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C O P Y R I G H T E D M A T E R I A L $50.00 | Hardcover www.utexaspress.com C O P Y R I G H T E D M A T E R I A L tragedy plus time MAY NOT BE COPIED, SOLD, OR DISTRIBUTED C O P Y R I G H T E D M A T E R I A L MAY NOT BE COPIED, SOLD, OR DISTRIBUTED C O P Y R I G H T E D M A T E R I A L National Trauma TRAGEDY PLUS TIME and Television Comedy philip scepanski university of texas press Austin MAY NOT BE COPIED, SOLD, OR DISTRIBUTED C O P Y R I G H T E D M A T E R I A L Copyright © 2021 by the University of Texas Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2021 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to: Permissions University of Texas Press P.O. Box 7819 Austin, TX 78713-7819 utpress.utexas.edu/rp-form The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Scepanski, Philip, author. Title: Tragedy plus time : national trauma and television comedy / Philip Scepanski. Other titles: Tragedy + time : national trauma and television comedy Description: First edition. | Austin : University of Texas Press, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020032962 ISBN 978-1-4773-2254-3 (hardback) ISBN 978-1-4773-2255-0 (library ebook) ISBN 978-1-4773-2256-7 (non-library ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Television comedies—Social aspects—United States. | Psychic trauma—Humor—Social aspects—United States. | Disasters—Humor— Social aspects—United States. | American wit and humor—Social aspects. | Americans—Psychology. Classification: LCC PN1992.8.C66 S3 2021 | DDC 791.45/6170973—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020032962 doi:10.7560/322543 MAY NOT BE COPIED, SOLD, OR DISTRIBUTED C O P Y R I G H T E D M A T E R I A L To Mom and Dad MAY NOT BE COPIED, SOLD, OR DISTRIBUTED C O P Y R I G H T E D M A T E R I A L MAY NOT BE COPIED, SOLD, OR DISTRIBUTED C O P Y R I G H T E D M A T E R I A L CONTENTS acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 broadcast nationalism, national trauma, and television comedy Chapter 1 27 the kennedy assassination and the growth of sick humor on american television Chapter 2 47 censored comedies and comedies of censorship Chapter 3 69 emotional nonconformity in comedy Chapter 4 89 conspiracy theories and comedy Chapter 5 109 african american comedies and the 1992 los angeles riots Chapter 6 133 television comedy and islamophobia after 9/11 Chapter 7 161 comedy and trump as trauma in narrowcast america conclusion 183 afterword 191 notes 196 bibliography 219 index 233 MAY NOT BE COPIED, SOLD, OR DISTRIBUTED C O P Y R I G H T E D M A T E R I A L MAY NOT BE COPIED, SOLD, OR DISTRIBUTED C O P Y R I G H T E D M A T E R I A L ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book is the result of many years, relationships, influences, and favors. Since it grew out of my dissertation, I must thank Jeffrey Sconce, my advisor, as well as committee members Lynn Spigel and Robert Hariman, without whom this project could never have begun nor developed into anything resembling what it is today. I must also thank the professors from my undergraduate and graduate studies who taught me so much, all of whom are represented in this work. At Northwestern, Scott Curtis, Penelope Deutscher, Hamid Naficy, Jacqueline Stewart, Domietta Torlasco, Amy Villarejo, and Mimi White were especially influential, while at UCLA, John Caldwell, Jennifer Holt, and Stephen Mamber proved particularly important to my development as a scholar. In my time since graduate school, colleagues and administrators at Marist and Vassar Colleges have earned my thanks for support and friendship. At Marist, colleagues Daniel Amernick, Jeff Bass, Sally Dwyer-McNulty, Jenn Eden, Sue Lawrence, Kevin Lerner, Robyn Rosen, and Adam Zaretsky provided enormous, if varied types of, support, as did administrators Lyn Lepre and Thomas Wermuth. Marist library staff members Becky Albitz, Greg Carr, and Zachary Grisham, and especially Elizabeth Clarke, were also incredibly helpful. At Vassar, I am particularly grateful for the sup- port of Dara Greenwood, Sophia Harvey, Sarah Kozloff, Mia Mask, and Christopher White. I owe enormous thanks to my peer reviewers on this project, Matt Sienkiewicz and Rebecca Krefting, whose advice and support improved the book’s quality immensely and ushered me past imposter syndrome. I need to also thank the entire University of Texas Press, its faculty board, editors, and additional team members for seeing this project through. In particular, thanks goes to Lynne Ferguson, Sarah McGavick, and Sarah Hudgens. Special thanks also go to my editor Jim Burr, who has been a supporter of this project since long before I even sent in the proposal. I have been lucky enough to be friends and colleagues with many oth- ers through graduate school and my early career. Some deserve particular thanks for reading through portions of this and offering notes, including Peter Kunze, Nick Marx, Luke Stadel, and Beth Corzo-Duchardt. Other ix MAY NOT BE COPIED, SOLD, OR DISTRIBUTED C O P Y R I G H T E D M A T E R I A L x acknowledgments scholars who have influenced this project through their advice and expertise include Ashley Nicole Black, Nina Bradley, Jared Champion, Jonathan Cohn, Alla Gadassik, Amelie Hastie, Alex Kupfer, Jenn Porst, David Sagehorn, Ethan Thompson, and Laura Weinstein. Others who might not have overlapping expertise but who have been good friends through my academic pursuits include Susan Ericsson, Tara Flanagan, Dawn Fratini, Harrison Gish, and Jason Roberts. A special thanks also goes to Adam VanWagner for his legal expertise. Finally, I need to thank all of my family members—each of you has made this possible and provided support for my education and eventual career. William, Linda, and Rachel Scepanski got me to the point where I could begin this project and continue to provide me with all manner of support. Most importantly, I need to acknowledge the love, support, and sacrifice of Martha Warner-Scepanski and Henry Scepanski, the two most important people in my life. MAY NOT BE COPIED, SOLD, OR DISTRIBUTED C O P Y R I G H T E D M A T E R I A L tragedy plus time MAY NOT BE COPIED, SOLD, OR DISTRIBUTED C O P Y R I G H T E D M A T E R I A L MAY NOT BE COPIED, SOLD, OR DISTRIBUTED C O P Y R I G H T E D M A T E R I A L broadcast nationalism, national trauma, Introduction and television comedy On September 29, 2001, the same month as the 9/11 terror attacks, cable television channel Comedy Central and the New York Friars Club hosted a roast of Hugh Hefner. Introducing the event, Freddy Roman justified its questionable frivolity by invoking the orders of newly sanctified lead- ers. “It’s time we get back to normal, like Mayor Giuliani and President Bush have asked. And for the Friars, this is normal. Telling dirty jokes, making fun of people. That’s what we do, and we’re proud to do it for you. So you can get some laughter back in your life and into your hearts.”1 Roman’s earnestness also conveyed the sense that within this context, not everything spoken at the comedy show would be funny. Interviews with attendees and its edited broadcast suggest that despite the roast’s repu- tation for offensive humor, most of the comics avoided certain kinds of offense even when cracking jokes.2 After all, numerous critics had already declared that the end of the age of irony was at hand.3 Jeff Ross proved an early exception to this rule, however, as he mocked Rob Schneider’s flagging set: “Rob, hasn’t there been enough bombing in this city?” Other comics followed Freddie Roman’s lead, offering more earnest reactions to the terror attacks. For instance, Dick Gregory used the occasion to first praise Hefner for his early integration of the Playboy Club before appeal- ing to a sense of national community, delivering an inspirational speech: I hear people talking about what a great nation this is today like something just happened a couple of weeks ago and we just got great. Fear and God do not occupy the same space, understand that. If you stop to think about what makes America great . it’s the firemen that left home this morning and intended to come back tonight and ran into a building when everybody else was running out. At the same time, one could hardly call Drew Carey’s verbal assaults on Osama bin Laden insincere, even if he meant them to be funny. After 1 MAY NOT BE COPIED, SOLD, OR DISTRIBUTED C O P Y R I G H T E D M A T E R I A L 2 tragedy plus time repeatedly calling bin Laden a “cock” (a word bleeped in Comedy Cen- tral’s airing), Carey smiled and added, “I’m calling him a cock because Comedy Central didn’t want me to say ‘towelhead.’” Toward the end of the evening, Gilbert Gottfried flouted the rule proscribing irreverent 9/11 jokes: “I have to leave early tonight, I have to fly out to L.A.