Examining Strategies in Stand-up Comedy for More Inclusive
Forms of Humor
Student Name: Maeva Dolle Student Number: 10470700 MA International Dramaturgy Thesis Supervisor: Veronika Zangl
2nd reader: Sruti Bala Date: August 10th 2020
Abstract
This thesis is concerned with the strategies, forms of humor and aesthetics of stand-up comedy which can lead towards a more inclusive space. In this thesis, inclusivity refers to gender, sexual orientation and race and notably how this is represented and performed, through rhetoric and aesthetics, by stand-up comedians and their comedic material. The research question explored is: to what extent can stand-up comedy encourage shifts in humor narratives leading towards a more inclusive and representative space for comedians? This research follows three strands of analysis which will guide the analysis of my case studies: Ellen DeGeneres and her performance Here and Now, Wanda Sykes and her performance I’ma Be Me and Hannah Gadsby and her performance Nanette. The first will be based on the rhetorical methods in which comedians perform their identities which includes their personas and how they perform their marginality rhetorically. The second strand will examine how and to what degree DeGeneres, Sykes and Gadsby bring to light issues regarding gender and sexuality using ‘acts’, from the performative perspective as theorized by Judith Butler. Finally, in an effort to analyze the aesthetics of the performances, as conceptualized by Nicholas Holm, this will take on formal analysis which will include both the rhetorical and performative strategies employed by these comedians. This will demonstrate to what degree each comedian chooses to perform their marginality and thus highlight social and political injustices. This thesis concludes that contemporary humor which engages on topics of sociopolitical importance represents a form of intersectional humor and charged humor, wherein narratives shift, in order to create more inclusive space in terms of comedians performing and their comic material.
Contents
Acknowledgements ... 4
Introduction ... 5
Chapter 1 – Strategies of Humor in Stand-Up Comedy ... 12
1.1 Women in comedy – historical and sociological background ... 12
1.2 Personas – most often performed by female comedians ... 17
1.3 Marginal humor & charged humor ... 20
1.4 Theories of humor and power ... 21
Chapter 2 – Ellen DeGeneres ... 25
2.1 Ellen DeGeneres’ background & cultural impact ... 25
2.2 Here and Now 2003 – analysis... 28
Chapter 3 - Wanda Sykes ... 32
3.1 Wanda Sykes and intersectionality ... 32
3.2 I’ma Be Me aesthetics and political implications ... 35
Chapter 4 - Hannah Gadsby ... 39
4.1 Nanette and aesthetics ... 39
4.2 Deviations from conventional narrative of stand-up comedy in Nanette ... 41
4.3 Hannah Gadsby’s persona construction & feminist humor ... 43
4.4 Political aesthetics of humor in Nanette ... 45
Conclusion ... 48
Acknowledgements
I would firstly like to thank my supervisor, Veronika, for guiding me through this process, for the consistent supervision and offering insight into a topic which I am passionate about. I want to thank my program supervisors, Kati and Ricarda, for their help in the early phases of this thesis and for their encouragement throughout this Master’s program. I would also like to thank my classmate, Eline, for the support, encouragement and laughter. I would also like to thank my roommate, Lotte, who has also supported me in this endeavor while we both worked from home in these unique times. Finally, I want to thank my parents, Florence and Leon, and my sister, Faye, for their support, encouragement and humor (and for laughing at my jokes or guiding me on how I can make them better).
Introduction
Over the past year, I have begun to enter the realm of stand-up comedy in Amsterdam, participating in open mics, experiencing the nerves before getting behind the mic and the rush of feelings after a gig, whether I ‘bombed’ (meaning failed to elicit laugher) or ‘killed it’ (succeeded in doing so). Personally, to succeed an open mic night means that I have managed to elicit laughter from the audience using comic material that I composed myself. That is the purpose of stand-up comedy, right? To make people laugh. Well, it’s not that simple. During a recent comedy writing workshop I attended, I learned that a joke should elicit one of three things. Firstly, a me-too response: sharing something with the audience which they can relate to. Secondly, a poor-you response: making the audience feel bad for you. Or lastly, a lesson: educating the audience so that they can take it along with them after the gig. The latter is most commonly achieved through the forms of humor which will be explored in this thesis: marginal humor and charged humor. Exercised, practiced and performed in different ways, the aim and aesthetics of these forms of humor is to transmit a socio-political message. Through the examination of three different case studies, the comedians Ellen DeGeneres, Wanda Sykes and Hannah Gadsby, this will demonstrate how this is achieved and to what extent.
Stand-up comedy has often been used to not only make people laugh but to trigger new ways of thinking, to challenge societal norms and to highlight existing tensions through methods of subversive and transgressive humor. Historically, stand-up comedy has been performed by primarily cis-gendered, white males who, to this day, still dominate the stand-up comedy scene in the western world and thus influences the comedic experiences transmitted to audiences. Although there has been a shift and increase in diversity amongst comedians, there is still progress to be made and attention to be given to representation and inclusivity in stand-up comedy. One of the purposes which humor studies serves, is to unpack trends in different narratives and media, whether it be film, television or stand-up comedy. How humor, particularly in stand-up comedy, can inform audiences on issues pertaining to racism, sexism, heterosexism and ableism deserves more attention within the field of humor studies. The nuance here lies in the word inform. It is one thing to make people laugh at the expense of the topics listed above however it is another thing to inform audiences on these issues and with a purpose to not only produce laughter from the audience
but to make a socio-political impact. This thesis will explore how this is achieved through the aesthetics of stand-up comedy.
Humor studies has gained momentum over the past two decades. Murray S. Davis notes how in 1995 the field of humor studies was still seeking its legitimacy as an academic field, “[t]he prime task of sociologists of humor today is to determine what kind of research into this topic might have enough intellectual appeal to overcome the almost insurmountable social factors that impede the acceptance of the sociology of humor as an academic specialty.”1 Today, there remains a
noticeable lack of research when it comes to feminist humor studies or LGBTQ+ humor studies. Therefore, through this thesis I aim to focus primarily on female comics, including women of color and from the LGBTQ+ community.
My research question is: to what extent can stand-up comedy encourage shifts in humor narratives leading towards a more inclusive and representative space for comedians? In order to explore this topic in the realm of stand-up comedy, I will focus on the work of Ellen DeGeneres, Wanda Sykes and Hannah Gadsby and analyze one performance by each comedian. From Ellen DeGeneres, I will be analyzing Here and Now, first performed in 2003, which is an accurate representation of DeGeneres’ comedic style. DeGeneres is recognized as an important figure in the world of comedy and entertainment and she is also “among the first mass mediated lesbians in history” as claimed by Jennifer Reed.2 Therefore, I will focus on DeGeneres and Here and Now as it demonstrates her
style of humor and how she performs an alternative way of being female, than hetero-femininity. Following this, I will analyze Wanda Sykes’ performance I’ma Be Me, performed in 2008. Sykes performs a different comedic style than DeGeneres who overtly shares her experiences as a Black, lesbian, woman with her audiences and demonstrates how intersectionality is an essential part to her comedic performance. Finally, I will look at Hannah Gadsby’s performance Nanette, which was first performed in 2018. This performance made waves in the world of stand-up comedy as Gadsby, through her comedic narrative, brought to light issues pertaining to feminism and her sexuality. All three case studies provide material for exploring how stand-up comedians can have
1 Murray S. Davis, “The Sociology of Humor: A Stillborn Field?” Sociological Forum 10, no. 2 (1995): 327. 2 Jennifer Reed, “Ellen DeGeneres: Public lesbian number one” Feminist Media Studies 5, no. 1 (2005): 23,
a political impact without doing political work. Each performance is also from a different time period (with a minimum of six years in between the performance of DeGeneres and Sykes) which will also help identify transformations in the degrees to which marginality is performed. An important aspect regarding shifts in humor narratives requires giving attention to the power dynamics of humor. The power dynamics in humor retreat back in time to the archetype of the jester and the king. Giselinde Kuipers illustrates this in “The politics of humor in the public sphere”, as she highlights the role of comics, who find themselves in the margins of society and often “aim their jokes and jibes at the center, at those in power and their accepted truths.”3 Power
is one of the driving forces in the politics of humor, since the role of power, whether it regards inclusion or exclusion or a more circular exchange, is always at play.
The methodological framework for this thesis will be grounded upon the aesthetics of humor which is linked with a sociocultural framework. The term aesthetics in this framework is founded upon Jacques Rancière’s understanding, which focuses on the political implications of aesthetics. Therefore, the connection between aesthetics and its influence and how it permeates society, gives shape towards a sociocultural framework for this thesis. This thesis will thus have three main strands which will structure the analysis of each case study. The first will be based on the rhetorical methods in which comedians perform their identities which includes their personas and how they perform their marginality rhetorically. The second strand will examine how and to what degree DeGeneres, Sykes and Gadsby bring to light issues regarding gender and sexuality using ‘acts’, from a performative perspective. Finally, in an effort to analyze the aesthetics of the performances, this will take on formal analysis which will include both the rhetorical and performative strategies employed by these comedians. As a result of this analysis, the sociocultural and political implications of these strategies used in the realm of humor will be made evident. By examining to what extent these performances and comedians employ these strategies, this will help examine to what degree humor has the potential to be inclusive. In this thesis, ‘inclusive’ thus refers not only to diversity and equal representation amongst performers but also to content and comedic material performed on stage.
3 Giselinde Kuipers, “The Politics of Humor in the Public Sphere: Cartoons, power and modernity in the first
transnational humor scandal.” European Journal of Cultural Studies 14, no. 1 (2011): 71, https://doi-org.proxy.uba.uva.nl:2443/10.1177/1367549410370072.
In my first chapter, I will depart from the sociological and historical position of women in comedy. Joanne Gilbert’s Performing Marginality gives insight into what it was like to perform comedy as a woman in the second half of the twentieth century by looking closely at the discrepancies between male and female comedians. Gilbert gives a historical account of female comics in the United States and, using feminist theory, unpacks the evolutionary standpoint on humor. Through this, she demonstrates that feminist theory is crucial to understanding the lack of women in stand-up comedy.4 The case for and against feminist humor is also an issue which Gilbert refers in
relation to performing marginality. The arguments surrounding feminist humor are important to recognize since it regards the evolution of women in comedy, however my analysis will not depart from this since the term alludes to various forms of feminism. The focus on gender in comedy will require a shift towards Judith Butler whose theory on gender highlights the fact that gender is constituted by performative acts and is socially constructed. As such, expectations from audiences, set by sociocultural norms, influence to what degree female comics perform their marginality and moreover how this humor is received by audiences. As will be shown through the analysis of the case studies, these requirements are increasingly altered or rejected by female comedians. This will be demonstrated by looking at the different personas which DeGeneres, Sykes and Gadsby choose to portray and how it contributes to their styles of humor. Gilbert offers five different persona structures which have been recognized over the years by famous, American female comedians. The five personas are: the kid, the bawd, the bitch, the whiner and the reporter.5 These
personas will serve as an axis to which I will explore the personas performed by Ellen DeGeneres, Wanda Sykes and Hannah Gadsby. What will also be highlighted are the limitations of using these personas in describing and analyzing these performances. Using Gilbert’s take on women in comedy, I will explore the concept of marginal humor alongside charged humor which is introduced in Rebecca Krefting’s All Joking Aside. For Krefting, ‘charged humor’ is performed by comics who, through the use of humor, challenge social inequality and cultural exclusion and as a
4 Joanne Gilbert, “Introduction,” in Performing Marginality: Humor, Gender and Cultural Critique. (Michigan:
Wayne State University Press, 2004), xviii.
result of producing such humor, “offer strategies and solutions to combat cultural and legal exclusion.”6
The first chapter will delve into the political aesthetics of comedy, explored in Nicholas Holm’s book Humor as Politics: The Political Aesthetics of Contemporary Comedy. Holm’s understanding of political aesthetics is based upon the idea that, how a comic narrative is formed can influence different forms of power and thus carry significant, political connotations. As Holm states, “[b]y political aesthetics, I refer to the idea that the aesthetic aspect of a text - its form, style, palette, rhythm, narrative, structure and form - can do political work, by which I mean it can intercede in the negotiation, contestation and distribution of power.”7 This will serve as a reference point to
which I will explore the aesthetics of each case study, taking on a formal analysis. The three main theories of humor, the superiority theory, the incongruity theory and the relief theory, are also relevant when looking at the aesthetics of humor and the foundations on which comic narratives are built. As I will be looking at the narratives created and performed by three comedians, the theories of humor employed contribute towards understanding how strategies in humor can lead towards more inclusive forms of humor, particularly in regard to stand-up. Therefore, gaining insight on the historical and sociological position of women in comedy will illustrate the dichotomy of power dynamics that paved the path for the stand-up comedy industry. Gilbert’s text will aid in understanding where female comedians are coming from, in terms of the social and cultural environment which helped build personas that were on the one hand, empowering yet on the other hand, equally limiting. Butler’s quintessential text will serve to highlight the necessity for more gender fluid representations within the context of stand-up comedy. Finally, the aesthetics of humor will guide the formal analysis to unpacking how humor can carry political implications and contribute to, for instance, charged comedy or comedy with activist undertones.
The second, third and fourth chapters will focus on three case studies on which I ground my analysis. The second chapter will revolve around Ellen DeGeneres and her comedy show Here and Now, performed in 2003. Although her comedy performance will serve as meter to analyze
6 Rebecca Krefting, “Introduction,” in All Joking Aside: American Humor and Its Discontents. (Maryland: John
Hopkins University Press, 2014), 3.
7 Nicholas Holm, "Introduction," in Humor as Politics: The Political Aesthetics of Contemporary Comedy.
what form of humor she is performing, Ellen DeGeneres’ persona will equally be analyzed. DeGeneres represents an important moment in the representation of the LGBTQ+ community in the media. This requires a more in-depth look at how she performs her gender and sexuality and how this may have paved the way for future comedians who identify as LGBTQ+ and who were and to this day still are, marginalized. If examining to what extent stand-up comedy can encourage positive shifts in humor narratives and more widely in the entertainment world, Ellen DeGeneres proves an interesting example since she does not enact this through what she says on stage. Instead she demonstrates that there are possibilities for women to perform comedy beyond the framework of hetero-femininity by, for instance, not referring to her sexuality during her performances or simply through her tom-boy choice of style.
The third chapter will examine the humor of Wanda Sykes and her performance, I’ma Be Me performed in 2008. As is the case with DeGeneres, this analysis will look specifically at her performance, the content and form of humor she performs, as well as her persona. Unlike DeGeneres, Wanda Sykes does use her sexuality as a topic in her stand-up comedy. Furthermore, Sykes interchanges between topics of race and sexuality in her performance, emphasizing the different forms of marginal humor she performs. Sykes does not shy away from discussing politics on stage and this contributes to the aesthetics which she chooses to promote. Holm’s approach towards the political work of humor will be used to demonstrate how Sykes simultaneously promotes her comic persona and political views through the overall aesthetics. The political and social overtones of her performance equally contribute to the intersectionality which Sykes chooses to make explicit. By using marginal humor and charged humor to highlight the aesthetics of Sykes’ performance, this will demonstrate to what extent Sykes is contributing to more inclusive forms of humor by highlighting inequalities through comic material.
The fourth chapter will serve to break down the performance of Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette. Nanette, a Netflix comedy special by Hannah Gadsby, made a significant impact in the comedy world and more widely in the entertainment sphere for denouncing stand-up comedy as an artform. Nanette first began touring in 2017 and then was released on Netflix in July 2018. It appears within our culturally mediated world, in a post-#MeToo era where women are taking actions against those, particularly men, who have sexually harassed women. In this performance, Gadsby takes
her audience down a confrontational path where she exposes them to the dichotomy of power dynamics, in a predominantly male field. She has also made waves in the world of humor studies with a number of scholarly articles which focus on Gadsby’s approach and where this performance can place itself in the realm of stand-up comedy.8 Through this thesis I also wish to explore to what
extent Hannah Gadsby’s special Nanette can be examined as a shift in stand-up comedy, while she meticulously balances the tension between social and political critique on the one hand, and humor on the other.
What will also be explored in the fourth chapter is how Gadsby disrupts the stand-up comedy format. Not only in the mise-en-scène of the performance but also in relation to the content she performs. This will allow a revisit to how audiences have become used to stand-up comedy performance formats and how Gadsby turns the format over. This is achieved through sharing with the audience how jokes are formulated but also by drawing comparisons between art history and the #MeToo movement. Gadsby refers to her sexual orientation and gender, which will be analyzed alongside Butler’s views on gender theory and intersectionality. Retracing back to Holm and the forms of humor which he delineates, there are two forms of humor which stand out in Gadsby’s performance: discomfort and provocation. Both forms will be measured alongside Gadsby’s performance to examine to what extent this represents a shift in the genre in stand-up comedy or whether she, despite announcing her departure from comedy, succumbs to the format.
Gadsby’s performance gives space to address the potential for humor as we know it, in our mass mediated western society, to foment social change. Despite the challenges in quantifying social change, how humor is created, produced and on the basis of the themes discussed, may provide hope for an alternative form of humor to emerge and create space for a more inclusive space for laughter. DeGeneres and Sykes are also examples of comedians who paved the path for alternative forms of humor and demonstrated different, more balanced, expressions of power within the context of humor narratives.
8 Rebecca Krefting, “Hannah Gadsby Stands Down: Feminist Comedy Studies,” Journal of Cinema and Media Studies 58, no. 3 (2019): 165–70; Rebecca Krefting, “Hannah Gadsby: On the Limits of Satire,” Satire Today, 5, no.
Chapter 1 – Strategies of Humor in Stand-Up Comedy
In this first chapter I aim to elaborate on feminist humor alongside marginal humor and how elements of these concepts contribute to how female comedians perform their marginality rhetorically. How female comedians demonstrate their marginality will also be examined through the lens of performativity, looking at socially constructed ‘acts’. The role of power in humor plays an important role in terms of how power is distributed and to whom. In terms of power dynamics, charged humor serves to expose the discrepancies of power in the stand-up comedy world as well as on a broader scope, reflecting upon social and political inequalities that marginalized communities face. By examining the power dynamics in humor, this helps in understanding the sociopolitical impact of a comedian and their comic material. The aesthetics of humor will also be introduced as a method of examining the political implications of stand-up comedy. Therefore, by sifting through different forms and rhetoric approaches of humor, this will help set up my groundwork analysis for my case studies.
1.1 Women in comedy – historical and sociological background
How gender is performed outside the realm of stand-up comedy often serves as comic material for stand-up comedians. Therefore, it is relevant to explore how comedians use their marginality, whether it be linked to gender, sexuality, race, age, ability or class, in order to pursue laughter or transmit a message, or do both simultaneously. This thesis will explore a few examples wherein forms of marginality overlap and contribute to charged humor, which according to Rebecca Krefting serves to highlight issues around social injustice and “to create community and validate identities among the culturally and legally disenfranchised.”9
Women’s contribution to the art and archive of stand-up comedy is crucial in order to challenge the domination of patriarchal beliefs which, up until the 1980s, was predominantly performed by male comics. In her book, Joanne Gilbert gives an accurate account of the gender disparity in
stand-up comedy: “In 1997, of the 173 comics regularly featured at Los Angeles’ acclaimed Comedy Store, 33 (or 19%) were female, and in 1999, of the 181 comics listed in Yahoo’s Internet directory, 21 (or 12%) were women.”10 Susan Horowitz in Queens of Comedy gives an illustrative
and clear depiction of what it was like to be a female comic in the early 20th century. As she notes, male comics began performing stand-up comedy at strip joints, therefore when women began going on stage to do comedy, they were treated with less respect and credibility than their male counterparts: “audiences were used to equating men with humor and women with stripping.”11
Horowitz then continues to note the role that power relations play alongside gender in comedy and how for a long time, women were not considered as funny as men. She quotes Cary Hoffman, the owner of a comedy club in New York: “Stand-up comedy has a lot to do with control and power. And most men seem to exercise it more easily than women.”12 Comic Carol Siskind also notes
how, “in a way, we have to be more careful. Men can be gross and get away with it. We have to be careful not to step on the male ego.”13 This comment was made in 1984. Although there have
been significant developments in the stand-up comedy world for female performers, which is in part aligned with the feminist movement, female comics are often still confronted with these double standards. By seeking equal treatment in comedy clubs and by their male counterparts, comedy performed by women often carried more weight than that of the joke. Although many female comics simply wanted to be able to perform without facing prejudice from audiences and male comics, to achieve that also required an urgency to break the glass ceiling.
Today, there are more female comics than ever, however there is still a significant difference between the amount of male and female comedians performing. Kaitlyn Mitchell looked at one comedy club in New York and noted how between 2011 and 2014, around 110 women were headliners out of 1346.14 In another article, comedian Meredith Kachel collected data from
different comedy clubs in Chicago highlighting the discrepancy in gender in stand-up comedy
10 Gilbert, “Introduction,” xix.
11 Susan Horowitz, “Comic Appeal, Sex Appeal and Power,” in Queens of Comedy (Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach
Science Publishers, 1997), 3.
12 Horowitz, “Comic Appeal, Sex Appeal and Power,” 4. 13 Horowitz, “Comic Appeal, Sex Appeal and Power,” 7.
14 Kaitlyn Mitchell, “We Crunched the Numbers on How Much Stage Time Female Comedians Get.”
show bookings.15 Although these examples are small-scale, they represent the struggles female
comedians still face today regarding the discrepancy in stage time between male and female comics. Moreover, the reason to shed more light and insight on comedy performed by women is to broaden the archival scope of all aspects pertaining to stand-up comedy. Not only does it lend towards different viewpoints of womanhood, but it also traces how these experiences were lived in different points in time, through the artform of stand-up comedy. What was deemed funny and poignant in the 1970s in the United States of America, may be less funny today, however it is essential to trace this evolution in humor. The emergence of women in stand-up comedy is directly tied with the different waves of feminism and this is demonstrated through the different narratives and aesthetics performed by female comics over time.
Gilbert notes how the feminist humor genre emerged as a result of the feminist movement of the 1960s, carrying the same motives to call attention to social inequalities perpetuated by the patriarchal systems which also overshadowed the entertainment industry. From this, feminist humor garnered characteristics of being “radical”, “transformative” and “aggressive”.16 Regina
Barreca, who’s work focuses primarily on women’s humor claims that, “nearly all women’s humor is in some way feminist humor […] anytime a woman breaks through a barrier set by society, she’s making a feminist gesture of a sort, and every time a woman laughs, she’s breaking through a barrier.”17 One of the primary reasons for the emergence and necessity for feminist humor to
become its own genre within the framework of humor is that humor was predominantly built upon the masculine experience and perspective. Therefore, when more women began performing stand-up comedy, this was often categorized as feminist humor due to its subversive nature. However, Gilbert acknowledges that since the term feminist humor can refer to different periods of the feminist movement, this complicates the task of categorizing it under such a term.18
15 Aimee Levitt, “Statistics Show Dudes Still Get Majority of Bookings at Stand-up Comedy Shows.”
https://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2018/01/10/statistics-show-dudes-still-get-majority-of-bookings-at-stand-up-comedy-shows.
16 Gilbert, “Humor, Power and Marginality,” 30.
17 Regina Barreca, They Used to Call me Snow White… but I Drifted: Women’s strategic use of humor (New York:
Penguin, 1991), 182.
This position of women who voiced their criticisms as part of their comic material has been significantly commented on, which often casts female comics as victims to the double standard. This double standard accepts men as being aggressive on stage however criticizes women who show aggression. Horowitz notes that, “[m]any of today’s female comics adopt the aggressive, crude posture popularized by male comics, not only to express their own anger but also in order to establish their right to stage turf with rowdy crowds.”19 Horowitz’s study was published in 1997
and reflects the sociological position of women in comedy in that time period. The above example demonstrates how women perform their marginality rhetorically as a method to emphasize their sociological marginality.
Although the notion of feminist humor may not be entirely relevant to examining the potential for inclusive humor, notably when referring to the case studies, what does carry significant weight and deserves recognition is how female comics perform their gender identities on stage. This is essentially tied to Judith Butler, a key scholar in feminist and queer theory, who asserts that gender and biological sex are both socially constructed. This comes as a result of social and cultural conditioning. Butler states: “Gender reality is performative, which means, quite simply, that it is real only to the extent that it is performed”.20 This is key to further unpacking the issues
encountered when exploring female comics and to what degree they perform their femaleness. Female comics have received, and to this day still receive criticism for how they perform their own gender and sexuality and notably to which degree. For instance, Krefting notes how contemporary comedian Sarah Silverman has received criticism for performing comedy that is gender neutral “(read: male)” and thus neutralizing any form of or critique or satire she presents, while this form of gender neutral humor is seen as largely attributing to her success.21 Whereas Iliza Shlesinger
plays into gendered social customs, performing a form of hyper-femininity, which, to a certain degree, affirms dominant patriarchal beliefs surrounding gender.22 How gender is performed is not
a one-sided gender problem, this is relevant for both male and female comics. Yet, in the world of comedy, women have been more susceptible to criticism on how they perform their femaleness,
19 Horowitz, “Comic Appeal, Sex Appeal and Power,” 16.
20 Judith Butler, “Performative Acts and Gender Constitution: An Essay in Phenomenology and Feminist Theory” Theatre Journal 40, no. 2 (Dec: 1988): 527.
21 Krefting, “When Women Perform Charged Humor,” 127. 22 Krefting, “When Women Perform Charged Humor,” 127.
whereas men, are more often spared from this. Butler notes how, the idea of being female is based upon “the body becom[ing] a cultural sign” as a result of referring to historical notions and definitions which consequentially, become the foundation of a “stylized repetition of acts”.23 These
‘acts’ which Butler refers to can thus be observed in stand-up comedy and notably in Gilbert’s analysis of personas. Butler’s theory will return when analyzing the personas and stand-up comedy material of DeGeneres, Sykes and Gadsby as how they perform their gender is a topic which they address to different degrees, either through their comedic material, persona or even aesthetics of their persona.
In this thesis however the definition of feminist humor which accurately links humor with the potential for more inclusive humor is defined by Limor Shifman and Dafna Lemish in “‘Mars and Venus’ in Virtual Space: Post-feminist Humor and the Internet”.
First, feminist humor is oppositional, as it criticizes the current state of gender inequalities and hegemonic stereotyping. Second, as an expression of empowerment, feminist humor relates to the capability for empowerment and freedom to express critical thoughts. […] Finally, feminist humor requires access to an outlet that is a “stage” or a medium, through which this kind of humor is expressed and spread.24
This definition ties in the different perspectives regarding charged humor, essentially using humor to evoke issues regarding social justice as well as the aesthetic perspective which examines the political impacts of the comedians ‘acts’.
Horowitz and Gilbert often return to how gender is performed as they delineate the different personas often performed by women. Although Horowitz and Gilbert’s work has been written within less than a decade difference between them, there is still a noticeable difference in perspective demonstrating the evolution of personas since the publication of Queens of Comedy. Horowitz reflects a view wherein gender is presented as a set of rules and guidelines. She asks: “Will a more feminine style of comedy become ‘hip’ for both male and female comics? Will they [female comics] influence more men to move toward a less macho and more humanistic styles?”25
This quote demonstrates how comedy influenced to what degree traditional gender roles were
23 Butler, “Performative Acts,” 522; Butler, “Performative Acts,” 519.
24 Limor Shifman and Dafna Lemish. “‘Mars and Venus’ in Virtual Space: Post-feminist Humor and the Internet,” Critical Studies in Media Communication 28, no. 3 (August 2011): 255.
performed, as well as, how audiences respond to such comedy. In other words, does a more humanistic style of humor have the potential to be funny? Krefting poignantly summarizes this: “Women and men are conditioned to perceive male experience as the norm or template genera and thus when women take the stage and implicitly request or require your attention and/or identification with female experiences, many find themselves experiencing a kind of distanciation, confusion or simply an ambivalence toward this performance of otherness.”26 This is largely why
in the history of women in comedy, this form of humor is significantly less economically viable than humor which associates itself to the male experience, thus influencing the power dynamics in who gets to perform in comedy venues, and what form of humor is laughed at. These issues are concerned with sociology and aesthetics and what binds them together is marginality. Notably, how marginality is received and perceived by other comics and audiences, as well as how marginality is performed.
1.2 Personas – most often performed by female comedians
In her study, Gilbert offers variations of different personas most often performed by women up until the early 2000s. Gilbert gives a detailed account of these persona, listing examples and showing how these comic traditions in feminist humor have taken form. Gilbert delineates these personas under five postures: the kid, the bawd, the bitch, the whiner, and the reporter.27 The kid
is a persona which is “desexualized and therefore nonthreatening […], playful and observant, offering honest assessments of people and situations.”28 Although Gilbert refers to many examples
from the late nineteenth up until the late twentieth century, she refers to contemporary comedians such as Ellen DeGeneres and Paula Poundstone as examples of comedians who portray the kid persona.29 DeGeneres is often recognized for her observational comedy and also sharing
embarrassing stories with the audience, which leads to audiences identifying themselves with her stories and jokes. In her comedy, DeGeneres opts out of referring to her sexual orientation or her gender, and instead probes on cultural stereotypes, basing herself on what can be categorized as ‘American behaviors’ which thus leads towards masses of audiences identifying with her
26 Krefting, “When Women Perform Charged Humor,” 129. 27 Gilbert, “Female Comics: Walking the Walk,” 96. 28 Gilbert, “Female Comics: Walking the Walk,” 97.
observational comedy.30 The following persona is the bawd, which Gilbert describes as the
“antithesis of the kid […] the bawd uses her sexuality as a means of pleasure and control.”31 What
is interesting about this role, is that the question of power is at play. With the examples listed by Gilbert, she illustrates how explicit sexual references made by these performers can be intimidating for audiences thus inviting a power dynamic between performer and audience. The third persona mentioned by Gilbert is the bitch persona which Gilbert explains to have evolved out of the bawd persona, leaning away from sexuality but being bold and direct when sharing opinions.32 One of
the most well-known comedians to demonstrate these characteristics on stage is Joan Rivers. Another characteristic of the bitch persona is making comments about couples or women.33 Finally,
where the bitch persona resonates most accurately with contemporary female comics is in its strong and assertive tones, commonly being associated with feminist humor.34
The fourth persona listed by Gilbert is the whiner, which primarily uses self-deprecation to elicit laughter from the audience. Self-deprecation is controversial topic when it comes to feminist humor. Some argue that it is demeaning whereas others argue it creates a sense of empowerment. Gilbert cites numerous examples of comedians who have made self-deprecation a staple of their comedy careers, such as Phyllis Diller, Totie Fields and Joan Rivers, most often making comments about their own appearance.35 This is indeed a dividing topic in the world of comedy because it
illuminates how traditional gender roles have shaped (and to this day still does) the methods female comics use perform comedy and generate laughs from audiences.36 The final persona highlighted
by Gilbert is the reporter, who offers “sociological—and occasionally political—critique through an observational lens.”37 The reporter persona is one which creates a sense of identification
between performer and audience through the use of observational comedy. While there is often a
30 In Here and Now, DeGeneres alludes to these behaviors which are in large part recognizable to North American
audiences.
31 Gilbert, “Female Comics: Walking the Walk,” 100. 32 Gilbert, “Female Comics: Walking the Walk,” 108.
33 Gilbert cites Wanda Sykes as an example, who will be further explored in the third chapter. 34 Gilbert, “Female Comics: Walking the Walk,” 114.
35 Making self-deprecatory jokes about body image is one of the ways in which self-deprecation can be seen as a
demeaning form of humor. However, for some comedians, by making themselves the butt of the joke, this is a subversive method to call into question cultural and gender norms.
36 Hannah Gadsby takes a strong stance against the use of self-deprecation, detailing the reasons why it is a
demeaning form of producing humor in her performance Nanette.
strong sociological or political critique at the core of the material being performed, most often the reporter remains unthreatening to the audience it differs to the persona of the kid because it takes on a highly opinionated stance.
By framing the different personas performed by women, prior to 2004, Gilbert emphasizes that this is a form of how female comedians choose to perform their marginality rhetorically. Whereas their sociological marginality is made evident through physiology; the audience recognizing that there is a woman on stage instead of a man. Gilbert argues that marginality performed by women, is most accurately observed by the comedic postures they construct themselves.38 This upholds
Butler’s view which regards these postures as a constructed set of ‘acts’ which are, as will be demonstrated in more contemporary examples of stand-up comedians such as, Sykes and Gadsby, internally discontinuous. In other words, what makes gender an act is the notion that it is rehearsed and repeated over time, similarly to the personas delineated by Gilbert.39 What makes it internally
discontinuous is that it solely reflects the performed acts which have been set by the binary gender paradigm, and any acts beyond this frame are consequentially regarded as other.40 Therefore,
although the personas delineated by Gilbert expose the limiting possibilities and potential for female comedians to be humorous on stage, they do expose the two-dimensional cultural standards that women upheld within the realm of stand-up comedy, until very recently. Consequentially, this affects the modes, styles and forms of humor used and limits the possibilities and potential for female comedians to portray gender fluidity and intersectionality.
When examining the case studies in the following chapters, we will see to what extent Ellen DeGeneres, Wanda Sykes and Hannah Gadsby perform their marginality. It will also help examine how the contemporary climate and aesthetics of stand-up comedy have altered the way these personas are examples of performed, socially constructed acts as well as how these personas deviate from traditional modes and have, as a result, been reinvented.
38 Gilbert, “The Politics of Performing Marginality,” 170. 39 Butler, “Performing Acts,” 526.
1.3 Marginal humor & charged humor
In her book, Gilbert uses the terms marginality as a point of reference, exploring to what extent female comics perform their marginality. Whereas marginality is often reflected on in sociological terms, Gilbert argues for the examination of marginality as a “rhetorically constructed category that produces real, social and psychological effects, however, facilitates discussion of power relations within American culture, specifically the ways in which marginality serve as a subversion of the status quo.”41 What will be principally explored in the case studies is how female comics
situate their marginality, whether it be linked to their gender, sexual orientation, race or ethnicity. Holm allocates the social and political influence of humor to the aesthetics of humor. Through Nicholas Holm’s approach founded upon aesthetics, this helps to unpack how certain performed behaviors or processes by female comedians reflect issues of social injustice. This demonstrates how the narrative of humor can highlight the politics that govern within the realm of stand-up comedy and as a result, influence the power dynamics of humor. What resides at the core of feminist humor is the inequal treatment and criticism female comics are often faced with, but male comics are spared. Stripped bare of humorous narrative and joke construction, the topics evoked by female comedians are in reality, quite serious issues.
As aforementioned, the developments in comedy for women have often been paralleled with the feminist movement. Yet, one of the strong criticisms against the feminist movement is that it paints a one-dimensional picture of gender-based inequality, that of white, most often, middle-class women. What is key when looking at marginal humor and what is slowly taking center-stage in contemporary stand-up comedy is inclusivity and diversity, which lends more towards intersectionality. Intersectionality was first introduced by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a prominent black feminist, in 1989 in an effort to highlight feminism and antidiscrimination laws. This allowed for a branching out of feminism, “to integrate a variety of marginalized perspectives within feminist studies, and to nuance the category of ‘woman’ from what was previously conceived of within a one-dimensional, rather than a multi-dimensional, framework.”42 Gilbert also is careful in bringing
41 Gilbert, “Humor, Power and Marginality,” 5.
42 Carlos E. Cortès and Joane Sloan, Multicultural America: A Multimedia Encyclopedia (Los Angeles: SAGE,
to awareness that marginality is dependent on the leveling ‘center’ which brings into sight level of intersectionality. Although she may be marginalized as a woman, she is aware of the fact that she carries other social identity markers such as “white, mainstream, academic, liberal feminist”, which link her to roles which may be seen as oppressors in society.43
In All Joking Aside, Rebecca Krefting coins the term, ‘charged humor’ which is similar to marginal humor as it reflects a form of humor which is generally performed by people who have experienced some form of oppression. For Krefting, charged humor is intersectional, it does not pertain to one gender or type of body.44 Yet I believe where marginal humor and charged humor differ is in their
power to offer solutions and strategies. Krefting suggests that charged humor provides audiences with ways in which to reflect upon their own social and political identities in their daily lives. She claims, “[i]n the face of such staunchly held stereotypes, charged comedy functions as a viable and effective tool for disarming listeners into refiguring how they imagine other communities. Therein lies the potential (though not guaranteed) for charged humor to foment social change.”45
Nonetheless where the terms align is in the ‘rhetoric of victimage’ which Gilbert characterizes as, “female comics, like so many others, perform their marginality in an act simultaneously oppressive (by using demeaning stereotypes) and transgressive (by interrogating those very stereotypes through humorous discourse.”46 Marginal humor can effectively communicate a sense of
powerlessness. However, that powerlessness, depending on the mode of humor in which it is communicated, can be presented and interpreted as a form of empowerment. As a result, rhetorical marginality is seen as a potentially subversive tool to resist these oppressive structures.
1.4 Theories of humor and power
In his book Laughter and Ridicule, Michael Billig explores the power relations at play regarding humor. He mentions a number of paradoxes, one of them being, “humor is social and anti-social: it can bring people together in a bond of enjoyment, and, by mockery, it can exclude people.”47 To
bring to light the influence humor can have in power relations, it is therefore necessary to highlight
43 Gilbert, “Humor, Power and Marginality,” 7. 44 Krefting, “Introduction,” 9.
45 Krefting, “Making Connections,” 23.
46 Gilbert, “The Politics of Performing Marginality,” 138.
the different modes of humor that emphasize this play in hierarchy when it comes to laughter. Power and humor can be explored through a number of different humor theories, namely, the superiority theory. The incongruity and relief theories are also part of the main humor theories and will therefore also be introduced. Holm draws particular attention to the superiority and incongruity theories because of their social functions whereas the relief theory has a more physiological function.48
The superiority theory as summarized by Holm, “suggests that humor is generated when the subject has a sudden realization of supremacy with respect to another person or situation.”49 It is
most commonly associated with ridicule and Holm notes that racist jokes are often an example of superiority theory in practice. Billig characterizes the superiority theory as the oldest and most out of tune with optimism of positive psychology since “it suggests that laughter results from disparaging or degrading other.”50 Billig comments on the crudeness often associated with laughter
in earlier times, for instance when public executions were often deemed as moments for entertainment, with a carnivalesque environment.51 However, Billig argues that it would be
simplistic to associate that form of humor with crude times. Referring to laughter of mockery, he states that “[n]ot all humor is considered beneficially positive.”52 This will also be explored when
examining the potential for more inclusive forms of humor and the method of ‘punching up’.53
The incongruity theory, like the superiority theory, also carries a social function, according to Holm yet takes on a more cognitive approach. It proposes that, “humor arises when a particular interpretation or understanding of a statement or situation is suddenly disproved and another substituted instead.”54 This is often used in stand-up comedy, when there is a set-up, followed by
a punchline. The set-up builds the expectation for the audience and the punchline, is the unexpected, it is incongruous to the audience and as a result, can produce humor. Finally, the relief theory, as aforementioned, is a physiological response to a joke wherein tension is released. 48 Holm, “Introduction,” 9.
49 Holm, “Introduction,” 9.
50 Billig, “Incongruity Theories,” 39. 51 Billig, “Incongruity Theories,” 43. 52 Billig, “Incongruity Theories,” 40.
53 A common term used in stand-up comedy to illustrate the power structures in humor. Punching up refers to humor
which elicits laughter at the expense of perpetrators instead of victims.
Although these theories have grounded the field of humor, Holm and Billig explicitly state the gaps within these theories and that they should be treated as models.55 Holm suggests using these
models as a basis to explore the contemporary state of humor which is where the political aesthetics of humor come into play.
In pursuing the possibility of positive change in discourses of humor, one of the questions which I attempt to bring to light is, can humor exist without an imbalance of power? Billig writes, “[r]hetorically, the positive can only have meaning in relation to the possibility of the negative. It is claimed that laughter is meaningful in human interaction because there exists the possibility of its opposite, namely, ‘unlaughter’.”56 Although Billig links this with ridicule, this is also a common
truth concerning stand-up comedy, when the comedian is laughed at, they gain a role of power over the audience. As Case and Lippard state, “[h]umor is significant in reflecting, perpetuating, or altering relationships of power and authority. Through one’s performance, the joke teller asserts his or her authority and his or her perspective.”57 Although this is rather hierarchical view of power
dynamics in humor regarding the relationship between performer and audience. The power in humor does not necessarily have to carry hierarchical characteristics. By looking at these different theories of humor in association with the aesthetics of humor and charged humor, power can also be highlighted in order to re-distribute and re-define existing power dynamics. This takes on a more sociological approach which is particularly emphasized by the use of charged humor.
As previously established, traditional gender roles, up until the twenty first century, have set guidelines for how women should perform their gender. These comic performances of gender are in fact a reflection upon the way gender has been socially and culturally constructed and has led to the emergence of the genre, feminist humor. By looking at the different personas, elaborated by Gilbert, this serves as a dramaturgical basis for a closer analysis of how contemporary female comics have adapted and modified the aesthetics of stand-up comedy. Marginality and charged humor, as argued by Gilbert and Krefting, is a driving force in stand-up comedy, bringing to light the social and political functions that humor can carry. Therefore, it is crucial to further examine
55 Holm, “Introduction,” 11. 56 Billig, “Introduction,” 7.
57 Charles E. Case and Cameron D. Lippard, “Humorous Assaults on Patriarchal Ideology*,” Sociological Inquiry
how performed marginality can potentially encourage shifts in the realm of humor through its aesthetics.
Chapter 2 – Ellen DeGeneres
In this following section, I will conduct an analysis based on Ellen DeGeneres, her persona and her performance Here and Now. This analysis will highlight the different ways in which DeGeneres, and the ways in which she performs her marginality, demonstrates certain aesthetics of humor with political implications. The concepts which will come into play are marginal humor, charged humor along with feminist humor. Looking at DeGeneres’ background is essential to understanding the impact she has had and challenges she had to overcome in the entertainment industry. Following this, by looking at the rhetorical strategies employed in her performance, I will examine to what degree DeGeneres performs her marginality. Furthermore, the aesthetics at play in her performance will also help distinguish the degree of DeGeneres’ socio-political impact.
2.1 Ellen DeGeneres’ background & cultural impact
Ellen DeGeneres, famously known for her talk show The Ellen DeGeneres Show, began writing comedy and performing stand-up in the early 80s. In 1982 she won the award, Funniest Person in America, from the Showtime television network, which led to more gigs, guest appearances on late night talk shows, film roles, hosting opportunities and eventually landing her a leading role in a television series Ellen (1994–1998) playing the eponymous role. One of the moments which brought significant attention to DeGeneres’ career was when she publicly came out in 1997. Her character on the television show, Ellen Morgan, first came out as lesbian and following this DeGeneres publicly came out herself. Featuring in Time magazine, her picture was accompanied by the caption, “Yep, I’m Gay”.58 After a season with DeGeneres having been out of the closet,
the ABC television network cancelled the show Ellen, supposedly due to it attracting less viewers.59 Major sponsors also decided to drop their sponsorship of the television show.
DeGeneres claims, despite the negative aspects that arose, there were also positives. She received many letters from people in the gay community, supporting her and thanking her for what she had done. In different interviews DeGeneres often mentioned that she did not have the intention to
58 Suzanne Lavin, “Margaret Cho and Ellen DeGeneres,” in Women and Comedy in Solo Performance, 108. 59 Lavin, “Margaret Cho and Ellen DeGeneres,” 109.
become a gay icon. In Right Words at the Right Time, DeGeneres shared with Marlo Thomas that, “what I did in coming out became bigger than my career, bigger than my talent, bigger than whether I’m funny or not. Everything that I had worked for over fifteen years was pushed aside and I became an unintended icon.”60 As she also states in an interview in 2002, “I’m not a political
person, I’m not an activist and I kind of got sucked into that role just...by being honest about my sexuality.”61 Yet by being one of the first openly gay comedians, DeGeneres’ sexual orientation
was no longer an aspect that her audience could detach from the persona she was performing on stage. It became an integral part of DeGeneres’ persona which she chose to address in her own way by, most of the time, avoiding addressing it.
DeGeneres is a key figure in the world of female comedians. When considering the discourse of feminist humor, Ellen DeGeneres may not be the first to come to mind, since she is known for her particularly gender neutral and observational comedy. One of the main characteristics of feminist humor is its ability to be subversive and highlight social inequalities meanwhile producing humor. As explored above, the rhetoric of DeGeneres’ stand-up comedy does not entirely abide to the notion of feminist humor. Yet DeGeneres’ trailblazing role in the world of stand-up comedy cannot be dismissed. She is an example of a female comedian stepping away from topics such as gender, sexuality and politics in an effort to be seen as what she chooses to be, a comedian. In Look Who’s Laughing: Gender and Comedy, published in 1994, Alison Fraiberg comments on how DeGeneres’ work was often excluded from any academic work on feminism. Despite attracting large audiences, DeGeneres, and female stand-up comedians in general, attracted very little attention in academia.62 Returning to the lack of research done on female stand-up comedians,
Fraiberg poignantly summarizes the nuances that the world of stand-up comedy has faced when it comes to academia: “Mainstream women’s stand-up is too performance- or drama-oriented for the social sciences; it’s not dramatic enough for drama studies; it’s too popular and non-fictional for literary studies; and it’s evidently too mainstream for feminist studies.”63 Regardless, DeGeneres’
impact on the world of stand-up comedy is too large to go unnoticed.
60 Lavin, “Margarert Cho and Ellen DeGeneres,” 109. 61 Lavin, “Margarert Cho and Ellen DeGeneres,” 104.
62 Alison Fraiberg, “Between the Laughter: Bridging Feminist Studies through Women’s Stand-Up Comedy,” in Look Who’s Laughing: Gender and Comedy, 318.
In her article, Jennifer Reed explores the different developments made in DeGeneres’ public persona and comments on how she became “everyone’s favorite lesbian.”64 DeGeneres presents
an interesting case as she was the first openly lesbian actress to play an openly lesbian character on television.65 John Hartley, author of Uses of Television, highlights the role and impact television
can have and has had providing accurate representations of marginalized identities and how it had failed to do so. Here, Reed summarizes Hartley’s argument: “Television notoriously does not challenge dominant ideologies very much or very well.”66 This quote emphasizes the challenges
faced when it came to representing marginalized individuals on television, as demonstrated by the example of DeGeneres. This demanded an alternative to representations of binary gender roles and depictions of heteronormativity thus demonstrating one way in which DeGeneres used performativity, through her performance on screen and on stage, in an effort to open a cultural conversation on what it means to be lesbian. One of the ways in which this was achieved through aesthetics is through her tom-boy appearance, in public appearances and in performance setting. In breaking down her persona, Reed notes that there are two aspects in which the work that DeGeneres has done, for gay and lesbian representation in mass media, is important. Both these points are based on whether DeGeneres is addressing a non-lesbian literate spectatorship or gay and lesbian spectators and whether, a) these differences are being performed respectfully, demonstrating these differences should be claimed as a human right and b) by performing her persona through different TV series, she is performing the different ways of being a lesbian. 67 The
cultural significance of Ellen DeGeneres lies in her power of having challenged notions of heteronormativity, not only through her aesthetic but through the characters she has portrayed, and thus having paved the path for future comedians and performers who work specifically in the realm of television and entertainment.
64 Jennifer Reed, “Ellen DeGeneres: Public lesbian number one,” Feminist Media Studies 5, no. 1 (2005): 35 65 Her characters’ coming out precedented her own coming out. Viewers anticipated this to as a precursor to
DeGeneres’ own coming out.
66 Reed, “Ellen DeGeneres”, 25.
67 Reed, “Ellen DeGeneres,” 25; When referring to the ‘persona’ of DeGeneres, here I refer to the persona which has
come to be associated with DeGeneres throughout her career which is characterized through her tom-boy appearance and observational humor; In his book Uses of Television, John Hartley discusses the significance and limitations of television in promoting cultural citizenship and DIY citizenship. He notes how some marginalized groups have moved beyond the realm of identity politics. He claims that other groups are still on the quest for difference to be accepted as a human right.
2.2 Here and Now 2003 – analysis
Ellen DeGeneres’ hourlong special was filmed in the Beacon Theater in New York City and was later aired on HBO. In this special, she addresses topics revolving everyday life such as procrastination, self-esteem, cell phone conversations, laziness and yoghurt. DeGeneres enters the stage wearing a long sleeve t-shirt, trousers, sneakers and microphone in hand. DeGeneres is recognized and known for her tomboy style and appearance. On stage, the décor reflects that of a classic stand-up comedy performance: a stool, bottle of water atop and a bare stage, with curtains as backdrop. DeGeneres begins her performance by directly addressing her sexual orientation.
We all have one thing in common, we’re all gay. Now there are people out there going, do they think we’re gay because we’re here, do we look gay? I told you this would happen; we’re not going to understand a word of this. That’s my one obligatory gay reference, I have to say something gay otherwise some people might leave here tonight thinking she didn’t do anything gay tonight, she’s not our leader, what happened to our leader?! Seriously though, if you’re here you’re probably gay.68
DeGeneres stays true to her statement that that will be her “one obligatory gay reference.”69 She
steers clear of anymore comments concerning her sexuality and instead emphasizes on little aspects of modern life that are recognizable to a large audience. Nonetheless, this comment made at the beginning of the performance, does set a tone. Indirectly, she responds to the societal requirement to address her sexuality. DeGeneres’ coming out was blown into such a proportion and here, she chooses to ironically address that, and through sarcasm, she highlights the fact that she does not see herself as a leader or activist or icon for the gay and lesbian community. Instead, due to her not identifying to heterosexual norms, she has been placed in a position to have to address this topic. Returning to Butler, this can be seen as one of the “punitive consequences” which, those who do not adhere to hegemonic culture, often suffer from and thus must respond to by publicly addressing either gender, sexuality, race or disability.70
This performance is a noticeable shift from her show The Beginning, performed in 2000. This was indeed a new beginning for DeGeneres who, up until the cancellation of her show, had been largely
68 Here and Now, directed by Joel Gallen, written by Karen Anderson, Ellen DeGeneres, Karen Kilgariff, Kevin
Seccia, featuring Ellen DeGeneres, aired on 25 June, 2003, on HBO.
69 Here and Now.
performing on television sets instead of live audiences. The controversy which erupted due to her coming out on television and in public, led DeGeneres to retreat from performing comedy. In 2000, she decided to return to stand-up comedy, as evoked in the title. The material performed in that performance, is indeed bolder and contains more poignant messages, with elements of humor intertwined. She states that she wants to directly address how she experienced the reactions towards her coming out and then claims she will do so through interpretative dance, triggering the room to erupt with laughter. Returning to the critical point of the thesis, whether stand-up comedy can encourage some form of social change within the comedy world and the entertainment world, it seems as though The Beginning would have been a more appropriate case study for this thesis. The Beginning does indeed portray DeGeneres in a more critical stance, claiming that she will say the things that need to be said, for instance, bringing to light the different and extreme ways her sexuality has been characterized. 71 Yet, DeGeneres has demonstrated through her comedy and
humor over the years that her intentions are not political and she chooses to stray away from the title of activist. By performing humor which does not carry obvious social and political messages, this does not mean that DeGeneres, as a lesbian comedian, has not influenced the cultural landscape of the entertainment industry.
Here and Now is an accurate representation of DeGeneres’ observational style of humor. She comments on and indirectly critiques behavioral tendencies. What she points out, is largely recognizable for her audience. By pointing out these tendencies, DeGeneres succeeds in eliciting laughter from her audience. For instance, she begins her comic set on the topic of procrastination and says how, since it is universal, that is what she should talk about. DeGeneres succeeds in creating tangents that take the audience to different scenarios which they too, identify with. Although this is less of a critical position, this demonstrates DeGeneres’ comedic style. She criticizes how we, including herself and her audience, have become lazier. For example, she pretends to fall off a moving walkway at the airport. She makes jabs at American’s eating habits at the cinema by portraying someone asking for a larger size bucket for popcorn, “you don’t have a barrel or anything like that?”72
71 Lavin, “Margaret Cho and Ellen DeGeneres,” 104. 72 Here and Now.
Through her focus on observational humor and creating narratives which mass audiences could relate to, she chose to focus on the common human experience instead of focusing on her gender and sexuality. DeGeneres focuses on a rhetoric that pertains to dominant behaviors of American culture. However, as Fraiberg also points out, DeGeneres also uses modes of identification that are class-based, and she works within the perspective of a white, middle-class audience.73 Working
within this framework, she establishes a playground wherein it is safe to offer criticisms of modern life, as mentioned above. Her critique is directed towards white, middle-class, family relations and her audience react to this critique through self-identification and ultimately, laughter. As DeGeneres says to her audience, “the one thing we all have in common is that we all want to laugh, and that is a beautiful thing.”74
In Here and Now it is important to re-accentuate the aesthetics of DeGeneres herself. She enters the stage and is wearing a long sleeve t-shirt, black trousers with sneakers. She has little make-up on and her hair is short. This tom-boy aesthetic is characteristic of DeGeneres and is the way in which she chooses to perform her gender. Following Butler’s theoretical approach, this is one act in which DeGeneres chooses to perform her gender.
In Gilbert’s Performing Marginality, Ellen DeGeneres is used as a primary example of ‘the kid’ persona. Gilbert defines this persona as “playful and observant, offering honest assessments of people and situations.”75 This is an accurate description of DeGeneres comedic style. In Here and
Now, DeGeneres focuses on an activity which many people can relate to, going to the movies. Through the use of physical comedy, she exaggerates how people eat popcorn, yet through this exaggeration she also shows truth in the situation making her audience react with roars of laughter. She mimes stuffing popcorn in her face, then picking pieces of popcorn from her clothing and eating it. DeGeneres masters this form of comedy which makes her very popular amongst audiences.
73 Fraiberg, “Between the Laughter,” 322. 74 Here and Now.
