Articles Tagged with #comedy
-
Anatomy of a Scene
Standup Comity
If a person tells a joke in a forest and doesn’t get a laugh—that’s how you know he or she’s a true comic. A report from the 2011 International Society for Humor Studies Conference, where so-called experts of comedy submit themselves to professionals to be critiqued.
-
Excerpts
The Funny Man
When asked, focus groups describe the funny man as “untalented, successful, bad husband and father.” He had been at the top, but is now heading toward the bottom. An excerpt from John Warner’s forthcoming novel, The Funny Man, published by Soho Press.
-
Spoofs & Satire
What’s On?
With more than 70 TV show premieres this fall, who has time to watch them all? Or even know what any of them are about? With no prior knowledge of the shows’ premises, here are some guesses.
-
Michael Rottman Explains Jokes
Cosa Nostalgia
How Hyman Roth’s quip in The Godfather: Part II picks up on a cinematic pastime, and exposits layer upon layer of information about his character.
-
Letters from Tel Aviv
Situation: Comedy
Language students rely on local television shows for vocabulary and instruction. But not all Three’s Company remakes should be trusted. Surveying Israeli TV from Orthodox Jewish sitcoms to comedy that equally offends Jews, Arabs, and sheep.
-
Michael Rottman Explains Jokes
Erogenous Gaps
Humor happens when an audience fills in the gaps—at its best, those gaps are packed layers deep with meaning. An explanation of an 18-word Mitch Hedberg joke.
-
Letters From Cairo
Six Cabs to Superior Understanding
Foreign correspondents love to interview local cab drivers for their political opinions. Or sometimes just to hear the best jokes.
-
Letters From the Hostel Life
Travels With Nathan
To our knowledge, Ezra Pound never saw a donkey show. Here’s updated cantos for drunk backpackers in Madrid and jerks on the Dead Sea.
-
Opinions
Movement for a Standstill
Jon Stewart’s Rally to Restore Sanity is bad for America, except for the America that buys or sells advertising time on Comedy Central.
-
Letters From Los Angeles
You Are the Best Audience Ever
A live studio audience is one part mosh pit, two parts Godot. A Glendale taping becomes a hostage situation.
-
Opinions
Queens of the Scatological Age
Next month, one book will be crowned America’s funniest. Reviewing this year’s candidates for the Thurber Prize for American Humor, and tiptoeing through the doo-doo.
-
Personal Essays
Jewish Like Me
To be Jewish in America can be a gefilte fish served with wasabi and a dollop of paranoia. And things get even more complicated when you don’t look the part.