The Revolution Will Be Hilarious

by Adam Krause

In his pamphlet, "The Revolution Will Be Hilarious," Adam Krause takes a look at comedy and social change, and shows that humor, democracy, and creativity are all closely related.
However funny it may sound, he argues, comedy can help us create a kinder, gentler, and far more rational future. This is not a joke. The revolution will be hilarious.

46 pages, Paperback

First published May 15, 2013

Reviews

[David Liver · Rating 3 out of 5]

The main idea of comedy as a revolutionary tool to reshape the personal and social mindset is, of course, appealing and very interesting. Some anecdotes and quotes in the book are funny, thoughtful, and raise questions. The writing though is not as engaging as it could have been, and overall, the theory needs more digging, more documents, and more disrupting ideas. It's a 3 stars because I would have liked it to be a brick in the window, and I still dream about that brick.

[Kelton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great little book of essays centered around the ideas that we need a complete change in our ways of relating and systems of governance and that comedy will be a part of that journey. The simple language was and will be very helpful in breaking down some the complex subjects that this book addresses, such as the notion that only a small subsection of the human population is responsible for the myriad of ecological crises, not humanity as whole.

Krause argues that "comedy can help elucidate the type of thinking it will take to create and maintain a free and democratic society, generate new ideas, and foster broad social movements." While I agree with this statement, I think it would be true for many artistic/creative endeavors, theater for example.
However, Krause elevates comedy in particular saying it "is the purest example of how human creativity works."

Other subjects include progressing ecological doom and the need to break down our constructed spacetime through "refusal of all ideological conditioning" in order to unleash "true creativity."

[Nik Erzetič · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read.

[Syncione · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short book (an essay really) on how we need to think differently to create and live in a better society.