Subtitle: "How Outsider Comedians Rose From the Fringe to the Main Stage of American Culture."
Topic: Controversial Stand-Up Comedians of 20th America
Question: How did stand up comedians use their "outsider" status to address taboo and obscene subjects to a mass audience in the late 20th century?
So What?: I am working on the topic of standup comedy because I want to find out how comedians are able to discuss controversial subjects to help my reader understand how entertainers can influence the social consciousness of the mainstream.
I love to laugh and I admire comedians because they say what others are afraid to. They have the difficult task of making something serious comedic. I think you have a good start and I hope to learn a lot.
ReplyDeleteI think stand up is more than just entertainment, but an important outlet for social/cultural commentary. It's also one of my favorite things to listen to in my car. Do you have specific comedians or types of comedy in mind?
ReplyDeleteLaughing/Smiling are my favorite activities, so I am definitely interested in this topic! One thing to maybe ask yourself is what specific controversial topics are you interested, so you know what direction and specific ideas you want to research. This may help ground the topic more :)
ReplyDeleteI love a good comedian, especially one with no mouth filter. Controversial comedians eh? I can't remember if you said your focus was on female comedians, but Lisa Lampenelli comes to mind, and other comedians like Sam Kinison or Louis C.K? Did their controversy have a negative backlash? Are you examining the effects of their craft as well?
ReplyDeleteI love comedy and comedians. In fact I am watching one of my favorite stand up comedians as we speek. I like that you have grounded your topic to outsider comedians and you mentioned in class possibly grounding it even further to just female comedians. That would be very cool. Also I would look at specific controversial issues and compare and contrast how different comedians approached these issues.
ReplyDeleteI think that this topic is great. It has always interested me how comedians get away with all of the things they say and do, and the whole industry itself is pretty interesting too. I think if you just think of maybe a specific example, or a few examples, this paper will be awesome.
ReplyDeleteI know very little about "outsider" comedians, as the closest I've gotten to a comedian is Lewis Black whom I was personally not impressed. I think delving into lesser known comedians will be good for the audience because it will encourage them to search for these comedians.
ReplyDeleteAs a big fan of stand-up comedy, I will be looking forward to hearing more about this topic! Are you going to focus on specific select comics? Mainstream-wise, I think comics who get their own show like Dave Chappelle get to have a much larger stake in social consciousness.
ReplyDeleteVery good topic! I don't understand how comedians get away with the things they say. I would never be able to bring up such controversial subjects. I look forward to seeing some of your research.
ReplyDeleteComedy always has the ability to tackle tough subjects in an approachable way. On my topic of Hegemony one of my favorite chris rock comedy bits relates to it. He says that White people are "wealthy" and black people are "rich."
ReplyDeleteI think that comedy is really interesting because comedians always say what we are all thinking, but use the excuse of "oh, I'm a comedian, so I'm allowed to say this because it doesn't really count". This topic is brilliant because if you think about it, all the famous comedians today came about from doing stand-up and saying/doing really controversial things. I can't put my finger on it, but I have always wondered why their outsider statuses always seem to work for them. I think this is a great idea for a research topic!
ReplyDeleteI love this topic because I feel like comedians say what the majority of our society is afraid to even mention. It creates controversy, but more importantly, I think it opens our minds and challenges our thoughts.
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