Laughing at American Democracy: Citizenship and the Rhetoric of Stand-Up Satire
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LAUGHING AT AMERICAN DEMOCRACY: CITIZENSHIP AND THE RHETORIC OF STAND-UP SATIRE Matthew R. Meier A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2014 Committee: Ellen Gorsevski, Advisor Khani Begum Graduate Faculty Representative Alberto González Michael L. Butterworth, Co-Advisor © 2014 Matthew R. Meier All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Michael L. Butterworth and Ellen Gorsevski, Co-Advisors With the increasing popularity of satirical television programs such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, it is evident that satirical rhetoric has unique and significant influence on contemporary American culture. The appeal of satirical rhetoric, however, is not new to the American experience, but its preferred rhetorical form has changed over time. In this dissertation, I turn to the development of stand-up comedy in America as an example of an historical iteration of popular satire in order to better understand how the rhetoric of satire manifests in American culture and how such a rhetoric can affect the democratic nature of that culture. The contemporary form of stand-up comedy is, historically speaking, a relatively new phenomenon. Emerging from the post-war context of the late 1950s, the form established itself as an enduring force in American culture in part because it married the public’s desire for entertaining oratory and political satire. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a generation of stand- up comedians including Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, and Dick Gregory laid the foundation for contemporary stand-up comedy by satirizing politics, racism, and social taboos. The of generation of performers that followed in their wake, notably Richard Pryor and George Carlin, would further refine the form and reinforce the significance of its capacity to provide an outlet for satirical rhetoric. Drawing on examples from their satirical stand-up, I argue that the rhetorical nature of the form and its ability to serve as a vehicle for political satire provides what Kenneth Burke would call “equipment” for citizenship in a democratic society. Organized as a generic exploration of satirical stand-up comedy and an historical treatment of satirical rhetoric in American culture, this project demonstrates how satire and stand-up comedy offer alternative avenues of political expression and equipment for democratic citizenship. iv This dissertation is dedicated to my parents for teaching me not to take myself too seriously, to my wife for not letting me, and to Hope because she is. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am unendingly grateful for my family. No one deserves more credit for getting me through this dissertation than my wife. Her love, support, conversation, and (proof)reading are gifts that I treasure more and more each day. Adrianne, I love you in ways I have not yet learned to articulate. To my parents, Ron and Martha, and my sister, Abbey, I am grateful for the love and support that you have shown me over the course of my graduate school odyssey and for the pride that you have never been shy about expressing. In the same ways, I am appreciative of my in-laws, Tom and Jan—and this is not the set-up to a joke about my in-laws, they’re great. And I am especially thankful for my daughter, Hope, and the baby therapy that got me through the last few painstaking stages of this project and my final semester of graduate school. A project of this magnitude is never an individual affair. I am forever in the debt of my many BGSU colleagues who spent hours listening to, responding to, and critiquing my ideas. Of note, I am especially grateful to: Brion White, Chad Nelson, Suzanne Berg, Chris Medjesky, Eun Young Lee, Alex Stana, Brian Krol, Mark Flynn, Cory Hillman, and Courtney Wright. I cherish you friendship, guidance, and feedback. In much same way, I am deeply appreciative of several faculty members who have influenced this project and the development of my scholarship. I have been blessed with fantastic models of intellectual curiosity and professionalism at Bowling Green State University. I am particularly thankful to Clayton Rosati for his unending willingness to hear what I have to say, to Tom Mascaro for helping me to better articulate my ideas and track down a few hard to find documentaries (on that note, I would also like to thank Robert Weide of Whyaduck productions for his willingness to share his hard to find documentaries), and to Emily Anzicek vi for always treating me more like a colleague than a graduate student. Also, I would be remiss if failed to mention Lisa Goodnight, my advisor at Purdue Calumet, whose continued support and guidance make a difference in my life every day, and Tom Roach, who planted the seed of this project in my very first graduate seminar in rhetorical criticism. To my committee members, Ellen Gorsevski and Alberto González, I cannot begin to express my gratitude for your comments, encouragement, and guidance. Your willingness to share impromptu conversations, thoughtful critiques, and your enthusiasm about my research have been constant sources of renewal and motivation that helped me better understand what it means to be a critic and scholar of rhetoric. And to Khani Begum and Maisha Wester, who served as graduate faculty representatives on my committee, I am appreciative of your willingness to read my work and ensure that it meets not only the standards of the graduate college, but also your own measures of scholarship and rigor. Finally, I owe the greatest debt to my advisor, Michael Butterworth, who has been an incredible influence on my intellectual development and professional identity. I came to BGSU because to work with you and I will never regret that decision. You are not only a model scholar and professor, but also a great mentor and friend. Your advice, inspiration, and feedback are written into these pages in ways that even I am yet unable to understand. For dealing my nonsense, my hours long questions, and for seeing this project through to its completion, thank you. I am honored to have had the opportunity to work with you and learn from you, and for that I will be forever grateful. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION. RHETORIC, SATIRE, AND RADICAL DEMOCRACY .................. 1 Rhetoric and Comedy… and Humor and Laughter ................................................... 10 Rhetoric and Democracy............................................................................................ 21 Comedy in Agony...................................................................................................... 28 Notes…………….. .................................................................................................... 40 CHAPTER I. A BRIEF HISTORY OF AMERICAN STAND-UP COMEDY AND SATIRE IN AMERICA............................................................................................................................. 50 Mort Sahl: The Hungry Intellectual........................................................................... 55 Lenny Bruce: Satirist, Moralist, and “Sicknik” Extraordinaire ................................. 62 Dick Gregory: The “Negro Mort Sahl” ..................................................................... 69 Interlude .................................................................................................................... 78 Richard Pryor: The Best There Ever Was.................................................................. 80 George Carlin: The Class Clown and His Conscience .............................................. 87 Conclusion……………. ............................................................................................ 98 Notes…………………….. ........................................................................................ 100 CHAPTER II. COMIC AS RHETOR: AUTHENTICITY & OPPOSITION AS EQUIPMENT FOR CITIZENSHIP……… ......... 115 The Comic Persona.................................................................................................... 117 Persona: Briefly and By the Numbers ........................................................... 121 Six Good Minutes .......................................................................................... 124 Comics in Transition—Becoming Richard Pryor and George Carlin ........... 131 viii The Comic Perspective .............................................................................................. 146 Standing-Up a Terministic Screen................................................................. 147 The Loyal Opposition .................................................................................... 150 Time For a New Target.................................................................................. 161 Conclusion............ ..................................................................................................... 169 Notes................. ......................................................................................................... 172 CHAPTER III. COMEDY AS RHETORIC: SATIRE & EQUIPMENT FOR DISSENT........................................................................... 180 A Tale of Two Modalities ......................................................................................... 180 Comedy, Tragedy, and Kenneth Burke.......................................................... 181 Carnival, Officialdom, and Mikhail Bakhtin ................................................. 187 Correction, Completion