English writing

The Next Dang Essay: Taking Comedy Seriously

LENGTH: Rather than base this paper on page count, we’ll be doing it by word count instead. The minimum length required for this paper will be 1400 words. You can exceed this and I hope that you will exceed this, as 1400 words is the “I am fine with doing the absolute minimum work possible rather than the best job possible” length. YOU MUST PUT YOUR WORD COUNT ON YOUR PAPER AFTER THE CONCLUSION PARAGRAPH. Failure to do so will cost you points, even if the paper is clearly long enough. DUE DATES: See Canvas announcements and/or module content for exact due dates for thesis/prewriting due dates, rough draft due dates, and final draft due dates. POINT VALUE: Submitting a working thesis statement and a piece of prewriting will be worth 15 points. The rough draft submission and peer review session is worth another 15 points. For those of you in in-person classes, if you are absent the day of peer reviews, you can still give me a draft for some credit, but you will lose points due to not being part of the peer review session; this credit cannot be recovered. Finally, the final draft of the paper is worth 100 points. SOURCES: Please note that certain essay prompts below require you to discuss particular comedians, and to use particular sources. All options will require you to find and use in a significant way outside sources that I did not find for you. That is part of the goal of this paper...for you to find, evaluate, and use appropriate sources for an academic paper. Failure to use the sources required for any prompt, or failure to use outside sources you locate on your own will result in significant reduction in credit. Here are the videos I had you see as part of class, whether you are in an online course or an in-person class: -If I by Demetri Martin -Love is Evol by Christopher Titus -“A War on Homelessness” by George Carlin (WARNING: This link takes you to a video clip with harsh language…do not click it if you will be bothered, or if you are near those who will be!) -“The Planet is Fine” by George Carlin (WARNING: This link takes you to a video clip with harsh language…do not click it if you will be bothered, or if you are near those who will be!) - “Dumb Americans” by George Carlin (WARNING: This link takes you to a video clip with harsh language...do not click it if you will be bothered, or if you are near those who will be!) -CNN: George Carlin: The Seven Dirty Words Then and Now

**All article sources officially assigned to you or otherwise made available to you for use are within the comedy module on Canvas.** NOTE: This time around, you are responsible for making a works cited page, and a works cited entry properly for all sources you refer to. For those of you at MSJC, Everything’s an Argument gives you guidelines for this on 496-515. For those of you at CPP, The Norton Field Guide to Writing gives you guidelines for this on 558-585. Those of you at PCC will need to use the OWL at Purdue or another helpful site that guides you through citations and works cited pages. Make sure you carefully create works cited entries properly for online article sources and online video sources...the guidelines are all in there!

THE WRITING PROMPTS TO CHOOSE FROM:

OPTION #1: ANALYZING THE PERSONALITIES, UPBRINGING, AND MOTIVATIONS OF COMEDIANS:

Comedians that must be discussed: Demetri Martin and his If I special, plus one (or more)

additional comedian of your choice/selection.

Sources that must be used: “Why Do Comedians Become Comedians?”; “Comedians’ Smarts,

Humor, and Creativity”; at least one additional source of your own finding.

Concept of the prompt: You started out this unit with two readings by Gil Greengross about the personalities of comedians and why they get into this unusual line of work. In relation to these readings, you watched Demetri Martin’s If I. Think of an argument/assertion you could make about comedians’ personalities and motivations to do what they do, and in an essay support that assertion that you make. If needed, you can analyze up to three comedians in this essay, arguing something about their personalities and motivations, quoting from readings and from their acts as you support your thesis about them/the personalities of comedians. You might make an assertion about comedians in general with this paper, or you might make an assertion about the specific comedians you discuss within the body of the paper, but either way you must have an argument present that discusses the personalities and motivations of comedians.

OPTION #2: HUMOR IS A DEFENSE AGAINST THE UNIVERSE/COMEDIANS ARE DEPRESSED/ROUGH ENVIRONMENT FOR WORKING COMEDIANS:

Comedians that must be discussed: Christopher Titus and his Love is Evol special, plus one (or

more) additional comedian of your choice/selection.

Sources that must be used: At least two of the articles I provide to you on Canvas from the

page about the negatives of working in this industry, plus at least one more source of your

own finding. Some of the sources on the Canvas page about this topic were officially assigned;

some are merely presented to you on Canvas as suggested sources. In any case, you must find

at least one source of your own in addition to the ones provided to you.

Concept of the prompt: There is an idea that many comedians are depressed, and use jokes to defend themselves against psychological pain, and their act is cathartic for them. Further, the life of a working comedian can be quite difficult, and many comedians die quite young, from various tragedies. Think of an argument/assertion you could make about comedians being depressed, about comedy being a psychological defense, and/or about the difficult environment comedians work within and write an essay that supports that thesis. If you wish to explore the idea of comedians dying young, research some comedians who died young/unexpectedly and discuss them and their acts in relation to the readings and your thesis. Suggested comedians include: Mitch Hedberg, Greg Giraldo, Bernie Mac, Sam Kinison (beware his material, though...it’s offensive in the extreme), Robin Williams, and Richard Geni. Make sure you discuss stand-up comedians, and not comedic actors...when you research this topic online you will see stuff about people like Chris Farley and John Belushi, who were primarily comedic actors rather than stand-up comedians.

OPTION #3: COMEDY AS SOCIAL COMMENTARY & PHILOSOPHY/COMEDIANS IN THE AGE OF CANCEL CULTURE:

Comedians that must be discussed: Though I showed you pieces from George Carlin that are

social commentary/criticism, I will not require you to discuss Carlin unless you wish to do so,

since his material can be offensive in language and content. I strongly suggest discussing

Carlin, however. Whether or not you analyze Carlin, you must discuss at minimum two

comedians and their material that make genuine social commentary/criticism, and three or

more are suggested.

Sources that must be used: You must use a minimum of three articles as sources. At least one

of the articles I provide to you on Canvas about comedy as social commentary must be used.

At least one source must be of your own finding. The minimum third source may be one I

provide, or one you locate yourself. More than three sources is recommended.

Concept of the prompt: George Carlin makes social commentary on the problem of homelessness in the USA, as well as about environmental issues and education/politics in the USA in the pieces I offered you from him. I did not officially assign you readings on this angle of comedy, but have several readings available to you on the Canvas page about this topic that explore comedy as social commentary, and touch upon the issue of cancel culture and comedians saying controversial things as part of their acts. Think about comedy working as social commentary, pushing boundaries, and comedy having problems in this age of hypersensitivity and cancel culture. Come up with an argument/assertion about this topic, and in an essay that discusses specific routines by comedians and uses articles as support and write an essay to defend and support your thesis. If you wish to discuss comedians and cancel culture, I strongly recommend you look into recent controversies concerning Dave Chappelle and his response to them.

OPTION #4: DISCUSSING ONE’S CULTURE/GENDER AS PART OF A COMEDY ACT:

Comedians that must be discussed: At least two comedians must be analyzed, of your choice.

Use of the discussion board on Canvas is strongly recommended to find comedians that may

fit this topic and your interests. Martin, Titus, and Carlin should not be used.

Sources that must be used: If you write about female comedians, you must use the source “5

Insane Problems All Women in Comedy Deal With Eventually,” even though that source is

hardly academic, as well as at least two other sources you find on your own. If you write

about using one’s background in one’s act, or the special issues someone of “x” background

has in comedy, you must find at least three sources on your own.

Concept of the prompt: Many comedians use their culture/ethnicity or gender (or both!) as a significant part of their act. Examine how these comedians point out amusing aspects of themselves this way, and perhaps defend themselves against various things by doing so. For example, George Lopez often discusses his culture and expresses humorous dismay over it, making jokes to defend himself. Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, and Kevin Hart frequently make commentary on their backgrounds. Further, female comedians such as Amy Schumer (I use the term “comedian” VERY loosely with Schumer....ugggghhh), Margaret Cho, Wanda Sykes, and Sarah Silverman comment on being women and having to defend themselves, as well as comment on being Asian, black, or Jewish. Think of an argument/assertion you could make about comedians using this material in their acts, and explain/defend it an essay.

When looking for additional comedians and pieces to discuss, it may be easiest to visit the discussion board assignment and see what other people posted about ethnic, female, social commentary, or self-defense comedy!

Once again, keep in mind the mantra that “EVERYTHING IS AN ARGUMENT.” PROVE SOMETHING to your reader. You should have purpose, direction, and flow to your presentation…come up with a thesis first, which will guide you in creating the content of the body. Make sure every paragraph is focused, and make sure to be vivid, descriptive, and specific. Don’t assume your reader knows anything about the comedians, the performances you saw, or the articles that I assigned to you. You are writing for a general audience, not for me. Describe what these comedians look and act like, the personalities that they present, the way they have their stage set up, etc. Give exact quotes from acts/routines when possible; closely paraphrase other portions of their act! FORMAT OF THE PAPER:

1. This paper does indeed require a works cited page. This page does not count as part of the page count.

2. You must put your word count on the paper after your conclusion or you will lose points. Your paper must be at bare minimum 1400 words. This is the “being mediocre and minimal is just great by me” length.

3. Follow MLA format for layout of your pages, citation style, etc. See previous module pages for help, or consult the textbook for more details.

4. The first paper was a personal narrative that used first person “I” by necessity. This paper is not a personal narrative, so you should refrain from first person. Go back to your high school training on this one and write this paper in third person point of view throughout.

5. You absolutely do NOT need to create a five-paragraph essay. (Ditch your high school training on that!)

6. You most likely should do this essay in the standard three-part format, however: I. Introduction paragraph or paragraphs with a clearly stated and easy to find thesis statement that argues something to the reader; II. A series of focused body paragraphs that each discuss one major point that supports your thesis statement; III. A conclusion paragraph that wraps up the discussion and revisits the thesis statement in some way to remind the reader what they are supposed to take from your discussion and be changed by.

7. The body of the paper can be any number of paragraphs, as you see fit. If you discuss two or three comedians in your paper, you can use more than one paragraph to do so per person, as needed for focus/flow/clarity. Don’t create giant paragraphs that lose a reader.

8. You are expected to quote directly from readings/sources and cite them in the body of your paper correctly. Quote from both articles and from comedians’ acts.

9. Don’t forget about the “Streetcar” Weirdness assignment’s point...being descriptive on paper. SHOW your reader what stages and comedians and audiences look like vividly and descriptively. It makes things come alive, gives your paper realism, and it even eats up a bit more page space, inching you closer to the minimum word count! Think about that...you can easily fill up a fair amount of space describing what the stage looks like as Kevin Hart comes on, how he presents himself with body language and expressions, how he is dressed, how he interacts with the audience, and so on....it both adds realism and vividness to your paper and gives it greater length. Slow yourself down and SHOW the reader things, as well as show the reader quotes from the comedians themselves.

10. Remember that your reader is not me. You are writing this for a general audience that knows nothing about the class and the readings and the videos. You are responsible for providing all a reader knows to get something out of your presentation.