Description
Book SynopsisThis edited volume brings together scholars of comedy to assess how political comedy encounters neoliberal themes in contemporary media. Central to this task is the notion of genre; under neoliberal conditions (where market logics motivate most actions) genre becomes mixed. Once stable, discreet categories such as comedy, horror, drama and news and entertainment have become blurred so as to be indistinguishable. The classic modern paradigm of comedy/tragedy no longer holds, if it ever did. Moreover, as politics becomes more economic and less moral or normative under neoliberalism, we are able to see new resistance to comedic genres that support neoliberal strategies to hide racial and gender injustice such as unlaughter, ambiguity, and anti-comedy. There is also an increasing interest with comedy as a form of entertainment on the political right following both Brexit in the UK and the election of Trump in the U.S. Several essays confront this conservative comedy and place it in contex
Trade ReviewDon’t pick up The Joke is on Us: Political Comedy in (Late) Neoliberal Times edited by Julie Webber if what you’re looking for is a funny-haha book. The contributors are not stand-up comedians, nor are they trying to tell jokes. If, instead, you’re looking for serious examinations about how satire, irony, and humor—often weapons of the weak deployed against authoritarians--have been coopted and diffused by neoliberal forces and regimes (corporate capitalism, big data surveillance systems, alt-right conspirators, and racist truthers), then this is the book for you. Don’t expect Saturday Night Live or the Comedy Channel to save us, they warn. -- John Seery, Pomona College
Who gets the last laugh on the late-stage of neoliberalism? As this timely collection suggests, the joke is ultimately on all of us on the losing side of a corporate run humor-mill that keeps us laughing-mad across the political aisles. Amidst the toxic tides of austerity, white nationalism, xenophobia, and rampant misogyny, we’ve been conditioned to look to late-night, white, and (mostly) male corporate-jesters to reassure us that Trump and his troll army will be impeached any day now. Comedy won’t save us from this nightmare, as political and economic elites are the ones laughing… all the way to the bank. -- Raúl Pérez, University of Denver
Table of ContentsChapter One: All They Need is Lulz: Racist trolls, unlaughter, and Leslie Jones Viveca Greene Chapter Two: Brexit Irony, Caricature and Neoliberalism Simon Weaver Chapter Three: What’s Wrong with Slactivism? Confronting the Neoliberal Assault on Millennials Sophia A. McClennen Chapter Four: Political Humour in the face of Neoliberal Authoritarianism in “New” Turkey Secil Dagtas Chapter Five: A Silly Citizenship Take on Infotainment Satire: The Medium of Televisual Political Satire as Ludic Surveillance David Grondin and Marc-Olivier Castagner Chapter Six: The Political Economy of Comedy in Late-Night Shows Don J. Waisanen, Chapter Seven: British Comedy and the Politics of Resistance: The Liminality of Right Wing Comedy James Brassett Chapter Eight: I Want to Party with You, Cowboy: Stephen Colbert and the Aesthetic Logic of “Truthiness” After Campaign 2016 Aaron McKain and Thomas Lawson Chapter Nine: From Awkward To Dope: Black Women Comics in the Alternative Comedy Scene Jessyka Finley Chapter Ten: Savage New Media: Discursive Campaigns For/Against Political Correctness Rebecca Krefting Chapter Eleven: “An Actual Nightmare- but Pretty Good TV”: Comedy/Horror in The Trump Era Diane Rubenstein Conclusion: You’re Fired! Julie Webber
