"A comprehensive and insightful examination of the ways
comedy can help shape social justice movements."––Hasan
Minhaj, Comedian and Host of the Netflix series Patriot Act with
Hasan Minhaj
Comedy is a powerful contemporary source of influence and
information. In the still-evolving digital era, the opportunity to
consume and share comedy has never been as available. And yet,
despite its vast cultural imprint, comedy is a little-understood
vehicle for serious public engagement in urgent social justice issues
– even though humor offers frames of hope and optimism that can
encourage participation in social problems. Moreover, in the midst of
a merger of entertainment and news in the contemporary information
ecology, and a decline in perceptions of trust in government and
traditional media institutions, comedy may be a unique force for
change in pressing social justice challenges.
Comedians who say something serious about the world while they make
us laugh are capable of mobilizing the masses, focusing a critical
lens on injustices, and injecting hope and optimism into seemingly
hopeless problems. By combining communication and social justice
frameworks with contemporary comedy examples, authors Caty Borum
Chattoo and Lauren Feldman show us how comedy can help to serve as a
vehicle of change.
Through rich case studies, audience research, and interviews with
comedians and social justice leaders and strategists, A Comedian
and an Activist Walk Into a Bar: The Serious Role of Comedy in Social
Justice explains how comedy – both in the entertainment
marketplace and as cultural strategy – can engage audiences with
issues such as global poverty, climate change, immigration, and
sexual assault, and how activists work with comedy to reach and
empower publics in the networked, participatory digital media age.