Humorinamerica

LATEST ARTICLES ( 69 )

• Editor’s Chair: Carol Burnett Wins Mark Twain Prize & Other News

  

  Tracy WusterCongratulations to Carol Burnett for winning the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. According to the Kennedy Center:The Mark Twain Prize recognize... Read more

  Posted on 22 May 2013 HUMOR, SOCIETY

• Watching TV Scramble: Editing Jokes After the Fact

  

  As I watched last night’s Family Guy, my local Chicago station’s news teaser informed me of an unfolding tragedy to our West. Tornadoes were hitting parts of th... Read more

  Posted on 20 May 2013 HUMOR, SOCIETY

• Finding the Flow: Mark Twain, the River, and Me

  

  While writing Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, Twain had some trouble finding his flow. The manuscript was clearly important to him, and clearly troubling. Read more

  Posted on 17 May 2013 HUMOR, SOCIETY

• Maron Debuts on IFC

  

  May may just be the month of Marc Maron. The stand-up comedian is not new to the scene, having begun his forays into show business alongside the likes of David... Read more

  Posted on 14 May 2013 HUMOR

• Sunday Stand Up: George Carlin’s “Seven Dirty Words”

  

  Tracy WusterToday, May 12th, would have been George Carlin’s birthday.  Born in 1937, Carlin was one of the key figures of the stand-up renaissance of the... Read more

  Posted on 12 May 2013 HUMOR, SOCIETY

• Happy Mother’s Day, Anne Bradstreet!

  

  Anne Bradstreet may have been America’s first poet. Born in England in 1612, she immigrated to colonial America in 1630, and quietly penned her verses while... Read more

  Posted on 09 May 2013 HUMOR, SOCIETY

• Truthiness and American Humor

  

  Stephen Colbert, in the inaugural episode of the Colbert Report (October 17, 2005) ,... Read more

  Posted on 07 May 2013 HUMOR, SOCIETY

• Editor’s Chair: New News and Such…

  

  Tracy WusterABE’s post from earlier this week highlighted the institution of the “editor’s chair,” which I have taken a seat in several times before to inform... Read more

  Posted on 02 May 2013 HUMOR, SOCIETY

• In the Archives: An Easy Chair in an Uneasy World (1920)

  

  It may be heresy to admit on a website dedicated to American humor that I find great relief in the British variant. Since I first learned of knights who say Ni! Read more

  Posted on 29 April 2013 SOCIETY

• Muddy Water: Boston You’re Our Home

  

  The source of all humor is not laughter, but sorrow. ~ Mark TwainIt has not been a week of laughter. The terrorist bombings in Boston last week were a... Read more

  Posted on 25 April 2013 ENTERTAINMENT, MUSIC, SOCIETY

• Is a (tired) Goat Like a (dead) Frog?; Or Some Thoughts on the Objections to...

  

  Tracy WusterWhen computers learn how to make jokes, artists will be in serious trouble. –Donald Barthelme, “Not Knowing”Both Sharon McCoy and I have taken on... Read more

  Posted on 22 April 2013 HUMOR, SOCIETY

• Standing Askew: If Tragedy Plus Time Equals Comedy, What Do You Call It When...

  

  The idea of “comedy” carries with it a sense of lightness, easy laughter, or distance.  It also carries with it the implication that the audience who is... Read more

  Posted on 18 April 2013 HUMOR, SOCIETY

• The Mad Mad Mad Mad Comedy of Jonathan Winters

  

  I’m generally not given to hagiography in the wake of celebrity death. Still, hearing about Jonathan Winters’ dying touched me. Read more

  Posted on 15 April 2013 HUMOR

• Extended Metaphors and Empathetic Laughter

  

  I glance at the kitchen clock. It’s past midnight and I’m alone, reminiscing about the old days when the hum and click-clack of my typewriter provided a bit of... Read more

  Posted on 11 April 2013 HUMOR, SOCIETY

• What is Not Funny: Using Surveys in Teaching Humor

  Teaching American HumorIt’s just a joke. I was only joking. Can’t you take a joke?In an earlier post, I discussed how I have used opinion surveys as a way for... Read more

  Posted on 08 April 2013 HUMOR, SOCIETY

• Is a Joke a Joke?

  Back in January, local businessman Marty Jakosa thought that along with the honor of being chosen to MC the 45th the Turlock Chamber’s 45th annual “Best of... Read more

  Posted on 04 April 2013 SOCIETY

• In the Archives: Washington Irving, “The Art of Book-Making” (1819)

  

  Tracy WusterHaving recently emerged from a long-winter’s haze (which, here in Texas, involves lounging around in seventy-degree weather), I am now ready to... Read more

  Posted on 03 April 2013 HUMOR, SOCIETY

• Roller Skating in a Buffalo Herd

  

  He’s a nut. But he’s the most talented nut I’ve ever known. – Minnie Pearl Roger Miller had no off switch. In a career that took him from the dive bars of... Read more

  Posted on 28 March 2013 HUMOR

• [Title to Follow]

  

  I have a friend who takes Saint Patrick’s Day very seriously. His extended family gathers on the weekend nearest March 17 to trade sarcasms and drink alcohol. Read more

  Posted on 25 March 2013 HUMOR, SOCIETY

• Teaching Humor with Multicultural Texts; Teaching Multiculturalism with Humor

  Understanding humor is all about understanding context — often about understanding shifting contexts.  The more you know about the different contexts in the tex... Read more

  Posted on 21 March 2013 HUMOR, SOCIETY