Stand Up Comedy

'Standing up for Italian comedy: An interview with comedian, Filippo Giardina', Comedy Studies, vol. 2, issue 1, pp.83-7

by Clare Watters

In this interview, translated from the original Italian, Filippo Giardina, comedian and founder of the Rome-based... more In this interview, translated from the original Italian, Filippo Giardina, comedian and founder of the Rome-based stand-up comedy workshop Satiriasi, introduces readers to this comedy initiative, the relatively new genre of Italian stand-up comedy and the problems faced by comedians in Italy today.

Nikki Payne: Sexual agression, speech impediments, and the ugly comedienne

by Danielle Deveau

published in Feminist Media Studies 10:4 (2010)

This essay discusses Canadian stand-up comic Nikki Payne whose sexually aggressive material and characterization of... more This essay discusses Canadian stand-up comic Nikki Payne whose sexually aggressive material and characterization of herself as "unattractive" inverts the gendered dynamics of the comedy club.

Analysing Stand-Up Comedy

by Brett Mills

Special edition of Comedy Studies, 2 (2) 2011, co-edited with Sharon Lockyer and Louise Peacock

What happens if multiple different frameworks for examining comedy are used to explore one specific text? This special... more What happens if multiple different frameworks for examining comedy are used to explore one specific text? This special edition does this by analysing a Joan Rivers routine from 'Live at the Apollo' (BBC 2007). The papers in it are:
Roberta Mock, 'Really Jewish?: Joan Rivers and Live at the Apollo'
Sharon Lockyer, 'From Toothpick Legs to Dropping Vaginas: Gender and Sexuality in Joan Rivers' Stand-Up Comedy Performance'
Louise Peacock, 'Joan Rivers: Reading the Meaning'
Don Waisanen, 'Jokes Inviting more than Laughter: Joan Rivers' Political-Rhetorical World View'
Brett Mills, '"A Pleasure Working with You": Humour Theory and Joan Rivers'
Gerard Matte and Ian McFadyen, 'Can we Talk?: The Reframing of Social Permissions in the Comedy of Joan Rivers'
Sophie Quirk, 'Review: Joan Rivers - A Piece of Work'

Comedy and Humor, Asian American

by Minh-Ha T. Pham

Published in Asian American History and Culture: An Encyclopedia eds. Huping Ling and Allan W. Austin (New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2009).

Stand-up Comedy as a Genre of Intimacy

by Ian Brodie

Ethnologies, Volume 30, numéro 2, 2008, p. 153-180

Through their use of amplification, stand-up comedians are able to engage an audience at a natural register, employing... more Through their use of amplification, stand-up comedians are able to engage an audience at a natural register, employing the modes of everyday, interpersonal, conversational speech, avoiding for the most part the distancing required for most forms of cultural performance. By maintaining control of this conversation, they are able paradoxically to give control away, wresting it back when required, thus creating the illusion of intimacy, exchange, and reciprocity between themselves and the audience. This article provides the beginnings of a framework for understanding stand-up comedy and its relationship to folkloric genres by placing intimacy, not humour, as the primary consideration.