04419nam 2200673 450 991046424200332120200520144314.01-61376-037-X(CKB)3170000000046993(MH)012257725-6(SSID)ssj0000605825(PQKBManifestationID)11433927(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000605825(PQKBWorkID)10579703(PQKB)10558771(MiAaPQ)EBC4532939(OCoLC)793341705(MdBmJHUP)muse3857(Au-PeEL)EBL4532939(CaPaEBR)ebr11214437(EXLCZ)99317000000004699320160610h20102010 uy 0engurcnu||||||||txtccrThe dance of the comedians the people, the president, and the performance of political standup comedy in America /Peter M. RobinsonAmherst, [Massachusetts] ;Boston, [Massachusetts] :University of Massachusetts Press,2010.©20101 online resource (xii, 257 p. )ill. ;Includes index.1-55849-733-1 Includes bibliographical references and index.Prologue : "I'm not kidding" -- An American company of comedians -- Dance partners -- A presidential crinoline -- New frontiers -- All lies and jest -- Rebellion by the pound -- Epilogue : Back to the future."Why did Barack Obama court Jon Stewart and trade jokes with Stephen Colbert during the campaign of 2008? Why did Sarah Palin forgo the opportunity to earn votes on the Sunday morning political talk shows but embrace the chance to get laughs on Saturday Night Live? The Dance of the Comedians examines the history behind these questions - the merry, mocking, and highly contested anarchies of standup political comedy that have locked humorists, presidents, and their fellow Americans in an improvisational three-way "dance" since the early years of the American republic." "Peter M. Robinson shows how the performance of political humor developed as a celebration of democracy and an expression of political power, protest, and commercial profit. He places special significance on the middle half of the twentieth century, when presidents and comedians alike - from Calvin Coolidge to Ronald Reagan, from Will Rogers to Saturday Night Live's "Not Ready for Prime Time Players" - developed modern understandings of the power of laughter to affect popular opinion and political agendas, only to find the American audience increasingly willing and able to get in on the act. These years put the longstanding traditions of presidential deference profoundly in play as all three parties to American political humor - the people, the presidents, and the comedy professionals - negotiated their way between reverence for the office of the presidency and ridicule of its occupants." "Although the focus is on humor, The Dance of the Comedians illuminates the process by which Americans have come to recognize that the performance of political comedy has serious and profound consequences for those on all sides of the punch line." -- Publisher's description.PresidentsUnited StatesHumorHistoryPolitical satire, AmericanHistory and criticismStand-up comedyUnited StatesHistoryAmerican wit and humorHistoryPresidentsUnited StatesPublic opinionHistoryPublic opinionUnited StatesHistoryElectronic books.PresidentsHistory.Political satire, AmericanHistory and criticism.Stand-up comedyHistory.American wit and humorHistory.PresidentsPublic opinionHistory.Public opinionHistory.973.09/9Robinson Peter M.1958-933497MiAaPQMiAaPQMiAaPQBOOK9910464242003321The dance of the comedians2101441UNINAThis Record contains information from the Harvard Library Bibliographic Dataset, which is provided by the Harvard Library under its Bibliographic Dataset Use Terms and includes data made available by, among others the Library of Congress