Hysterical! : : Women in American Comedy / / ed. by Linda Mizejewski, Victoria Sturtevant.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Texas Press Complete eBook-Package 2017
• MitwirkendeR: Anderson Wagner, Kristen,; Brunovska Karnick, Kristine,; Haggins, Bambi,; Hatch, Kristen,; Havas, Julia,; Krefting, Rebecca,; Landay, Lori,; Leimbach, Joselyn K.,; Leonard, Suzanne,; Mcintyre, Anthony P.,; Mizejewski, Linda,; Rapf, Joanna E,; Rowe Karlyn, Kathleen,; Sturtevant, Victoria,; Sulimma, Maria,; Wanzo, Rebecca,; Weber, Brenda R.,; White, Rosie,
• TeilnehmendeR: Karlyn, Kathleen Rowe.
• HerausgeberIn: Mizejewski, Linda,; Sturtevant, Victoria,
• Place / Publishing House: Austin : : University of Texas Press, , [2021]; ©2017
• Year of Publication: 2021
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (472 p.)

Amy Schumer, Samantha Bee, Mindy Kaling, Melissa McCarthy, Tig Notaro, Leslie Jones, and a host of hilarious peers are killing it nightly on American stages and screens large and small, smashing the tired stereotype that women aren’t funny. But today’s funny women aren’t a new phenomenon—they have generations of hysterically funny foremothers. Fay Tincher’s daredevil stunts, Mae West’s linebacker walk, Lucille Ball’s manic slapstick, Carol Burnett’s athletic pratfalls, Ellen DeGeneres’s tomboy pranks, Whoopi Goldberg’s sly twinkle, and Tina Fey’s acerbic wit all paved the way for contemporary unruly women, whose comedy upends the norms and ideals of women’s bodies and behaviors. Hysterical! Women in American Comedy delivers a lively survey of women comics from the stars of the silent cinema up through the multimedia presences of Tina Fey and Lena Dunham. This anthology of original essays includes contributions by the field’s leading authorities, introducing a new framework for women’s comedy that analyzes the implications of hysterical laughter and hysterically funny performances. Expanding on previous studies of comedians such as Mae West, Moms Mabley, and Margaret Cho, and offering the first scholarly work on comedy pioneers Mabel Normand, Fay Tincher, and Carol Burnett, the contributors explore such topics as racial/ethnic/sexual identity, celebrity, stardom, censorship, auteurism, cuteness, and postfeminism across multiple media. Situated within the main currents of gender and queer studies, as well as American studies and feminist media scholarship, Hysterical! masterfully demonstrates that hysteria—women acting out and acting up—is a provocative, empowering model for women’s comedy.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Foreword -- Acknowledgments -- INTRODUCTION -- Chapter 1. Mabel Normand: New Woman in the Flapper Age -- Chapter 2. Fay Tincher: Female Rowdiness and Social Change -- Chapter 3. Mae West: The Constant Sinner -- Chapter 4. Fanny Brice’s New Nose: Beauty, Ethnicity, and Liminality -- Chapter 5. Lucille Ball and the Lucy Character: Familiarity, Female Friendship, and the Anxiety of Competence -- Chapter 6. Carol Burnett: Home, Horror, and Hilarity on The Carol Burnett Show -- Chapter 7. Lily Tomlin: Queer Sensibilities, Funny Feminism, and Multimedia Stardom -- Chapter 8. Moms Mabley and Wanda Sykes: “I’ma Be Me” -- Chapter 9. Roseanne Barr: Remembering Roseanne -- Chapter 10. Whoopi Goldberg in Hollywood: Queering Comic Genre Genealogies -- Chapter 11. Margaret Cho’s Army: “We Are the Baddest Motherfuckers on the Block” -- Chapter 12. Ellen DeGeneres’s Incorporate Body: The Politics of Authenticity -- Chapter 13. Sarah Silverman: Cuteness as Subversion -- Chapter 14. Tina Fey: “Quality” Comedy and the Body of the Female Comedy Author -- Chapter 15. Lena Dunham: Cringe Comedy and Body Politics -- Works Cited -- Contributors -- Index