The Standup Comic as Anthropologist: Intentional Culture Critic86 - 114
(Stephanie Koziski)
I expect that some of you are minoring is sociology/anthropology or perhaps have taken the introductory course. Koziski points out that sometimes it is easier to understand the working mechanisms of other cultures than it is to understand those of our own. We’ve seen something of how humor works to either provoke or placate: to make someone angry, or to mediate anger. The tradition of the Standup Comic probably dates back to the days of the Chautauqua Circuits in the 19th Century. Beginning as religious meetings, Chautauquas broadened to include lectures on many topics, including humorous ones, and among those earning at least part of their livings on the lecture circuit were Ralph Waldo Emerson and Mark Twain.
You’ll see quite a list of stand-up comedians scattered among the pages of Kiziski’s essay. Not that the list is anywhere near inclusive–she says “to name a few”. As an exercise, I named a few more from my young days–it wasn’t at all hard to come up with fifteen more, and I deliberately stayed away from standup comedians you might be familiar with–Conan O’Brien, Jay Leno, Stephen Colbert, John Stewart, “to name a few”. More are coming up in the comedy clubs and coffeehouses all over the country, some will make it big, some won’t. Maybe you have some favorites you’d like to promote–Does the Chameleon Club still exist on campus? Does it do comedy?
You should get a pretty fair understanding of the thesis in this essay from the fairly lengthy examples given. Following your reading, on the web page for today you’ll find links to videos representing the standup comics mentioned in the essay, as well as a number of others. Look at as many as you can. As Koziski writes, “They pattern their comic material close to everyday reality, making obvious behavioral patterns, explicit and tacit operating knowledge and other insights about American Society objects of conscious reflection....The standup comedian can elevate his audience to a new cultural focus”. See if you can identify some of these foci.
For Thursday, November 18
Read in Baker,
Wally Ballou Visits Sturdley Housepp. 101-108
(Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding)
Texas Observed (Molly Ivins)pp. 338 - 141
What Did We Do Wrong? (Garrison Keillor)pp. 191 - 197
Not all Standup Comedians work standing up–at least not all the time. Bob and Ray had a very long run in radio, sometimes with a live audience. This radio script should ring a bell with history-sensitive types. Bristol has its share of historic houses and historic house museums, but none of them quite like Sturdley House. Texas? The late Molly Ivins worked primarily as a newspaper columnist, though she was not a stranger to a microphone or camera. Garrison Keillor is best known for the long running NPR radio show A Prairie Home Companion, set in the mythical town of Lake Wobegon, Minnesota. You can catch the show on Saturday Evenings at 6:00 on WGBH. You’ll see that each of these humorists does the kind of social commentary/criticism about which our essayist wrote, though the topics and techniques differ. So what do they reveal about us and our foibles as citizens of the United States?
Click on the image above (that's Garrison Keillor in the middle) for a sample of Prairie Home Companion Jokes. Be warned: Corn is good for you. Here's a sample:
