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9780822325093

Stand-Up Comedy in Theory, Or, Abjection in America

by
  • ISBN13:

    9780822325093

  • ISBN10:

    0822325098

  • Format: Hardcover
  • Copyright: 2000-11-01
  • Publisher: Duke Univ Pr

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Summary

Stand-Up Comedy in Theory, or, Abjection in Americais the first study of stand-up comedy as a form of art. John Limon appreciates and analyzes the specific practice of stand-up itself, moving beyond theories of the joke, of the comic, and of comedy in general to read stand-up through the lens of literary and cultural theory. Limon argues that stand-up is an artform best defined by its fascination with the abject, Julia Kristevars"s term for those aspects of oneself that are obnoxious to oners"s sense of identity but that are nevertheless-like blood, feces, or urine-impossible to jettison once and for all. All of a comedianrs"s life, Limon asserts, is abject in this sense. Limon begins with stand-up comics in the 1950s and 1960s-Lenny Bruce, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Mike Nichols, Elaine May-when the norm of the profession was the Jewish, male, heterosexual comedian. He then moves toward the present with analyses of David Letterman, Richard Pryor, Ellen DeGeneres, and Paula Poundstone. Limon incorporates feminist, race, and queer theories to argue that the "comedification" of America-stand-up comedyrs"s escape from its narrow origins-involves the repossession by black, female, queer, and Protestant comedians of what was black, female, queer, yet suburbanizing in Jewish, male, heterosexual comedy. Limonrs"s formal definition of stand-up as abject art thus hinges on his claim that the great American comedians of the 1950s and 1960s located their comedy at the place (which would have been conceived in 1960 as a location between New York City or Chicago and their suburbs) where body is thrown off for the mind and materiality is thrown off for abstraction-at the place, that is, where American abjection has always found its home. As the first study of its kind,Stand-Up Comedy in Theory, or, Abjection in Americawill appeal to a wide audience including those interested in cultural studies, Jewish studies, gender and queer theory.

Author Biography

John Limon is Professor of English at Williams College.

Table of Contents

Introduction. Approximations, Apologies, Acknowledgments 1(10)
Inrage: A Lenny Bruce Joke and the Topography of Stand-Up
11(17)
Nectarines
28(22)
Carl Reiner
Mel Brooks
Analytic of the Ridiculous
50(18)
Mike Nichols
Elaine May
Journey to the End of the Night: David Letterman with Kristeva, Celine, Scorsese
68(15)
Scatology: Richard Pryor in Concert
83(21)
Skirting, Kidding
104(21)
Ellen DeGeneres
Paula Poundstone
Notes 125(14)
Works Cited 139(6)
Index 145

Supplemental Materials

What is included with this book?

The New copy of this book will include any supplemental materials advertised. Please check the title of the book to determine if it should include any access cards, study guides, lab manuals, CDs, etc.

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