Showing papers on "Comedy published in 2016"

Humour and Relevance

Abstract: This book offers a cognitive-pragmatic, and specifically relevance-theoretic, analysis of different types of humorous discourse, together with the inferential strategies that are at work in the processing of such discourses. The book also provides a cognitive pragmatics description of how addressees obtain humorous effects. Although the inferences at work in the processing of normal, non-humorous discourses are the same as those employed in the interpretation of humour, in the latter case these strategies (and also the accessibility of contextual information) are predicted and manipulated by the speaker (or writer) for the sake of generating humorous effects. The book covers aspects of research on humour such as the incongruity-resolution pattern, jokes and stand-up comedy performances. It also offers an explanation of why ironies are sometimes labelled as humorous, and proposes a model for the translation of humorous discourses, an analysis of humour in multimodal discourses such as cartoons and advertisements, and a brief exploration of possible tendencies in relevance-theoretic research on conversational humour.

Happiness: Early Modernity and Shakespearean Comedy

Abstract: This thesis investigates attitudes to happiness in the early modern period and literary representations of positive emotion. It is situated methodologically at the nexus of a number of interconnected approaches. Against a background of body studies and Freudian psychology, it engages with current research in the history of the emotions and work being done in the field of positive psychology. The insights provided by positive psychology into the power of positive emotions, such as optimism, resilience and emotional intelligence, open up a way to access the originality of Shakespeare’s understanding of the emotions and their power in people’s lives. An interdisciplinary approach provides a methodology that can incorporate analysis of imaginative and non-fiction texts with research into the historical, cultural, religious and political influences that shaped how people might have thought and felt about happiness. It considers the extent to which people could be happy in the context of religious beliefs that emphasised the fallen nature of man. As a result of increasing political absolutism and the failure of political theory to provide for societal or personal happiness, people engaged in a process of myth making. They imagined utopian societies, and they imposed their beliefs in the possibility of discovering a lost paradise on the new worlds they discovered in the Americas. More realistically, they accommodated themselves to the conditions of their lives by searching for happiness through forming meaningful personal relationships. Ethical theories about happiness formulated by Aristotle in The Nicomachean Ethics were influential, but came into conflict with theology, especially Augustine’s emphasis on original sin. Aquinas attempted to reconcile philosophy with theology, offering hope that a limited form of happiness might be found in this life. Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas were formative influences on the ways in which Shakespeare dramatizes the search for happiness in his comedies, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It and Twelfth Night. He reflects the influence of Aristotle in his representation and evaluation of different types of happiness in the comedies. He also creates fallen political and religious worlds in which his characters must grapple with adversity. Aristotle believed that happiness was dependent on living in a benign political state. Living in fallen worlds, some of Shakespeare’s characters demonstrate an aspect of happiness that Aristotle did not address, that it is a condition that can be achieved through adversity.

On the Appearance of the Comedy LP, 1957-1973

Abstract: On the Appearance of the Comedy LP, 1957–1973

British comedy, global resistance: Russell Brand, Charlie Brooker and Stewart Lee

Abstract: The article provides a critical analysis of the possibilities and limits of comedy as a form of political resistance. Taking a cue from recent critiques of mainstream satire — that it profits from a cynical and easy criticism of political leaders — the article questions how comedy animates wider debates about political resistance in International Political Economy. The case is made for developing an everyday and cultural International Political Economy that treats resistance in performative terms, asking: what does it do? What possibilities and limits does it constitute? This approach is then read through a historical narrative of British comedy as a vernacular form of resistance that can (but does not necessarily) negotiate and contest hierarchies and exclusions in ‘particular’ and ‘particularly’ imaginative terms. In this vein, the work of Brand, Brooker and Lee is engaged as an important and challenging set of resistances to dominant forms of market subjectivity. Such comedy highlights the importance and ambiguity of affect, self-critique and ‘meaning’ in the politics of contemporary global markets.

Political comedy engagement : Genre work, political identity and cultural citizenship

Abstract: Political comedy is a hybrid genre that mixes political news and analysis with comedy and entertainment. As it becomes more and more popular in most media forms and national contexts, researchers struggle to understand its role in relation to other types of political media, and of citizenship; in this sense, it challenges scholarly conceptualisation of political media and citizenship. Thus, this thesis examines and develops the understanding of how audience engagement in political comedy encourages political and cultural citizenship. The focus on engagement allows the study to emphasise diverse subject positions and their dynamic character. Additionally, it stresses that reasoning is both emotional and rational, rather than either or, which is especially important in the study of political comedy. By mapping contemporary examples of political comedy as well as carrying out in-depth interviews and focus groups with 31 young adult Swedes (18-35 years old) who regularly engage with political comedy (Swedish radio programme Tankesmedjan and/or American television programme The Daily Show), the study’s analytical attention is on modes of address as well as audience engagement. Focussing on constructions of genre, so-called ‘genre work,’ political identity and cultural citizenship, the thesis reiterates contemporary scholarly critique of the modern era ideal type of a dutiful, rational and well-informed citizen, from a normative and empirical standpoint. The study’s findings include a challenge to the understanding of ‘entertainment’ as separate from, and less valuable than, ‘information’; and contributes a deeper understanding of how audiences engage with these kinds of political media spaces. It shows how such spaces allow for so-called political play and emotional authenticity, which is important for the developing citizen. Further, it illustrates how audiences enjoy the double mode of engagement that is required by political comedy’s mix of serious and silly, whereby they analyse which is what. The thesis contributes knowledge about political comedy audiences being skilled, ‘media-savvy’ and ‘self-informed,’ yet lacking in political efficacy. They are highly interested in political news and political issues, but worry about various social aspects of increasing their political participation, which the present study labels as ‘uneasy’ citizenship. In this context, audiences enjoy the so-called symbolic levelling that results from political comedy’s critique of conventional journalism’s claim of epistemic authority. Through this, political comedy aids young adults in feeling like citizens, in a political and cultural sense, as it represents critical thinking and promotes an understanding of the perspectives of others. The thesis argues that the growing engagement in political comedy is a symptom of contemporary young adult citizenship, where the use of irony and humour is a way of coping with uneasiness. Hence, the study shows that political comedy engagement is an expression of the need for a wide variety of political media spaces, where different aspects of young adult citizenship can be recognised, including the emotional.

Bridget Jones’s Legacy: gender and discourse in contemporaryliterature and romantic comedy adaptations

Abstract: Romantic comedy adaptations based on bestsellers aimed at predominantly female readers have become more frequent in the fifteen years since the publication of Bridget Jones’s Diary (1996) and the financial success of its adaptation (Sharon Maguire, 2001). Contemporary popular literature and films created specifically for women have emerged alongside the spread of neoliberalist and postfeminist discourses. This thesis offers a timely examination of bestselling adapted texts, including chick lit novels, a self-help book and a memoir, and their romantic comedy adaptations. While some of the books and films have received individual attention in academic writing, they have not been examined together as an interconnected group of texts. This thesis is the first work to cohesively analyse representations of gender in mainstream bestsellers predominantly aimed at female readers and their romantic comedy adaptations published and released between 1996 and 2011. Through a combination of textual analysis and broader discursive and contextual analysis, it examines how these popular culture texts adapt and extend themes, characters, narrative style and the plot structure from Bridget Jones’s Diary. Moreover, the thesis explores how they function as sites of the production and circulation of discourses. In doing so, the thesis accentuates wider surrounding discourses and how they contribute to, and are informed by, concepts about gender that circulate within the wider neoliberalist cultural climate. By using an interdisciplinary approach and focusing on ten books and nine romantic comedies published and released over a time span of fifteen years, the thesis reveals intertextual influences across genre and media boundaries and discusses resulting changes in genre conventions over time. It draws attention to culturally and academically devalued popular literary and film genres produced for predominantly female consumers and argues that these texts deserve academic attention because they contribute to the fabric that constitutes contemporary reality.

Celebrity capital in the political field: Russell Brand’s migration from stand-up comedy to Newsnight

Abstract: Our case study of charismatic celebrity comedian Russell Brand’s turn to political activism uses Bourdieu’s field theory to understand the process of celebrity migration across social fields. We investigate how Brand’s capital as a celebrity performer, storyteller and self-publicist translated from comedy to politics. To judge how this worked in practice, we analysed the comedic strategies used in his stand-up show Messiah Complex and undertook a conversational analysis of his notorious interview with Jeremy Paxman on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)’s flagship current affairs programme Newsnight. We argue that Brand was able to secure political legitimacy by creatively constituting himself as an authentic anti-austerity spokesperson for the disenfranchised left in United Kingdom. In order to do so, he repurposed his celebrity capital to political ends and successfully deployed the cultural and social capitals he had developed as a celebrity comedian to secure widespread engagement with his media performances.

Satire and Geopolitics: Vulgarity, Ambiguity and the Body Grotesque in South Park

Abstract: Humour and laughter have become the subject of recent geopolitical scrutiny. Scholars have explored the affirmative and liberatory possibilities of humour, and the affective bodily dimensions of laughter as tools for transformative action in critical geopolitics. Humour that is vulgar and politically ambiguous is yet to be explored as a potent geopolitical avenue of enquiry. Studies of satire have suggested that rather than contesting entrenched geopolitical beliefs, satirical shows can serve to further divide audiences both amenable and antagonistic to the satire in question. I argue that this should not involve a wholesale rejection of satirical shows, as humour that uses irony, subversion, and other discursive techniques is just one way satirical media becomes an effective commentator on political issues. I examine the show South Park and argue its satire combines bodily and scatological humour with more traditional satirical techniques to produce a comedy that ridicules contemporary issues by reducing complex politics to the most basic and crass condition possible. This is defined in a Bakhtinian sense of the body grotesque, a social inversion through reference to the common bodily functions of all human beings.

Politeness in eighteenth-century drama: a discursive approach

Abstract: Fictional texts constitute complex communicative acts between an author and an audience, and they regularly depict interactions between characters. Both levels are susceptible to an analysis of politeness. This is particularly true for early eighteenth-century drama, which – in the context of the age of politeness – established new dramatic genres to educate and edify their audiences. Characters were used to demonstrate good or bad behaviour as examples to be followed or avoided. Early eighteenth-century drama was a reaction against what was considered to be the immorality and profanity of Restoration drama of the seventeenth century. Two plays serve as illustrations and a testing ground for an analysis of fictional politeness that considers both communicative levels; the play itself and the interactions within the play. Richard Steele’s sentimental comedy “The Conscious Lovers” (1722) gives an example of good behaviour by being exceedingly polite to the audience in the theatre through characters that are exceedingly polite to each other; and George Lillo’s domestic tragedy “The London Merchant, or the History of George Barnwell” (1731) shows the “private woe” of everyday characters in order to warn the younger generation against wrongdoing and to propagate middle-class virtues and moral values.

The Jewish Mother: Comedy and Controversy in American Popular

Abstract: The comic stereotype of the Jewish mother, from domineering to grotesque, is a cultural construct developed by male writers in the United States in the 1960s, the era of political turbulence that coincided with the second wave of feminism in this country. Among other objectives, feminists hoped that their efforts to expose the misogyny behind negative stereotypes would help to end them. Yet the representation of the Jewish mother both as a nagging guardian of ethnic identity and the embodiment of its worst traits continued to pour forth in newly minted versions from the pens and comedy routines of Jewish men. Some feminist writers like Erica Jong attempted to fight humor with humor while others in novels, screenplays, and essays tried to add complexity and nuance to the image of the Jewish mother. The history of the stereotype thus follows a jagged pattern of vilification and vindication, of male action and female reaction, of call and response, that left the caricature firmly ingrained in popular imagination. Overall, feminist responses to men's comic devaluing of the Jewish mother failed to disrupt the persistence of the image. But in recent decades, as Jews' concerns about assimilation have decreased and new cruxes of female identity and vocation have arisen, the expansion of women's roles outside the family has gradually defused the comic exaggeration of the overprotective mother. Not direct critique by feminists and social commentators, but the indirect effects of shifting social expectations and goals have brought solace to the stigmatized figure of the Jewish mother. Feminist critics of several schools of thought have developed ideas about women's laughter as a means of disrupting the struc

Shakespeare's Binding Language

Abstract: Preface Introduction Early Revenge: 3 Henry VI to Titus Andronicus Swearing in Jest: Love's Labour's Lost A World-Without-End Bargain: Love's Labour's Lost Group Revenge: Titus Andronicus to Othello Time and Money: The Comedy of Errors and The Merchant of Venice Shylock and Wedlock: Carnal Bonds Mighty Opposites: 2 Henry VI to Hamlet Oaths, Threats, and Henry V Troilus, Cressida, and Constancy Binding Language in Measure for Measure Knots, Charms, Riddles: Macbeth and All's Well That Ends Well Benefits and Bonds: King Lear and Timon of Athens Reformation I: King James, King Johan and King John Reformation II: Sir Thomas More and Henry VIII Coriolanus Fidiussed Oath and Counsel: Cymbeline and The Winter's Tale Epilogue

Linguistic Interaction in Roman Comedy

Abstract: This book presents a comprehensive account of features of Latin that emerge from dialogue: commands and requests, command softeners and strengtheners, statement hedges, interruptions, attention-getters, greetings and closings. In analyzing these features, Peter Barrios-Lech employs a quantitative method and draws on all the data from Roman comedy and the fragments of Latin drama. In the first three parts, on commands and requests, particles, attention-getters and interruptions, the driving questions are firstly - what leads the speaker to choose one form over another? And secondly - how do the playwrights use these features to characterize on the linguistic level? Part IV analyzes dialogues among equals and slave speech, and employs data-driven analyses to show how speakers enact roles and construct relationships with each other through conversation. The book will be important to all scholars of Latin, and especially to scholars of Roman drama.

Stories of comedy and tragedy in therapy : psychological therapists' experiences of humour in sessions with clients diagnosed with a terminal illness

Abstract: ion” by first examining particular experience, then assessing common themes, before looking at the larger philosophical and universal implications. Finally, the Literature Review showed that researching humour is challenging due to its very nature (e.g. Lemma, 2000), and therefore some consideration must be

Aristophanes, Posthumanism, and the Roots of Science Fiction

Abstract: INTRODUCTION: Agrarian Posthumanism and Ancient SF CHAPTER 1: Clouds: The Phrontisterion and Its Mechanisms -I. Agrarian Spirits, Urban Anxieties -II. The Noses in the Clouds -III. The Unstable World: Matter Unbound -IV. Humanocentrism -V. From the Phrontisterion to The Nether CHAPTER 2: Birds: Avian Life Meets Human Intelligence -I. Denatured Birds or Cyborg Birds? -II. Sublime Ironies, Grotesque Cyborgs -III. Conclusion CHAPTER 3: Assemblywomen: Urban Egalitarianism and Its Discontents -I. Engineering “Equality:” An Alternative to Instrumentalization? -II. Randomization: A Poisonous Remedy? CONCLUSION: Agrarian Science Fiction Beyond Aristophanes

Brownface Minstrelsy: “José Jiménez,” the Civil Rights Movement, and the legacy of racist comedy

Abstract: This study examines US comedian Bill Dana, of Hungarian-Jewish descent, and his Latino minstrel character, "Jose Jimenez," during the civil rights period. By situating Dana and Jimenez within the social and political context of Latinos in the US during the 1960s, I argue Dana's comedy continued the tradition of racial ridicule at a time when blackface minstrelsy was increasingly unpopular: a result of contestation by African American civil rights groups. Analyzing primary sources (oral histories, news articles, and audio/visual media), I examine the initial popularity of Jose Jimenez in the early 1960s, the mechanisms used to ridicule Latinos, the role of media in constructing narratives of non-racism and acceptance by Latinos, and the resulting contestation of the character by Chicano/Latino media activists and civil rights organizations. I conclude that public racial ridicule of Latinos has not been constrained as some have suggested, but that it has changed since the civil rights era. Language: en

The use of mimicry in Nigerian stand-up comedy

Abstract: The goal of this study is to analyse the use of mimicry in Nigerian stand-up comedy. Mimicry is conceived as a strategy in the routines of Nigerian stand-up comedians, who adopt two kinds of mimicry acts: verbal and nonverbal. For comedians to use mimicry, they have to draw from collective beliefs they share with their audience. On their part, the audience find a mimicry act humorous because it relates to their background assumptions. Data for analysis comprised four routines of four Nigerian stand-up comedians purposively selected because of the comics’ extensive use of mimicry. Mimicry activates background assumptions, distorts the collective representation of the target and could be used for articulating voice in stand-up performances.

The Impact of Comedy on Racial and Ethnic Discourse

Abstract: An overwhelming facet of race literature suggests that American society has entered an era of colorblindness; where instead of perpetuating racist ideology through blatant discriminatory legislation, racial differences are either understated or ignored entirely. These new racial processes are reflected in the policies of major social institutions, but also within popular culture. Yet, as made evident by the success of comedians such as Chris Rock and Dave Chappelle, stand-up comedy challenges acceptable racial discourse, placing race in the forefront. Comedy persists as a facet of popular culture where racial difference is made apparent, yet ironically the art of comedy is usually overlooked by sociologists. What is lacking in the humor research is an understanding of how comedy creates an environment where race can be spoken about directly, and often times harshly. Through the analysis of focus groups, this study finds evidence to suggest that racial and ethnic comedy serves to both reinforce and wane racial and ethnic stereotypes, similarities, and differences. After watching stand-up comedy clips of popular comedians, black and white respondents show both agreement and disagreement on the following: (1) the offensiveness of ethnic comedy, (2) stereotypes and perceived truths, and (3) the utility of ethnic comedy in everyday interactions. These findings are helpful in understanding how comedy serves as one of the few openly racialized facets of popular culture as well as uncovering some of the ways in which race works within the culture of a self-proclaimed colorblind society.

Laughing off a Zombie Apocalypse: The Value of Comedic and Satirical Narratives

Abstract: In recent years, many international relations scholars have been discussing films, books, and television programs featuring zombies, largely because such narratives are thought to provide a compelling metaphor for thinking about a diverse array of contemporary threats. These range from relatively traditional threats posed by violent terrorists to nontraditional threats from epidemics or mass migration. However, because zombie narratives are generally apocalyptic, employing them can provide a misleading and dangerous understanding of international security. By contrast, satirical and comedic zombie stories provide interesting alternative narratives that coincide with the emancipatory objectives of critical security studies. Satirical narratives focusing on elites characteristically critique these powerful figures, often revealing them to be self-centered buffoons. Indeed, satire and black comedy can be quite subversive, reflecting critical and potentially transformative notions—about threats and other dimensions of security politics. Comedies typically center upon ordinary people, emphasize their regular lives, and end happily—aligning with the aspirations of the human security agenda.

"He Made Us Laugh Some": Frederick Douglass's Humor

Abstract: Among Frederick Douglass's formidable skills critic of slavery and racial prejudice, he was widely remembered during the nineteenth century for being able to make his audiences laugh Toward the end of Douglass's final autobiography, The Life and Times, he remarks that "I have been greatly helped to bear up under unfriendly conditions, too, by a constitutional tendency to see the funny side of things" (470) In support of his claim, he tells a story of riding a crowded night train through New York State As one of the few passengers who had a whole bench seat to himself, he covered his head and went to sleep When a well-dressed white man asked him to slide over, Douglass sat up and said, "'Don't sit down here, my friend, I am a nigger'" "'I don't care who the devil you are,'" the man responded "'I mean to sit with you,'" to which Douglass replied," 'Well, if it must be so, I can stand it if you can'" (470) Douglass concludes the anecdote by noting that the two men then struck up an agreeable conversation for the rest of the trip As is typical of Douglass's rhetoric, the story turns on several ironies, not the least of which is his preference to be treated like an equal citizen despite the fact it might bring temporary discomfort The story is important, too, because of the egalitarian turn of Douglass's final remark His grumbling consent to the white man's request reverses the roles of a painfully familiar racial tableau in which the person of color requests a seat Most importantly, however, the scene is characteristic of the dialectic between violence and humor that animates much of Douglass's rhetoric: The affectionate and benevolent term my friend hardly belongs in the same sentence with the word nigger This contrast between pain and pleasure characterizes many Douglass anecdotes At his best, Douglass could win his enemies' admiration by making them smile with him But as Spike Lee has recently illustrated in his thoughtful film Bamboozled, making white folks laugh in this way has always had its dangers As a newspaper editor, Douglass was well-known for his dislike of minstrel humor, and when he joked in public, he knew that he might be measured against those standards By exploiting his audiences' likely prejudices, however, Douglass used humor to transform himself from a social pariah into an equal In other words, while Douglass attempted to separate himself from the cliches of plantation comedy, he often deliberately invoked those genres of bigoted humor in the service of the abolitionist cause Because modern literary critics have generally represented Douglass with earnest passages taken from his Narrative, there has been a tendency to cast him in the singular role of righteous anti-slavery crusader Naturally, Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison were strongly invested in people's appreciation of the Narrative on these terms At the same time, however, many recent criticisms of Douglass, ranging from allegations of racial sedition to sexism, have their origin in close readings of the Narrative, a document that represents only a small fragment of Douglass's literary career Douglass's use of humor turns many recent criticisms upside down and reveals a much more complicated figure than current descriptions of him as a representative man of Jacksonian individualism Douglass's humor is evident throughout his 1845 Narrative, although this text is seldom noted for its comic moments Until the very end of the Narrative, Douglass usually employs a plaintive voice, consistent with the character who gives the desperate soliloquy to the ships on the Chesapeake Bay As is commonly known, the Narrative is a well-crafted series of dramatic narratives that Douglass developed on stage during his four years' work as a paid agent for William Lloyd Garrison's Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society And while many of the powerful scenes he used in his Narrative came directly from his stage repertoire, on the page, he elected to modulate his charismatic stage persona and appeal to readers as a supplicant rather than as an equal …

Expanding the Brand: Race, Gender, and the Post-politics of Representation on Comedy Central

Abstract: This study examines recent Comedy Central shows hailed as progressive and feminist, such as Inside Amy Schumer, Broad City, Kroll Show, Nathan for You, and Key & Peele. It reads these programs thro...

Fighting Thatcher with Comedy: What to Do When There Is No Alternative

Abstract: This article offers a history of British alternative comedy as a case study of political challenge and opposition in the 1980s and considers the role of humor in political campaigning more broadly. It explores left-wing thinking on culture as a potential political weapon, and questions how this informed the development and impact of alternative comedy as a genre. The article observes that pioneering alternative comedians went some way to change British comedy values and inform political discussions. However, it also argues that the complex operation of jokes and the tendency of comedians to become “incorporated” within the political and cultural mainstream ensured that the impacts of radical alternative material were limited and ambiguous. It contends that the practice of alternative comedy was undermined by business and political values that were often influenced by Thatcherism, and that alternative comedians mostly failed to capture the imaginations of working-class Britons. These communities retained instead an affection for more traditional, differently rebellious, comedic voices. Ultimately, this article frames alternative comedy within a longer history of radical humor, drawing out broader lessons concerning the revolutionary potential of jokes and the relationship between comedians, their audiences, and politics.

Lacan, Psychoanalysis, and Comedy

Abstract: This collection of essays explores laughter, humor, and the comic from a psychoanalytic perspective. Edited by two leading practicing psychoanalysts and with original contributions from Lacanian practitioners and scholars, this cutting-edge volume proposes a paradigm swerve, a Freudian slip on a banana peel. Psychoanalysis has long been associated with tragedy and there is a strong warrant to take up comedy as a more productive model for psychoanalytic practice and critique. Jokes and the comic have not received nearly as much consideration as they deserve given the fundamental role they play in our psychic lives and the way they unite the fields of aesthetics, literature, and psychoanalysis. Lacan, Psychoanalysis, and Comedy addresses this lack and opens up the discussion.

Slapstick after Fordism : WALL-E, Automatism and Pixar’s Fun Factory

Abstract: In its history, production, plots and gestures, slapstick comedy was tied to the rise of modern labor in terms of both Taylorist theory and Fordist practice. Comic heroes ranging from live action comedians Chaplin or Keaton to animated animals Felix or Mickey worked against work through the playful excesses of their obediences and transgressions within an increasingly rationalized, industrial world. The digital animation studio Pixar summoned slapstick and its specifically Fordist resonances in its 2008 feature, WALL-E, yet offered a twist in humanizing a figure of perfected Fordism itself with its title character, a robot repetitively working in a post-apocalyptic earth devoid of human life. Explicitly modeled after Chaplin, Keaton and Lloyd, WALL-E contrasts with the film’s humans, who are entirely liberated from labor through automation in a satirical reflection of both post-Fordist accounts of the ‘end of work’ as well as broader critiques of a distracting digital culture. This article focuses on the ...

Aesthetic as Analysis: Synthesizing Theories of Humor and Disability through Stand-up Comedy

Abstract: A wide range of comedians with disabilities has recently been reclaiming the comedy stage as a space in which to contest inequality. The work of disabled comedians highlights the utility of humor a...