Cat 124/125 Divine Comedy

Home , Aziz Ansari, Chelsea Peretti, Dave Chappelle, Gabriel Iglesias, George Carlin, Iliza Shlesinger

CAT 124/125 DIVINE COMEDY A Practicum, Writing Workshop & Critical Analysis in Modern American Stand-up Comedy Also known as: Dirty Words, Pig Newtons & More Monkeys For Me SPRING QUARTER 2016

Daphne Taylor-Garcia, PhD in Ethnic Studies [email protected] Kiik Araki-Kawaguchi, MFA in Writing [email protected]

This will not be a course on how to be funny. It will also not be a fanboy class on Louis CK and Dave Chappelle. This will also not be a course on the work of Medieval Italian poet Dante Alighieri. I just needed to borrow and profane the name of his epic poem “The Divine Comedy” for the selfish reason of creating a catchy course title.

I just want to be upfront about this now so none of you get mean or grumpy halfway through the quarter.

That being said, I expect we will all do a lot of laughing. One of my last teaching evaluations said, “If nothing else, we really laughed at him a lot. Especially his haircut.” We will definitely watch or listen to work by Margaret Cho, Wanda Sykes, Patrice O’Neal, Roseanne Barr, George Carlin, George Lopez, Aziz Ansari, Chelsea Peretti, Sarah Silverman, Gabriel Iglesias, Louis CK and Dave Chappelle (with a critical lens). And Dante Alighieri will still have nothing to do with this class. He’s dead.

Still here? Ok cool . . .

This course will combine the concerns of the 124 Practicum (experiential and community-based learning) with the concerns of a CAT 125 course (public rhetoric, practical communication/writing, professional development, social media).

You will write, research for, analyze, workshop and perform stand-up comedy material. Let me repeat that last part. You will perform stand-up comedy material weekly. You do not have to be able to get laughs or be comfortable on stage in order to get an A. You do have to be brave, respectful and a hard worker.

You will not only be asked to critique our class texts, but also conceive and develop your stand-up material AS A FORM OF social/cultural/media critique.

I should elaborate on this point. When I said earlier this class is not all about becoming funny, I wasn’t joking. If all you care about is getting big-belly laughs and don’t mind 2 doing it at the expense of another person’s race, gender, sexuality, disability, class, culture, etc. – then you shouldn’t take this class. This course will be much more interested in forging a productive dialogue between the speaker and the issues of race, gender and sexuality. Your writing and performance will be subject to a variety of constraints (for ex. No derogatory slurs that demean another person based on their color, nation, culture etc.)

We’re not asking you to hold all your punches. We are going to ask you to take a lot of risks. We are going to discuss these risks. And we want to defend your right to take them. At the same time we should always be considering this problem, this contradiction of comedy. The comedy we’re going to be confronting (and producing) hinges on a contradiction between the offensive and the critical. The central contradiction of standup comedy – of anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-colonial comedy – is that racism, sexism, colonialism, homophobia are ugly phenomena and pressing concerns. At the same time, there is an internal ridiculousness of these phenomena that make us laugh. The confrontation of tragedy can provoke laughter. So can the demystification of incredibly dark desires.

You are going to continually ask yourself questions like these: How can you be funny and critical about racism without advertising racism? How can you be funny about violence without undermining the consequence of violence?

The concerns of the best stand-up comedians will also be our concerns – racism, sexism, violence, colonialism, homophobia, class disparity, disability, and more. But don’t feel you already have to be a scholar of these subjects to take this course. It is more important that you keep and open mind and be ready to struggle.

We will also be concerned with the ethics of contemporary stand-up comedy (for ex. gender inequality for professional comedians). This is something of a class creating comedy that is taking comedy as its subject.

You will also develop written analyses that chart your thinking/progress and place your projects within a critical framework. You will participate in studio critiques, lab/workshop hours, engage with films, texts and critical theory.

In general you will perform weekly at a “comedy in progress” night and engage with the on-campus UCSD undergraduate and graduate student communities. On the occasions you don’t perform at a scheduled event, you will instead publicize for and perform at other public events. For example you will have a midterm performance at an open-mic night that you will research and visit within your “comedy families.” The final comedy showcase will take place at a UCSD venue (likely the Cross Cultural Center).

For your FINAL performance, you will draw upon your previous projects, and select your strongest 2-4 minutes of work to perform. You will also design a calling card schwag 3 ornament to give out at the festival that will advertise/brand your creative work/vision. This performance will take place at a public, on-campus location.

At some point in the quarter, your “comedy family” is required to make a visit to a comedy club and write a collective reflection/critique of the performance. You don’t need to break the bank on this. I suggest you all put yourselves on the email list at The Madhouse Comedy Club. Madhouse frequently offers free tickets for their shows and features a fairly eclectic group of performers. Lestat’s Coffeehouse on Adams also does a free comedy show on Tuesday evenings.

Every student will develop an online portfolio throughout the quarter. As a finishing touch you will re-purpose your artist memos (another name for these might be process statements) into an “About” section on your website that will discuss your body of work from a curatorial point-of-view. You will do this with attention to the research, texts, discussions, critical practices and cultural references that influenced you throughout the quarter.

MEETING TIMES: All meeting times take place on . . . SECTIONS ...... tba LECTURE ...... tba SEMINAR ...... tba OFFICE HOURS ………………………………………………………..tba

COURSE TEXTS

You are not required to BUY any texts for this course. We are trying to keep things as cheap as possible. Your readings will be available online, on TED or as handouts.

BUT – You are required to print out reading materials when they are scanned/uploaded to TED and you are required to have these materials on hand during class. When families are being workshopped, you are required to print out their work (usually joke scripts), make marginalia, and come prepared to talk about their pieces. You are required to print out the 2 critiques you write up for Monday afternoons. Buy your own stapler. Be prepared to spend about $5 on a stapler and $25 on copies this quarter.

AND – You are required to have access to a Netflix account for the quarter. This is because several of your required texts are standup comedy specials and will be available streaming through this service. This may cost you somewhere between $16-$24

SOCIAL MEDIA

You are required to maintain your presence on TED this quarter through blogs/discussion boards. A lot of communication (updates, clarifications, changes to syllabus) will take place at the beginnings of discussion and in email form. So make sure to be at discussion sections on time, and make sure to check your email regularly.

You are also required to create and maintain the following forms of social media for this course:

Twitter Your Twitter will fill at least two roles during the quarter. First it will be an archive of the quotes, passing ideas, confrontations, dialogues, etc. that will document your critical thinking and process during the quarter.

It will also help publicize and document your performances and the performances of your comedy family members.

I have built my own Twitter to document this class along the way - https://twitter.com/DBCShiaLabeouf

(https://twitter.com/signup)

WordPress Your WordPress will help represent you as an artist, performer, writer, etc.

Take a look at this page for ideas - http://www.miciamosely.com/comedy/

I have also built my own WordPress to illustrate some of the concepts we’ll be discussing AND to document this class along the way - http://divinecomedyalityness.wordpress.com/

(http://wordpress.com/website/?source=google&campaign=hsb&utm_content=DisURL Website&utm_campaign=ExactWordPress&gclid=CKuppvGZsr0CFVKIfgodWJoAVA)

Vimeo OR YouTube You will have to post video of your performances on your WordPress site and may need a YouTube or Vimeo account to handle easy uploads.

You may have to create a YouTube account in order to view some of the materials we want to discuss this quarter.

(https://vimeo.com/join?gclid=CPWDz8qdsr0CFY6RfgodTEAAZg&dclid=CO_agcydsr0CFQ uhhQodg3AAvw 5

COMIC FAMILY

At the beginning of the quarter, you will all take part in choosing your “comic family.” Your comic family are the people who support you while working on new material. They will help document your work while you are on stage. You will collaborate with them, workshop with them, meet with them outside of class to view/listen to comedy specials, etc. In class we will frequently break into “families” in order to pitch/perform/critique/develop our class projects.

You have an obligation to be honest and supportive to the members of your family. You shouldn’t let them perform material you think is mediocre or problematic. You are expected to give them productive feedback in the form of written notes, class discussions and platonic coffee dates. To open up discussions, I may call on you to introduce the work of someone in your family.

For your MIDTERM assignment, you and your comic family will schedule/coordinate an evening to visit a local open mic event together, perform, and help document (video) each others’ performances. You should give the members of your family props for being on stage. You should defend them from hecklers. When you settle on a time/place you should let our entire class know – as some of us might want to come out to support your family as well.

Write down the names of the different comic families below.

Family 1:

Family 2:

Family 3:

Family 4:

Family 5

GRADING

124 Evaluation: Remix Comic Routine Script & Analysis ...... 5% Write Out Loud/Themed Routine Script & Submission to “So Say We All” ………..………10% IGNITE Script and performance(“Comedic How-To”) ………..………………………………………10% Weekly live performance hours …………………….……………………………………………...... …….15%

Workshop ...... 30%

Workshop grade includes: workshop attendance and participation, critiques, family harmony (you will assess this and I will assign part of it)

Open-Mic Midterm...... 15%

Standup Comedy Festival Performance & Schwag ...... 15%

125 Evaluation: Attendance in sections ...... 25% “Dear Elvis” Letters (Artist Memos) ...... 30% Live Comedy Visit & Critique ...... 15% Online Portfolio…………………………………………………………………………………………….……..……30%

BREAKDOWN of Online Portfolio: Curated links, Link to Twitter, Contact, Additional page of your choosing ………….……..10% Standup Video Clip Curation & Introduction ...... 10% “About” Section of Online Portfolio...... 10%

Curated links should demonstrate expertise and be a draw for people to access your page.

Additional page might be something like: Funny stories Joke of the day/knock knock jokes Something totally random for comedic effect – for ex. a page on desert plants and birds or another idiosyncratic interest

ALSO INCLUDED in Online Portfolio: Sample jokes (scripts) Performances (YouTube or Vimeo) Blog/reflections (usually this is the “Home” page) Tools for comedians/joke utility belt Slam a heckler 7

Attendance and Participation Please plan to be on time and engaged in section/workshop/lecture. You will be allowed two absences before your grade drops dramatically. Dramatically. Yes, I am writing that word twice to scare you.

Excessive absences and tardiness will be grounds for failure in the course. Continuous use of electronic devices not connected to the class will significantly affect your participation grade.

Attendance/participation is more than being in the chair physically. Being in the chair physically is of course an essential part of it. But I also want you to be generous with your peers. I want you to help each other learn. That generosity is coming to class ready to engage with the material and your classmates’ ideas about the material. One informal rule I have is that I want everyone to try and talk at least once during our discussions. It’s not about making you feel nervous or uncomfortable – it’s about you having a perspective and knowledge that is valuable – so share/collaborate with us.

Course Website Important information for the class can be found on the course website at http://ted.ucsd.edu. Your user name and password is the same used to login to Tritonlink. Make sure that you can login to the system by the first day of class. A copy of this syllabus, assignment details and important reminders will be posted to the site.

We may alter the syllabus during the course of the quarter. Any changes made will be posted to the TED website.

Course Readings Almost all course readings and materials will be posted on our class web site (http://ted.ucsd.edu), as indicated in the schedule of readings.

Complete readings by the beginning of the class for which they are assigned.

Proxy server Please note: Access to the TED and reserves websites may be restricted to UCSD IP addresses.

To access the reserves materials off campus you must use UCSD’s “proxy server.” http://www-no.ucsd.edu/documentation/squid/ for more info. Alternatively, you may login from off-campus using the Virtual Private Network. Details to configure VPN found here: http://libraries.ucsd.edu/services/computing/remote-access/vpn-virtual-private- network.html

UCSD Principles of Community The CAT program fully supports the UCSD Principles of Community. Please take a moment to review them as part of our code of conduct for the class. http://www.ucsd.edu/explore/about/principles.html http://www.ucsd.edu/_files/POC_Spanish.pdf

Academic Integrity You are expected to uphold the standards of academic integrity in all your work. UCSD has a university-wide Policy on Integrity of Scholarship, which can be found online at http://www-senate.ucsd.edu/manual/appendices/app2.htm. All students must read and be familiar with this Policy. All suspected violations of academic integrity will be reported to UCSD’s Academic Integrity Coordinator. Students found to have violated UCSD’s standards for academic integrity may receive both administrative and academic sanctions. Administrative sanctions may extend up to and include suspension or dismissal, and academic sanctions may include failure of the assignment or failure of the course.

Specific examples of prohibited violations of academic integrity include the following: (although this should in no way be considered an exhaustive list of examples):

Academic stealing refers to the theft of exams or exam answers, of papers or take-home exams composed by others, and of research notes, computer files, or data collected by others.

Academic cheating, collusion, and fraud refer to having others do your schoolwork or helping or allowing them to present your work as their own; using unauthorized materials during exams; inventing data or bibliography to support a paper, project, or exam; purchasing tests, answers, or papers from any source whatsoever; submitting (nearly) identical papers to two classes. Helping other students to cheat or steal is also cheating.

Misrepresenting personal or family emergencies or health problems in order to extend deadlines and alter due dates or requirements is another form of academic fraud. Claiming you have been ill when you were not, claiming that a family member has been ill or has died when that is untrue are some examples of unacceptable ways of trying to gain more time than your fellow students have been allowed in which to complete assigned work.

Plagiarism refers to the use of another’s work without full acknowledgment, whether by suppressing the reference, neglecting to identify direct quotations, paraphrasing closely or at length without citing sources, spuriously identifying quotations or data, or cutting and pasting the work of several (usually unidentified) authors into a single undifferentiated whole. 9

WEEK ONE MONDAY Sections: Learning each others’ names Watch: Chris Bliss TED Talks Netflix: Aziz Ansari How to access materials on TED and “Dangerously Delicious” elsewhere for this class

Ian Bogost “The Cocktail Party Test” Research, write and practice: In class: Write draft of your artist bios Remix Comedy and bring this to lecture performance script

Lecture: Tracing your comedic lineage Syllabus Scripting a joke Begin THE GRID of types of jokes

CREATE: Twitter and WordPress

In class: write down 3 hypothetical heckles and 3 responses

Introduce Remix Comedy prompt WEDNESDAY Sections: Creating the vocabulary of this Read: project The Comedy Bible, “Joke And: How do we want to structure” pgs. 69-100 workshop/critique? Watch: 4-6pm: Remix Comedy Performances Netflix: Mike Birbiglia “What I Should Have Said Write your “Dear Elvis” artist memo and Was Nothing” post it to your TED blog Tig Notaro Get in pairs of 2s and 3s “This American Life – Discuss what your goals for this course Taylor Dayne Story” are and if they’ve changed after performing Post by Sunday, 4/6, 5pm: 750-Word Draft of script Create comedy families and sign up for for “So Say We All” Prompt workshop time

Presentation on some of the joke species

WEEK TWO MONDAY Sections: Your story, your expertise, Read: cocktail party introduction Richard Delgado: “Storytelling for Lecture: Oppositionists and Others: Comedy as rhetoric: identifying audience A Plea for Narrative” and purpose Chinua Achebe How not to advertise stereotypes “Foreward”

Workshop Families “So Say We All” Draft Watch: YouTube: Dave Chappelle “Killin’ Them Softly”

WEDNESDAY Sections: Discussion of Delgado and Read: Achebe We Want To #CancelColbert Lecture: Professor Wayne Yang will give his lecture Christopher Mah “I don’t on master v. counter-narrative: How not see race” to be ventriloquized through like a dummy Watch: Feminist Frequency “Ironic “So Say We All” Performances Advertising” and “The Straw Feminist” and “Women in Refrigerators”

Lisa Lampanelli “Improv”

Louis CK “Chewed Up”

Post by Sunday, 4/13, 5pm: Draft of Porters 1 set using 3-4 joke species of your choosing

WEEK THREE MONDAY Sections: Discussion of Feminist Read: Frequency, and We Want To Judy Carter “Comedy . . . Be #CancelColbert Afraid, Be Very Afraid”

Lindy West “An Open Workshop Families for Porter’s Letter to White Male Performances Comedians” & “How (not) to Make a Rape Joke” articles, video and comments

Watch: Daniel Tosh

Wanda Sykes “Imma Be Me”

WEDNESDAY Sections: Discussion of Feminist Read: Lindy West “An Open Frequency and “We Want To Letter to White Male #CancelColbert” Comedians” & “How (not) to Make a Rape Joke” Lecture: articles, video and Performances at 4pm at CCC comments (Divine Comedy (Comunidad Room Lg) WordPress)

Critiques + Dear Elvis Watch: Sarah Silverman “Jesus is Magic” (YouTube) Prompt 4 Gabriel Iglesias “Hot and Fluffy” (Netflix)

WEEK FOUR MONDAY Sections: Quiz and discussion of Lindy Read: Christopher Mah “I West “An Open Letter to White Male don’t see race” Comedians” & “How (not) to Make a Rape Joke” articles, video and comments Watch: Iliza Shlesinger “War Paint” (Netflix) Lecture: Workshop Margaret Cho “Beautiful” (Netflix) WEDNESDAY Sections: Finish discussion of Lindy West Read: “De-Tangling Racism: “An Open Letter to White Male On White Women and Comedians” & “How (not) to Make a Black Hair” Crunk Feminist Rape Joke” articles, video and comments Collective

Lecture: Listen: Residency Performances 2 Meet with your group and listen to Steve Martin Note: You must find a way to film and “Born Standing Up” upload your performance to your WordPress Watch: The Muslims Are Coming! Prompt 5 (Netflix)

Felipe Esparza “They’re Not Gonna Laugh At You” (Netflix)

WEEK FIVE MONDAY Sections: Discussion of “De-Tangling Watch: Racism: On White Women and Black Hair” “How to use your white Crunk Feminist Collective privilege”

Lecture: Workshop of family Moshe Kasher “Live in Oakland” (Netflix)

The Queens of Comedy (Netflix) WEDNESDAY Sections: Discussion of “How to use your Read: Salome, Books and white privilege” Bondage, Misandry & Dragons “Offensive Lecture: mistakes often well- Residency Performances 3 intentioned writers make”

Note: You must find a way to film and Watch: upload your performance to your Dave Chappelle “Inside the WordPress Actor’s Studio”

Prompt 6 Patton Oswalt “My Weakness Is Strong” (YouTube)

WEEK SIX MONDAY Sections: Discussion of “Offensive Read: TBA mistakes often well-intentioned writers Kiik promises make” Watch: to end class Anjelah Johnson “The early Lecture: Workshop of family Homecoming Show” (Netflix)

Sommore “Chandelier Status” (Netflix) WEDNESDAY Sections: Read: “Gawking at Rape Culture” Kiriko Kiik promises Lecture: Workshop of family Kikuchi, Mike Kim, Dorothy to end class Kim early ***Live comedy show visit and essay critique by the end of this week Watch: 2 comedy specials chosen and introduced by family

WEEK SEVEN MONDAY Sections: Discussion of “Gawking at Rape Read: TBA Culture” Kiik promises to end class Lecture: Workshop of family early Watch: Maz Jobrani “I Come in Peace” (Netflix)

The Comedians of Comedy (Netflix) WEDNESDAY Sections: TBA Read: TBA

Kiik promises Lecture: Workshop of family to end class 14 early ***Midterm Open Mic Performances to be performed and uploaded + essay critique by the end of this week Watch: 2 comedy specials chosen and introduced by family

WEEK EIGHT MONDAY Sections: Ignite!!!! “how to” preparation Read: Ian Bogost “The Cocktail Party Test” Lecture: Building our IGNITES!!!! Listen: Tig Notaro “Live”

Ignite!!!! family workshops This American Life “Growth Spurt”

WEDNESDAY Sections: TBA Read: TBA

Lecture:

Ignite!!!! Performances Watch: 2 comedy specials chosen and introduced by family

WEEK NINE MONDAY MEMORIAL DAY – NO CLASS TBA

WEDNESDAY Sections: TBA Read: TBA

Lecture: Watch: 2 comedy specials chosen Experimental performances and introduced by family

WEEK TEN: FINAL PERFORMANCES MONDAY Sections: Work on your schwag TBA

Final Workshops

WEDNESDAY TBA TBA

THURSDAY FINAL COMEDY SHOWCASE (mandatory) Bring your Schwag 6-8pm at the CCC ornament calling card

FINALS WEEK Online Portfolio Due We are saying thank you and waving / dark though it is

*Note: Performer, Comedian and Emcee Micia Mosely will visit the class at some point during the quarter. When that date becomes concrete, readings and assignments for that date on the syllabus may shift. Be prepared. And check TED and your email for updates.

Repeat: We may alter the syllabus during the course of the quarter. Readings, recordings, films etc. may shift in order to meet the interests/demands of the class and community involved. Any changes made will be announced in class and reiterated via email.

WEEKLY ARTIST MEMOS (PROCESS STATEMENTS)

Following the public performance, you will also write a 350-word “Dear Elvis, artist memo diary” or “process statement” citing and discussing the various readings and performers you borrowed from and informed your performance, what themes you discovered you were attracted to, why the jokes progressed in the order they did, and what alterations to the material were made.

You are writing to a pretend “witness” for your work, attempting to account for the goals and motivations of your work. You do not have to write to “Elvis.” You can write to “Christina” or “Janet” or whomever you like. You may find that your witness will keep you accountable for the political aims of your work.

What constitutes a critique/artist memo/process statement might change depending on the assignment. And they might also change based on our discussions and what you feel is useful to document and problematize. So be vocal.

MIDTERM PT.1 PROMPT FAMILY VISIT TO A COMEDY CLUB Where: Off-campus comedy club Write up due:

This will be family project, meaning that you will visit a comedy club as a family, discuss/critique the event as a family, write ONE COLLECTIVE PROPOSAL, ONE ARTIST MANIFESTO, and be graded as a family. This is not an exercise in “one person does all the work and five people take naps.” This is an exercise in organizing, thoughtful discussion, collaboration and compromise.

STEP ONE: Make a visit to a comedy club/comedy performance. It’s important that you venture off campus for this assignment. One day, everything will be off campus. Start getting some exposure to non-collegiate audiences and venues that cater to different neighborhoods/audiences/desires. You don’t have to take notes, but you should be present, mindful, observant. You should also remember to enjoy yourselves.

STEP TWO: Have a discussion about the venue/performance AND RECORD IT. Eat a meal with your family. Maybe some pizza. Pizza can help facilitate discussion. Generate answers to the followings questions:

How would you describe the audience of the venue (demographics, ages, sexes, communities, etc.)? How would you describe the environment/energy of the comedy club? In your opinions, how does it compare with your idea of “ideal comedy environment/situation?” How does the environment compare with our performances on campus?

What jokes appealed most to the crowd? Give an example of what jokes changed the energy in the room.

How were comedians introduced? Did you notice any patterns in the progression/order of jokes? What did they say before leaving the stage? What do you feel were the strengths of the performers? Weaknesses? What did you learn from watching their performances? What did you not learn but have questions about?

What do you think would be the best way to prepare for a live comedy performance? What are ways you’d want to prepare when you’re by yourself? When you’re with a writing partner? Within a workshop?

Make the recording of your discussion available via SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/)

STEP THREE: As a family, write a 1000-word artist proposal that answers this question:

What varieties of experiences, instructions, collaborations, feedbacks, supports (material or financial), discussions, medias, and platforms/outlets to present work are essential for a comedian to be a successful, productive, politically-aware artist?

This is not a simple or easy question to answer. But I think one thing that is essential for artists and comedians is to challenge yourself with difficult questions.

You’ll notice I call this first written component of the assignment a “proposal” and not an “essay.” This is because I want you to be mindful about the future. I want you to propose/make claims/speculate about what comedians need – and what you will need to see your art to fruition. Outline THE STEPS toward your goals.

In order to do this, I believe you’ll have to reflect upon your experiences and the discussions you’ve had with your families. You’re far from starting from scratch, as your Dear Elvis letters have documented lots of your thinking around these issues. What have your writing/performing experiences revealed to you? What of seeing a professional comedian? What of experiencing different venues? What of exposing yourself to different audiences?

By exposing I mean, seeing. Not like, in a dirty way. Not like, in public place under a trench coat . . .

STEP FOUR: As a family, write a 1 pg. (or less) artist manifesto. If you aren’t familiar with artist manifestos, you should read a few examples to get some familiarity with the genre/aesthetic. Think about your family as an artist collective. What goals do you agree upon as a family? What are your collective intentions, motives, views on comedy?

Here is what Tristan Tzara says of manifestos: “A manifesto is a communication made to the whole world, whose only pretension is to the discovery of an instant cure for political, astronomical, artistic, parliamentary, agronomical and literary syphilis. It may be pleasant, and good-natured, it's always right, it's strong, vigorous and logical.”

Recording, stapled hard copy of proposal and manifesto due Monday, May 12th, 4pm.

GRADING BREAKDOWN

You made the visit to an off-campus show ………………………………....………………………….…..10 You recorded your discussion and answered the right questions …………………………………10 3-pg. artist proposal ……………………………………………………………………..……………………………. 50 1-pg. artist manifesto ……………………………………………………………………………….………………… 30 18

MIDTERM PT.2 PROMPT FAMILY VISIT TO AN OPEN MIC + ARTIST INTERVIEW Where: Off-campus comedy club Write up due:

The first half of this project is a family project. But the written component is mostly individual. The written component is mostly introspective. It deals with how you’ve synthesized our class materials, and how you seek to apply those materials to your artistic process.

I believe this will be the most difficult assignment of the quarter. First I want you to go out and perform your comedy in public. And if that doesn’t sound hard enough, then I want you to sit down somewhere and pretend you are being interviewed by a writer/journalist who has seen your work. I’m going to ask you to try and discuss your work’s political intentions, and beyond making people laugh, how your work creates positive transformations (i.e. new ways of thinking) in the audience.

I understand this will be a challenge. But you are going to be famous and rich and probably also very good looking someday. And with being a famous attractive artist comes knowing how to defend your work. Knowing how to question your own work. And knowing who you have a responsibility to in your audience.

STEP ONE: Make a visit to a comedy club for an open mic night (preferably a different venue than where you saw a performance) and perform your own original material. You should make this visit with your comedy family so that you can support them, and so you can be supported. You will also need their help to document this performance. This will be the most important documentation of the year – so make sure your technologies are ready to handle all the mind-blowing comedy.

STEP TWOO: Have a discussion about the venue/performance AND RECORD IT. Have a milkshake with your family. Maybe a really big chocolate milkshake. I hear dark chocolate is healthy. I don’t care. I eat it because it tastes good and makes me less depressed. I don’t worry about “health” because I’m naturally like, really hot. Like, really hot. Like probably an 8 or a 9, but on days I brush my teeth, who knows? They sky is the limit. The point is, you should generate answers to the followings questions:

What jokes appealed most to the crowd? Give an example of one of your jokes that “worked” or changed the energy in the room.

What do you think would be the best way to prepare for your next comedy performance? What do you think were the strengths of this performances? Weaknesses? What did you learn by doing this open mic? What did you not learn you still have questions about?

Make the recording of your discussion available via SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/)

STEP THREEE: Post video footage of your performance to your WordPress site with a description/caption that contextualizes the event, the audience, your purpose, etc.

STEP FOURRRR: 15-question (1500-words) artist interview. Grab a partner. You are familiar with their comedy and they are familiar with your comedy. They are going to ask you 5 questions about your comedy. This might include questions about writing process, revision, performance, aspirations, persona, identity, influences, etc. They should make reference to specific jokes in their questions – so you can reference those specific jokes in your answers. They should try and provoke you. Then you’re going to return the favor. Push them to speak about their work critically.

Then you are going to ask yourself 5 questions. What questions are you dying to answer about your comedy? What aspects of comedy could you discuss forever? What do you find it difficult to discuss? Challenge yourself. Then you are going to answer the 5 questions found here: http://divinecomedyalityness.wordpress.com/artist-interview-5- questions/

Finally – post your “artist interview” to your WordPress under a new page heading.

Recordings, video posts and stapled hard copy of artist interview due May 19th, 4pm.

GRADING BREAKDOWN

You went to an open mic with your family and performed original material ……….………30 You recorded your family discussion and posted footage of your performance……………15 You asked your partner thought-provoking questions ………………………………………..…………5 In your answers to questions you discussed (your) specific jokes, you referenced specific class materials (readings, clips, discussions, etc.), and you made clear and logical connections between them …………………………………………………………………………….…………..45 You’re awesome ……………………………….…………………………………………………………………………..5 20

My signature here confirms that I have read the syllabus for “Divine Comedy-ality-ness” and understand the assignments, grading breakdown, and work demands of this course. It also confirms that I will engage with this course and my classmates with respect and generosity as required by the code and conduct designated by Sixth College and UCSD.

Print name/SID ______

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