Isnt That Clever - A Philosophical Account of Humor and Comedy

Isn't That Clever provides a new account of the nature of humor - the cleverness account - according to which humor is intentional conspicuous acts of playful cleverness. This volume asks whether there are limits to what can be said in dealing with a heckler and how do we determine whether one comedian has stolen jokes from another.

List of contents

Introduction: A Fool’s Errand
1. The Obligatory Chapter
2. My, How Clever: What Is Humor and What Humor Is
3. Joking Matters
4. Comedy Tonight
5. Killing It: Humor and Comedy Aesthetics
6. Can’t You Take a Joke? The Ethics of Ethnic Humor
7. Am I Blue? The Ethics of Dirty (and Other Morally Questionable) Jokes
8. Is That a Mic in Your Hand or Are You Just Happy to See Me? Comedy Ethics

About the author

Steven Gimbel is Professor of Philosophy at Gettysburg College, USA. His paper "Heckler Ethics" received the Joseph Ellin Memorial Prize for best paper given at the seventh annual meeting of the Lighthearted Philosophers' Society. He was also an amateur stand-up comedian for several years, regularly performing at comedy clubs around the Baltimore/Washington D.C. area.

Summary

Isn’t That Clever provides a new account of the nature of humor – the cleverness account – according to which humor is intentional conspicuous acts of playful cleverness. This volume asks whether there are limits to what can be said in dealing with a heckler and how do we determine whether one comedian has stolen jokes from another.

Additional text

"Isn’t That Clever is a provocative book that has a lot to offer comedy connoisseurs and professionals alike." - Michael Dalebout, Project Muse

Product details

• Authors: Steven Gimbel, Steven (Gettysburg College Gimbel
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd.
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.12.2017
• EAN: 9781138082151
• ISBN: 978-1-138-08215-1
• No. of pages: 208
• Series: Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy; Routledge Studies in Contemporary Philosophy
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > General, dictionaries; Non-fiction book > Philosophy, religion > Philosophy: general, reference works; Media Studies, Philosophy of Language, PHILOSOPHY / General, PHILOSOPHY / Aesthetics, History of art / art & design styles, Ethics & moral philosophy, History of Art, Performing arts: comedy, Philosophy: aesthetics, Ethics and moral philosophy, The arts: general topics