That's Not Funny : How the Right Makes Comedy Work for Them.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Sienkiewicz, Matt.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Comedy--Political aspects--United States.

Comedy.

Political culture--United States.

Political culture.

Political satire, American--United States.

Political satire, American.

Right-wing extremists--United States.

Right-wing extremists.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 pages)

Other Title:

That's Not Funny

Place of Publication:

Berkeley : University of California Press, 2022.

Summary:

A rousing call for liberals and progressives to pay attention to the emergence of right-wing comedy and the political power of humor. "Why do conservatives hate comedy? Why is there no right-wing Jon Stewart?" These sorts of questions launch a million tweets, a thousand op-eds, and more than a few scholarly analyses. That's Not Funny argues that it is both an intellectual and politically strategic mistake to assume that comedy has a liberal bias. Matt Sienkiewicz and Nick Marx take readers--particularly self-described liberals--on a tour of contemporary conservative comedy and the "right-wing comedy complex." In That's Not Funny, "complex" takes on an important double meaning. On the one hand, liberals have developed a social-psychological complex--it feels difficult, even dangerous, to acknowledge that their political opposition can produce comedy. At the same time, the right has been slowly building up a comedy-industrial complex, utilizing the humorous, irony-laden media strategies of liberals such as Jon Stewart, Samantha Bee, and John Oliver to garner audiences and supporters. Right-wing comedy has been hiding in plain sight, finding its way into mainstream conservative media through figures ranging from Fox News's Greg Gutfeld to libertarian podcasters like Joe Rogan. That's Not Funny taps interviews with conservative comedians and observations of them in action to guide readers through media history, text, and technique. You will find many of these comedians utterly appalling, some surprisingly funny, and others just plain weird. They are all, however, culturally and politically relevant--the American right is attempting to seize spaces of comedy and irony previously held firmly by the left. You might not like this brand of humor, but you can't ignore it.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Right-Wing Comedy

1. Fox News and Mainstream Right-Wing Comedy

2. Making Comedy Great Again: Paleocomedy

3. Religio-Rational Satire: Owning the Libs One Faulty Syllogism at a Time

4. The Legions of Libertarian Podcasters

5. Trolling the Depths of the Right-Wing Comedy Complex

Conclusion: Performing Right and Left

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9780520382145

0520382145

OCLC:

1288424515