Because I Tell a Joke or Two explores the complex relationship between comedy and the social differences of class, region, age, gender, sexuality, ethnicity and nationhood. It shows how comedy has been used to sustain, challenge and to change power relationships in society. The contributors, who include Stephen Wagg, Mark Simpson, Stephen Small, Paul Wells and Frances Williams, offer readings of comedy genres, texts and performers in Britain, the United States and Australia. The collection also includes an interview with the comedian Jo Brand.
Topics addressed include:
* women in British comedies such as Butterflies and Fawlty Towers
* the life and times of Viz, from Billy the Fish to the Fat Slags
* queer readings of Morecambe and Wise, the male double act
* the Marx brothers and Jewish comedy in the United States
* black radical comedy in Britain
* The Golden Girls, Cheers, Friends and American society.
INTRODUCTION 1 'AT EASE, CORPORAL' Social class and the situation comedy in British television, from the 1950s to the 1990s 2 THE LANCASHIRE SHAMAN Frank Randle and Mancunian Films 3 BUTTERFLIES AND CAUSTIC ASIDES Housewives, comedy and the feminist movement 4 TARTS, TAMPONS AND TYRANTS Women and representation in British comedy 5 CERTAIN LIBERTIES HAVE BEEN TAKEN WITH CLEOPATRA Female performance in the Carry On films 6 PUNCHING YOUR WEIGHT Conversations with Jo Brand 7 THE STRAIGHT MEN OF COMEDY 8 SUITS AND SEQUINS Lesbian comedians in Britain and the US in the 1990s 9 'YEAH, AND I USED TO BE A HUNCHBACK' Immigrants, humour and the Marx Brothers 10 'WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME' Open convictions and closed contexts in the American situation comedy 11 CRINGE AND STRUT Comedy and national identity in post-war Australia 12 'SERIOUS T'ING' The black comedy circuit in England 13 'THEY ALREADY GOT A COMEDIAN FOR GOVERNOR' Comedians and politics in the United States and Great Britain 14 VIZ Gender, class and taboo 15 HEARD THE ONE ABOUT THE WHITE MIDDLE[1]CLASS HETEROSEXUAL FATHER-IN-LAW?
