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Horror films strive to make audiences scream, but they also garner plenty of laughs. In fact, there is a long tradition of horror directors who are fluent in humor, from James Whale to John Landis to Jordan Peele. So how might horror and humor overlap more than we would expect? Dead Funny locates humor as a key element in the American horror film, one that is not merely used for extraneous \"comic relief\" moments but often serves to underscore major themes, intensify suspense, and disorient viewers. Each chapter focuses on a different comic style or device, from the use of funny monsters and scary clowns in movies like A Nightmare on Elm Street to the physical humor and slapstick in movies ranging from The Evil Dead to Final Destination . Along the way, humor scholar David Gillota explores how horror films employ parody, satire, and camp to comment on gender, sexuality, and racial politics. Covering everything from the grotesque body in Freaks to the comedy of awkwardness in Midsommar , this book shows how integral humor has been to the development of the American horror film over the past century.

When wielded by the white majority, ethnic humor can be used to ridicule and demean marginalized groups. In the hands of ethnic minorities themselves, ethnic humor can work as a site of community building and resistance. In nearly all cases, however, ethnic humor can serve as a window through which to examine the complexities of American race relations. InEthnic Humor in Multiethnic America, David Gillota explores the ways in which contemporary comic works both reflect and participate in national conversations about race and ethnicity.Gillota investigates the manner in which various humorists respond to multiculturalism and the increasing diversity of the American population. Rather than looking at one or two ethnic groups at a time-as is common scholarly practice-the book focuses on the interplay between humorists from different ethnic communities. While some comic texts project a fantasy world in which diverse ethnic characters coexist in a rarely disputed harmony, others genuinely engage with the complexities and contradictions of multiethnic America.The first chapter focuses on African American comedy with a discussion of such humorists as Paul Mooney and Chris Rock, who tend to reinforce a black/white vision of American race relations. This approach is contrasted to the comedy of Dave Chappelle, who looks beyond black and white and uses his humor to place blackness within a much wider multiethnic context.Chapter 2 concentrates primarily on the Jewish humorists Sarah Silverman, Larry David, and Sacha Baron Cohen-three artists who use their personas to explore the peculiar position of contemporary Jews who exist in a middle space between white and other.In chapter 3, Gillota discusses different humorous constructions of whiteness, from a detailed analysis ofSouth Parkto \"Blue Collar Comedy\" and the blogStuff White People Like.Chapter 4 is focused on the manner in which animated children's film and the network situation comedy often project simplified and harmonious visions of diversity. In contrast, chapter 5 considers how many recent works, such asHarold and Kumar Go to White Castleand the Showtime seriesWeeds, engage with diversity in more complex and productive ways.

A live audience is typically considered an essential component for a stand-up comedy performance. For this reason, most recorded stand-up specials use various formal devices in order to try to make the special feel as “live” as possible. This article considers a number of comedians who challenge and complicate these conventions. Comedians such as Chelsea Peretti, Fred Armisen, and Maria Bamford utilize different forms of editing and filming or record their “live” acts in nontraditional venues. This results in stand-up specials that parody or subvert traditional recorded stand-up. This element of parody or subversion challenges basic assumptions about televisual stand-up even as it serves to complement and reinforce the content of a comedian's stage performance. It also establishes the stand-up special as a distinct text in its own right, as opposed a “next-best-thing” approximation of the live performance. Finally, experimental stand-up specials complicate the ways in which we understand the relationship between a comedian and his or her audience.

While some stand-ups may position themselves as spokespersons for \"everybody\" or for the entire nation (even as they claim individuality), most stand-ups also represent the point-of-view of a particular demographic defined by race, gender, class, or sexual orientation. Defining American identity has never been easy, but there was a time when American-at least for those Americans, mostly white and male, who controlled the discourse-could be defined by a belief in natural rights, a strong work ethic, and a celebration of the capacity for the individual to overcome hardships.

Humerous horror films are important to cinematic and cultural history, but occasionally, one can rightfully be called a game changer. Two such films are George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Jordan Peele’s Get Out (2017). While they are very different in tone and production value, the movies also have quite a bit in common. Both films feature sympathetic Black male protagonists, and both were released during periods of heightened social unrest and anxiety. Living Dead came out amid the Vietnam War and various civil rights movements, and Get Out was released shortly after President Trump’s inauguration,

In the final moments of the silent version of The Phantom of the Opera (1925), the Phantom (Lon Chaney), like so many early horror monsters, finds himself chased by an angry mob. Just as the mob is about to catch him, the Phantom reaches into his coat and raises his fist menacingly. The mob, coming at the Phantom from both sides, stops their attack, afraid of what he may be holding. Upon seeing the crowd’s fear, the Phantom begins laughing. He then reveals his empty hand and continues to laugh as the mob overtakes him and tosses his body into