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Book Cover
E-book
Author Scepanski, Philip, author

Title Tragedy plus time : national trauma and television comedy / Philip Scepanski
Edition First edition
Published Austin : University of Texas Press, 2021

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Description 1 online resource (x, 241 pages ): illustrations
Contents Introduction: Broadcast nationalism, national trauma, and television comedy -- The Kennedy assassination and the growth of sick humor on American television -- Censored comedies and comedies of censorship -- Emotional nonconformity in comedy -- Conspiracy theories and comedy -- African American comedies and the 1992 Los Angeles riots -- Television comedy and Islamophobia after 9/11 -- Comedy and Trump as trauma in narrowcast America -- Conclusion
Summary "The old joke is that Comedy = Tragedy + Time. Scepanski looks at that equation at a national level, examining how television comedy has dealt with various widescale tragedies, from the assassination of JFK to 9/11 to school shootings. Comedy is often the lens to talk about difficult subjects, but there has been little exploration of how it helps the country understand, process, and cope with trauma on a broad scale. Beginning with Gilbert Gottfried's controversial joke in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 that elicited a response of "too soon!," Scepanski lays out the ways that various sitcoms, comedy sketch shows, and comic news programs have handled tragedies, in ways both tasteful and tasteless"-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Description based on print version record
Subject Television comedies -- Social aspects -- United States
Psychic trauma -- Humor -- Social aspects -- United States
Disasters -- Humor -- Social aspects -- United States
American wit and humor -- Social aspects
Americans -- Psychology
PERFORMING ARTS / General
Americans -- Psychology
Television comedies -- Social aspects
United States
Form Electronic book
LC no. 2020032962
ISBN 9781477322550
1477322558
9781477322567
1477322566
Other Titles Tragedy + time : national trauma and television comedy