Humour as Politics: The Political Aesthetics of Contemporary Comedy

by Nicholas Holm

This book argues that recent developments in contemporary comedy have changed not just the way we laugh but the way we understand the world. Drawing on a range of contemporary televisual, cinematic and digital examples, from Seinfeld and Veep to Family Guy and Chappelle’s Show , Holm explores how humour has become a central site of cultural politics in the twenty-first century. More than just a form of entertainment, humour has come to play a central role in the contemporary media environment, shaping how we understand ideas of freedom, empathy, social boundaries and even logic. Through an analysis of humour as a political and aesthetic category, Humour as Politics challenges older models of laughter as a form of dissent and instead argues for a new theory of humour as the cultural expression of our (neo)liberal moment.

235 pages, Hardcover

Published October 23, 2017

Reviews

[Swagmaster09 · Rating 5 out of 5]

meot wel vijf sterren geven dit boek heeft me door mijn scriptie gesleurd (ik ben het dode paard).

[Abby Bowling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this for research/book review for my comedy class. I really enjoyed the theory that Holm
introduces about how humour is not just a political tool, but is politics itself.