Clowns and Jokers Can Heal Us : Comedy and Medicine / Albert Howard Carter III.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Carter, Albert Howard, 1943-

Contributor:

UC Medical Humanities Consortium.

Series:

Perspectives in medical humanities.

Perspectives in medical humanities

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Wit and humor--Therapeutic use.

Wit and humor in medicine.

Laughter Therapy.

Wit and Humor as Topic.

Wit and humor.

Medical Subjects:

Laughter Therapy.

Wit and Humor as Topic.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (264 pages): illustrations ;

Place of Publication:

San Francisco, CA : University of California Medical Humanities Consortium, 2011.

Summary:

From the cover. Why do we tell jokes about dcotors and hospitals? Why do patients often initiate humor with healthcare workers? Howard Carter presents and analyzes humor inside and outside of the hospital. He argues that rituals of comedy affirm our humanity, aid healing, and should be routinely part of medical care. Carter discusses a wide range of comedy: the work of a hospital clown, ER humor that ranges from the playful to the harsh, humor that breaks taboo, humorous uses of imagery, character, and story, Freudian attacks, and jokes about sex, aging, and deathl. Humor, he finds, helps us deal with difficult subjects, creates social bonds, and affirms positive values. Because humor frees our imaginations and gives us pleasure, it provides a humane context for maintaining health when we are well and for healing when we are sick.

Contents:

Comedy, a cancer patient, a clown

Vonnie, the hospital clown

Party time! A ritual of black humor in the emergency room and one forty-year-old joke

From comforting clowns to ironic jokers : the many kinds and purposes of comedy

Talking past taboo : when language mentions the unmentionable

Imagine that! Images of the regrettably mechanical body

Humour characters and their stories

"Take this, you moron!" : The joys and sorrows of Freudian attacks

Aging and death : we're all in the same damn boat

Brunhilde blesses the ICU and other hospital humor

Rabid fluffy, the emergency room scapedog

"Smile when you say that, mister" : conclusions about clowns and jokers.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 241-244) and index.

ISBN:

0-9834639-1-3

OCLC:

1453283509

Access Restriction:

Open Access Unrestricted online access