Stephen Wagg (ed.)

Because I Tell a Joke or Two

Comedy, Politics and Social Difference
Herausgeber: Wagg, Stephen

• Gebundenes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

Because I Tell a Joke or Two explores the complex relationship between comedy and the social differences of class, region, age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity and nationhood. It shows how comedy has been used to sustain, challenge and to change power relationships in society. The contributors, who include Stephen Wagg, Mark Simpson, Stephen Small, Paul Wells and Frances Williams, offer readings of comedy genres, texts and performers in Britain, the United States and Australia. The collection also includes an interview with the comedian Jo Brand. Topics addressed include: * women in British comedies such as Butterflies and Fawlty Towers * the life and times of Viz, from Billy the Fish to the Fat Slags * queer readings of Morecambe and Wise, the male double act * the Marx brothers and Jewish comedy in the United States * black radical comedy in Britain * The Golden Girls, Cheers, Friends and American society.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales)
• Seitenzahl: 336
• Erscheinungstermin: 12. Februar 1998
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 241mm x 162mm x 29mm
• Gewicht: 699g
• ISBN-13: 9780415129206
• ISBN-10: 0415129206
• Artikelnr.: 21819775

Autorenporträt

Stephen Wagg is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sport Studies at Roehampton Institute, London. His previous books include Come on Down? and The Social Faces of Humour.

Inhaltsangabe

INTRODUCTION 1 'AT EASE, CORPORAL' Social class and the situation comedy in
British television, from the 1950s to the 1990s 2 THE LANCASHIRE SHAMAN
Frank Randle and Mancunian Films 3 BUTTERFLIES AND CAUSTIC ASIDES
Housewives, comedy and the feminist movement 4 TARTS, TAMPONS AND TYRANTS
Women and representation in British comedy 5 CERTAIN LIBERTIES HAVE BEEN
TAKEN WITH CLEOPATRA Female performance in the Carry On films 6 PUNCHING
YOUR WEIGHT Conversations with Jo Brand 7 THE STRAIGHT MEN OF COMEDY 8
SUITS AND SEQUINS Lesbian comedians in Britain and the US in the 1990s 9
'YEAH, AND I USED TO BE A HUNCHBACK' Immigrants, humour and the Marx
Brothers 10 'WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME' Open convictions and closed
contexts in the American situation comedy 11 CRINGE AND STRUT Comedy and
national identity in post-war Australia 12 'SERIOUS T'ING' The black comedy
circuit in England 13 'THEY ALREADY GOT A COMEDIAN FOR GOVERNOR' Comedians
and politics in the United States and Great Britain 14 VIZ Gender, class
and taboo 15 HEARD THE ONE ABOUT THE WHITE MIDDLE[1]CLASS HETEROSEXUAL
FATHER-IN-LAW?