Rebellious Laughter: People’s Humor in American CultureRebellious Laughter changes the way we think about the ordinary joke. Claiming that humor in America is a primary cultural weapon, Boskin surveys the multitude of joke cycles that have swept the country during the last fifty years. Dumb Blonde jokes. Elephant jokes. Jewish-American Princess jokes. Lightbulb jokes. Readers will enjoy humor from many diverse sources: whites, blacks, women, and Hispanics; conservatives and liberals; public workers and university students; the powerless and power brokers. Boskin argues that jokes provide a cultural barometer of concerns and anxieties, frequently appearing in our day-to-day language long before these issues become grist for stand-up comics. |
Contents
American Dream American Laugh | 15 |
3 | 22 |
OutsidersInsiders | 38 |
The Child and the Giant | 51 |
6 | 71 |
Guerrilla Satirists | 84 |
Is There Life Before Death? | 102 |
The Undeclared Joke Wars | 118 |
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Alan Dundes American culture American Humor Angeles audience Author's notes became black humor blonde Bomb Boskin Boston Globe century Christa McAuliffe City comedians comedy counterculture critic David Broome decades Dick Gregory disaster doctor doll Dundes and Carl E. B. White early elephant ethnic female Feminist film Folklore gender going graffiti groups Hoffman humorist investment broker issue James Thurber Jeffrey Dahmer Jewish John joke cycle laugh laughter Lenny Bruce lightbulb Los Angeles male minorities Mommy one-liners Pagter people's humor phrase political President Press protest Pryor quips racial Reagan Redd Foxx replied response Richard Richard Pryor Robert routines Rubin satire Senator sense of humor Sept sexual sick social society stand-up comics stereotypes story student television tell theater tion Tony Hendra Univ urban WASP woman women wrote York