The Punk Turn in Comedy

The Punk Turn in Comedy PDF Author: Krista Bonello Rutter Giappone
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319728415
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255

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Book Description
This book examines the interconnections between punk and alternative comedy (altcom). It explores how punk’s tendency towards humour and parody influenced the trajectory taken by altcom in the UK, and the punk strategies introduced when altcom sought self-definition against dominant established trends. The Punk Turn in Comedy considers the early promise of punk-comedy convergence in Peter Cook and Dudley Moore’s ‘Derek and Clive’, and discusses punk and altcom’s attitudes towards dominant traditions. The chapters demonstrate how punk and altcom sought a direct approach for critique, one that rejected innuendo, while embracing the ‘amateur’ in style and experimenting with audience-performer interaction. Giappone argues that altcom tended to be more consistently politicised than punk, with a renewed emphasis on responsibility. The book is a timely exploration of the ‘punk turn’ in comedy history, and will speak to scholars of both comedy and punk studies.

The Punk Turn in Comedy

The Punk Turn in Comedy PDF Author: Krista Bonello Rutter Giappone
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319728415
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 255

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book examines the interconnections between punk and alternative comedy (altcom). It explores how punk’s tendency towards humour and parody influenced the trajectory taken by altcom in the UK, and the punk strategies introduced when altcom sought self-definition against dominant established trends. The Punk Turn in Comedy considers the early promise of punk-comedy convergence in Peter Cook and Dudley Moore’s ‘Derek and Clive’, and discusses punk and altcom’s attitudes towards dominant traditions. The chapters demonstrate how punk and altcom sought a direct approach for critique, one that rejected innuendo, while embracing the ‘amateur’ in style and experimenting with audience-performer interaction. Giappone argues that altcom tended to be more consistently politicised than punk, with a renewed emphasis on responsibility. The book is a timely exploration of the ‘punk turn’ in comedy history, and will speak to scholars of both comedy and punk studies.

Aural/Oral Dramaturgies

Aural/Oral Dramaturgies PDF Author: Duška Radosavljević
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000755940
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
Aural/Oral Dramaturgies: Theatre in the Digital Age focuses on the ‘aural turn’ in contemporary theatre-making, examining a number of seemingly disparate trends that foreground speech and sound -- ‘post-verbatim’ theatre, 'amplified storytelling' (works using microphones and headphones), and ‘gig theatre’ that incorporates live music performance. Its main argument is that the dramaturgical underpinnings of these works contribute to an understanding of theatre as an extra-literary activity, greater than the centrality of the script that traditionally dominated many historical discussions. This quality is usually expressed in terms of the corporeality in dance and physical theatre, but the aural/oral turn gives an alternative viewpoint on the interplay between text and performance. The book's case studies draw on the ways in which a range of theatre companies engage with the dramaturgy of speech and sound in their work. It is further accompanied by a specially curated collection of digital resources, including interviews, conversations, and presentations from artists and academics. This is a key text for scholars, students, and practitioners of contemporary performance, and anyone working with dramaturgies of orality and aurality in today’s performance environment.

Running the Light

Running the Light PDF Author: Sam Tallent
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN:
Category : Addicts
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
Debauched, divorced and courting death, Billy Ray Schafer is a comedian who has forgotten how to laugh. Over the course of seven spun-out days across the American Southwest, he travels from from hell gig to hell gig in search of a reason to keep living in this bleak and violent glimpse into the psyche of a thoroughly ruined man. Ex-inmate, ex-husband, ex-father - comedian is the only title Schafer has left. Trapped in the wreckage of his wasted career, Billy Ray knows the answer to the question: what happens when the opportunity doesn't come - or worse - it comes and goes?

Comedy and Critical Thought

Comedy and Critical Thought PDF Author: Iain MacKenzie
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1786604086
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
Throughout history, comedians and clowns have enjoyed a certain freedom to speak frankly often denied to others in hegemonic systems. More recently, professional comedians have developed platforms of comic license from which to critique the traditional political establishment and have managed to play an important role in interrogating and mediating the processes of politics in contemporary society. This collection will examine the questions that arise when of comedy and critique intersect by bringing together both critical theorists and comedy scholars with a view to exploring the nature of comedy, its potential role in critical theory and the forms it can take as a practice of resistance.

Horrific Humor and the Moment of Droll Grimness in Cinema

Horrific Humor and the Moment of Droll Grimness in Cinema PDF Author: John A. Dowell
Publisher: Lexington Books
ISBN: 149856500X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
When evil clowns menace the screen, do we scream or laugh? When zombies converge to tear a victim limb from limb, do we cringe and hide our eyes, or shriek “What??! Play that again!!”? What about those instances when these seemingly opposite reactions happen at once? This is the phenomenon known as sLaughter. Horrific Humor and the Moment of Droll Grimness in Cinema: Sidesplitting sLaughter presents the first focused look at the moment in audience reception where screams and laughter collide. John A. Dowell and Cynthia J. Miller bring together twelve essays from an international collection of authors across the disciplines. The volume begins with an examination of the aesthetics and mechanics of the sLaughter moment, then moves closer to look at the impact of its awkward frission of humor and horror on the individual viewer, and finally, broadens its lens to explore sLaughter’s implications for the human condition more generally. The chapters discuss such box office hits such as A Clockwork Orange (1971), Fargo (1996), The Dark Knight (2008), and The Cabin in the Woods (2012), as well as cult classics such as The Toxic Avenger (1984) and Dead Snow (2009). Engaging and thought provoking, Horrific Humor and the Moment of Droll Grimness in Cinema will be of great interest to scholars of both humor and horror, as well as to those working in reception studies and fans of cult cinema.

Punk Beyond the Music

Punk Beyond the Music PDF Author: Iain Ellis
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 166696137X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
Punk Beyond the Music: Tracing Mutations and Manifestations of the Punk Virus expands the conversation about punk from a focus on the musical genre to its surrounding cultural manifestations. Focusing on some of the most recurring practices and characteristics of punk culture —DIY, attitude, outsider identities, symbols, and politics—Iain Ellis engages many illustrative examples to investigate punk beyond the music without losing sight of its significance. Early chapters look at arts that have always existed within the punk subculture (writings, visual arts, films, and humor); subsequent sections examine areas rarely recognized as exhibiting punk characteristics (such as education, sports, crafts, and comics). Taken together, the chapters invite readers on an extensive and unpredictable journey through the evolution of punk’s developments and adaptations.

Comedy and Critique

Comedy and Critique PDF Author: Smith, Daniel R.
Publisher: Policy Press
ISBN: 1529200172
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 206

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Book 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.

Alternative Comedy

Alternative Comedy PDF Author: Oliver Double
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1350052817
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
In the late 1970s, the alternative comedy scene exploded into life in Britain and completely changed the style, subject matter and politics of British stand-up. Contemporary critics talked about it as 'anti-matter comedy' that 'makes you laugh while actually rearranging large chunks of your brain'. This book draws on a wealth of archive material – including unpublished recordings of early performances – and new interviews with key figures such as Alexei Sayle, Andy de la Tour and Jim Barclay, to provide a detailed history of the early scene and an examination of the distinctive modes of performance style which developed. Beginning with its origins, the volume traces the influence of American stand-up, and in particular the significance of Mort Sahl and Lenny Bruce as the originators of a style of stand-up that influenced the British pioneers of alternative comedy. It shows how the opening of the Comedy Store in 1979 provided a catalyst for a new movement, which grew outward from there with the foundation of the group Alternative Cabaret and the opening of the Comic Strip. But it also looks at smaller venues and less celebrated acts that have not been as well remembered, including ranting poets and street performers. Finally, it looks at alternative comedy's legacy, showing how it was the starting point for the UK's thriving and varied live scene, which encompasses anything from small pub gigs to huge arena tours.

Mock Stars: Indie Comedy and the Dangerously Funny (Easyread Large Edition)

Mock Stars: Indie Comedy and the Dangerously Funny (Easyread Large Edition) PDF Author: John Wenzel
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1458747425
Category : Humor
Languages : en
Pages : 442

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Book Description
MOCK STARS TWO-DRINK MINIMUMS AND POTATO SKINS; bad Clinton jokes on late night-these used to be the hallmarks of comedy, an art relegated to the controlled environs of comedy clubs and network TV. In the late nineties, a daring breed of comedians...

This Is a Book About the Kids in the Hall

This Is a Book About the Kids in the Hall PDF Author: Semley, John
Publisher: ECW Press
ISBN: 1770909206
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
The first book to explore their history, legacy, and influence This is a book about the Kids in the Hall „ the legendary Canadian sketch comedy troupe formed in Toronto in 1984 and best known for the innovative, hilarious, zeitgeist-capturing sketch show The Kids in the Hall „ told by the people who were there, namely the Kids themselves. John SemleyÍs thoroughly researched book is rich with interviews with Dave Foley, Mark McKinney, Bruce McCulloch, Kevin McDonald, and Scott Thompson, as well as Lorne Michaels and comedians speaking to the KidsÍ legacy: Janeane Garofalo, Tim Heidecker, Nathan Fielder, and others. It also turns a criticÍs eye on that legacy, making a strong case for the massive influence the Kids have exerted, both on alternative comedy and on pop culture more broadly. The Kids in the Hall were like a band: a group of weirdoes brought together, united by a common sensibility. And, much like a band, theyÍre always better when theyÍre together. This is a book about friendship, collaboration, and comedy „ and about clashing egos, lost opportunities, and one-upmanship. This is a book about the head-crushing, cross-dressing, inimitable Kids in the Hall.