted on the eBoard)

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Next Time: The Holy Trinity of Comedy (+2)

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