CURBING THE LAUGHTER: EXPLORING THE MANIFESTATIONS OF DARK HUMOUR IN “CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM” by Jay Friesen Bachelor of Arts, University of Alberta 2008 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS In the Department of Sociology and Anthropology © Jay Friesen 2010 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Fall 2010 All rights reserved. However, in accordance with the Copyright Act of Canada, this work may be reproduced, without authorization, under the conditions for Fair Dealing. Therefore, limited reproduction of this work for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting is likely to be in accordance with the law, particularly if cited appropriately. APPROVAL Name: Jay Friesen Degree: Master of Arts Title of Thesis: Curbing the laughter: Exploring the manifestations of dark humour in “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Examining Committee: Chair: Dr. Ann Travers Professor of Sociology _______________________________________ Dr. Dany Lacombe Senior Supervisor Professor of Sociology _______________________________________ Dr. Cindy Patton Supervisor Professor of Sociology _______________________________________ Dr. Zoë Druick External Examiner Associate Professor of Communication Date Defended/Approved: December 2nd, 2010 ii Declaration of Partial Copyright Licence The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection (currently available to the public at the “Institutional Repository” link of the SFU Library website <www.lib.sfu.ca> at: <http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/handle/1892/112>) and, without changing the content, to translate the thesis/project or extended essays, if technically possible, to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation of the digital work. The author has further agreed that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by either the author or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission. Permission for public performance, or limited permission for private scholarly use, of any multimedia materials forming part of this work, may have been granted by the author. This information may be found on the separately catalogued multimedia material and in the signed Partial Copyright Licence. While licensing SFU to permit the above uses, the author retains copyright in the thesis, project or extended essays, including the right to change the work for subsequent purposes, including editing and publishing the work in whole or in part, and licensing other parties, as the author may desire. The original Partial Copyright Licence attesting to these terms, and signed by this author, may be found in the original bound copy of this work, retained in the Simon Fraser University Archive. Simon Fraser University Library Burnaby, BC, Canada Last revision: Spring 09 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the current state of dark humour in sociological discourse through an exploration of the humour found in television sitcom Curb Your Enthusiasm (Curb). After analyzing the current literature on humour, this thesis proceeds on the premise that some perspectives on dark humour are much more heavily emphasized than others, and those interpretations of dark humour that project a positive, therapeutic image of the world are favoured. Proceeding with a three-stage analysis – social/historical contextualization, formal content analysis, and concept reinterpretation – the thesis carries out case studies of three episodes of Curb, which provide the empirical source for key themes within humour studies. Extracting and discussing these themes from Curb allow the thesis to argue that there are under appreciated aspects of dark humour that are too often taken for granted in humour studies; specific aspects of humour studies explored are: humour’s relationship to social transgression, the effect of laughter on interpretation, and a presupposition of ‘happy endings’ in comic media. As a consequence of these three aspects, the thesis concludes that the state of humour studies requires ongoing reappraisal to ensure that a greater variety of perspectives are utilized when researching humorous phenomena. Keywords: Humour; Comedy; Sitcom; Curb Your Enthusiasm; Cultural Studies iii QUOTATION From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Someday I intend reading it. – Groucho Marx iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisory committee, especially my senior supervisor Dr. Dany Lacombe, for guiding my studies throughout my entire time at Simon Fraser. Without a doubt, this thesis would not be what it is without her mentorship, as her supportive influence in my research has made a lasting impression on me and on my work. I would also like to thank my committee member, Dr. Cindy Patton, whose questions always caught me off guard and invariably left me with improved work and a new way of thinking about my thesis. In addition, thank you to all of the professors I have had the pleasure of having teach me during my time at Simon Fraser, there are pieces from each of your courses that have made significant contributions to this thesis. And of course, none of this would have been possible without the always-helpful faces in the Sociology and Anthropology Department who made sure I made deadlines, registered in classes, and more generally helped organize my school existence; so thank you Joan Byron, Karen Payne, and Carlotta Spino. Thanks to all of my friends who smiled pleasantly and politely as I conclusively proved that watching comedy is far more enjoyable than hearing me drone on about its literature review. Although it goes without saying, thank you to my parents and brother, who didn’t laugh me out of the family when I said I wanted to study humour rather than go out into the ‘real world.’ Thank you Mom, for being my first and best editor when the time came; Dad, for making sure that there were always words of encouragement to make sure that it got to that point; and Reid, for making sure that I didn’t forget to take hockey breaks in the middle of my school work. Lastly, thank you Emily: your patience and support is legendary. The fact that you hardly bat an eye when you see me each evening sitting in the same spot you left me in the morning and that you accept that watching eight episodes of Seinfeld and Curb constitutes a productive day at the office means more than I can express. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval...........................................................................................................................................ii Abstract ...........................................................................................................................................iii Quotation......................................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ............................................................................................................................ vi 1: A Serious Look at Humour ....................................................................................................... 1 1.1 An Introduction to Dark Humour: “A Baby Seal Walks into a Club…”................................ 1 1.2 A Brief History of Humour: “Did you hear the one about…”................................................ 2 1.2.1 The Superiority Paradigm........................................................................................... 4 1.2.2 The Incongruity Paradigm .......................................................................................... 5 1.1.1. The Relief Paradigm .................................................................................................. 6 1.3 Thinking About Humour with the Influence of Michael Billig .............................................. 8 1.4 Defining the Limits: “Always Look on the Bright-Side of Life” ......................................... 11 1.4.1 The Positive View of Humour.................................................................................. 14 1.5 The Humour of Today’s Sociologists ................................................................................... 15 1.6 Exploring the ‘Joke-Work’ of Contemporary Humour Theory ............................................ 19 2: Methods..................................................................................................................................... 21 2.1 A ‘Very Special Episode’...................................................................................................... 21 2.2 A Framework for Analysis: Depth-Hermeneutics ................................................................ 24 2.3 First stage: Social-historical reconstruction .........................................................................