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Funny Stuff : How Comedy Shaped American History.
- Format:
- Book
- Author/Creator:
- LaPlaca, Laura.
- Language:
- English
- Subjects (All):
- Comedy.
- Physical Description:
- 1 online resource (390 pages)
- Edition:
- 1st ed.
- Place of Publication:
- New Brunswick : Rutgers University Press, 2026.
- Summary:
- The Smithsonian Institution and the National Comedy Center hold unparalleled collections of objects that illustrate the vitality and importance of comedy in American life, from 19th century vaudeville, minstrel, and puppet shows to stand-up comedians, television satire, and internet memes.
- Contents:
- Cover
- Title Page
- Copyright
- Contents
- Foreword by Mel Brooks
- Director's Note by Journey Gunderson
- Director's Note by Anthea M. Hartig
- Introduction: Preserving the Funny "Stuff
- Chapter 1: Comedy Shapes How We See Each Other
- Petroleum Vesuvius Nasby aka David Ross Locke
- Pipps Among the Wide Awakes
- Bret Harte and "The Heathen Chinee
- Vaudeville: The Voice of the City
- The Marx Brothers: "Whatever it is, I'm against it!
- Laughter at the Front Lines: Bob Hope and the USO
- Martha Raye as "Colonel Maggie
- Blackface Minstrelsy
- Brownface and Brownvoice
- Amos 'n' Andy 'n' Racial Ventriloquy
- Phyllis Diller Cracks the Comedy Ceiling
- The Comedy Album Boom
- Inside Shelley Berman
- The First Family
- A Wild and Crazy Guy
- Laff of the Party
- 2000 Years with Carl Reiner &
- Mel Brooks
- Whoopi Goldberg: Original Broadway Show Recording
- Child of the 50s
- Watch It, Sucker!
- The Beverly Hillbillies and the Other America
- Don Rickles, Equal Opportunity Offender
- Tootsie and 9 to 5: Women's Lib and Men's Crisis
- Andy Bumatai and Local Comedy in Hawai'i
- "Yep, I'm Gay": Ellen and Will &
- Grace
- Chapter 2: Comedy Creates American Identity
- Mark Twain, American
- Will Rogers, Poet Lariat
- Bert Williams: "Funniest Man I Ever Saw, and the Saddest Man I Ever Knew
- The Carol Burnett Show: Sketch Comedy, Her Way
- W. C. Fields, Gentleman Misanthrope
- Silent Clowns: Chaplin, Keaton, and Lloyd
- Cartoon Comedy
- Comedy Duos
- Burns and Allen
- Nichols and May
- Martin and Lewis
- Butterbeans and Susie
- Bob and Ray
- Stiller and Meara
- Patsy Kelly and Thelma Todd
- Laurel and Hardy
- Abbott and Costello
- Bert and Ernie
- Under the Straw Hat: Minnie Pearl and her Comedy Community
- Late-Night TV Takes America's Pulse
- Sitcoms Forge Family Ideals
- The Goldbergs.
- I Dream of Jeannie
- Julia
- Cheers
- The Golden Girls
- Familias from the Barrio: The 1970s Latinx Family in the Network Era
- Bob Newhart: Just Another Slightly Amusing Accountant
- Happy Days and the Nostalgia Boom
- Saturday Night Live and TV's Comedy Rebellion
- Cheech Marin's Born in East LA
- The Muppets Take American History
- "Do What You Want to Do": In Living Color
- What's the Deal with Seinfeld
- Chapter 3: Comedy Provokes Conversations
- Mae West: "As Hot an Issue as Hitler
- Lenny Bruce: "Don't Lock Up These Words
- Rusty Warren and Women's Sexuality: Too Taboo for You
- Moms Mabley Was "The Funniest Woman in the World
- Lucille Ball and "Lucy Ricardo
- S'plaining Ricky Ricardo
- "Can We Talk" About Joan Rivers?
- Counterculture TV: The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and Laugh-In
- Pat Paulsen
- Lily Tomlin
- Richard Pryor: Outrageous Authenticity
- Land Back! Charlie Hill and the Power of Indigenous Representation
- All in the Family and the "Loveable Bigot
- Moving on Up: Good Times and The Jeffersons
- George Carlin and the Seven Words
- M*A*S*H: Binding Up the Wounds
- Chico and the Man: A Foot in the Door for La Raza
- "You're Gonna Make It After All": Sitcoms and the Single Girl
- The Daily Show and the Limits of Satire
- Chapter 4: Comedy Breaks the Mold
- Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy: Ego and Id
- Jack Benny and the Original "Show About Nothing
- Ernie Kovacs: Electronic Comic
- Your Show of Shows and the Birth of Television Comedy
- Broadway: Crucible of Comedy
- Avenue Q
- Kinky Boots
- Abie's Irish Rose: Mixed Marriage Mirth
- Neil Simon Captures Middle-Class Malaise
- Lyrical Laughter
- Allan Sherman
- Stan Freberg
- Mark Russell
- Weird Al Yankovic
- Ruth Wallis
- Victor Borge
- Comedy Clubs
- The Dick Van Dyke Show: Sitcoms Step Forward.
- "Stepping Off the Cliff": The Art of Improvisation
- The Groundlings
- The Living Premise
- The Upright Citizens Brigade
- Andy Kaufman, "Song and Dance Man
- The Simpsons: "Don't Have a Cow, Man!
- Hari Kondabolu and The Problem with Apu
- Margaret Cho: All-American Girl
- New Directions in Latinx Comedy
- Traumedy: Folk Humor in Times of Crisis
- Harlem Globetrotters: Clown Princes of Basketball
- Harvey Fierstein: I Am Who I Am
- Ali Wong: Baby Cobra
- The Big Bang Theory and The Guild
- Comedy at the Dawn of the Digital Era
- Conclusion
- Acknowledgments
- Notes
- Contributors
- Illustration Credits
- Index.
- Notes:
- Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.
- ISBN:
- 1-9788-3798-4
- OCLC:
- 1587072669
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