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Woke Comedy vs. Pride Comedy: Kondabolu, Peters, and the Ethics of Performed Indian Accents
-
Steven Gimbel
Gettysburg College;
,
Rushil Chandra
Gettysburg College;
Gettysburg College;
Published/Copyright:
May 18, 2020
Abstract
Humor can be used as a tool for a wide range of tasks, including fighting for social justice. How to most effectively use it, however, is a matter of contention. Jokes that alienate members of an out-group can be called “Otherizing,” and can cause harm by virtue of the alienation. Woke comics, like Hari Kondabolu, intentionally avoid Otherizing in general, but may engage in a version of it that seeks to defang stereotypical treatments of out-groups by replacing the alienating content with something benign. We term this use of Otherizing, “mOtherizing.” Pride comics, like Russell Peters, take a different approach and try to usurp the power of Otherizing by over-engaging in it. The intention is to use the jokes to cobble together a coalition of out-groups that turns itself into an in-group. We term this use of Otherizing, “brOtherizing.”
About the authors
Steven Gimbel
Gettysburg College;
Rushil Chandra
Gettysburg College;
Jingwei Zhan
Gettysburg College;
References
Gimbel, Steven. 2017. Isn’t that Clever: A Philosophy of Humor and Comedy. New York: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar
Kondabolu, Hari. 2016. Mainstream American Comic. Kill Rock Stars.Search in Google Scholar
Kondabolu, Hari. 2018. Hari Kondabolu: Warn Your Relatives. Directed by Bobcat Goldthwait. Netflix.Search in Google Scholar
Peters, Russell. 2006. Outsourced. Warner Brothers Records.Search in Google Scholar
Published Online: 2020-05-18
© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston
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- Table of Contents
- Titelei
- Titelseiten
- Titelseiten
- Table of Contents
- Table of Contents
- Articles
- Editorial
- Foreword of IAPH President of Honor: The Philosophy of Humor—Not a Joke Any More
- Foreword of the Board: Why a Philosophy of Humor Yearbook
- Research Articles
- Research Articles
- Timings: Notes on Stand-up Comedy
- Why’d You Have to Choose Us? On Jews and Their Jokes
- It’s a Funny Thing, Humor
- The Comic Stance
- The Evolution of the Funny: American Folk Humor and Gimbel’s Cleverness Theory
- That’s Not Funny: The Humor of Diogenes
- To Laugh in a Pluralistic Universe: William James and the Philosophy of Humor
- Was Dave Chappelle Morally Obliged to Leave Comedy? On the Limits of Consequentialism
- Subversive Humor as Art and the Art of Subversive Humor
- Discussion: Short Articles for Further Debate
- Discussion: Short Articles for Further Debate
- Humor in Philosophical Contexts: Socratic Irony
- Philosophical Satire and Criticism
- Philosophical Satire and Criticism
- Last Laughs and Dead Ends: How to Get Death’s Goat, or Let’s Put the “Yin” Back in Dying
- Woke Comedy vs. Pride Comedy: Kondabolu, Peters, and the Ethics of Performed Indian Accents
- Humor in Philosophic Education
- Humor in Philosophic Education
- Metaphor in the Lab: Humor and Teaching Science
- Laughing Matter
- Jokes and Philosophy
- In Memoriam
- In Memoriam
- “Ted Cohen”
- “Agnes Heller”
- “Flavio Baroncelli”
- Book Reviews
- Book Reviews
- Lydia Amir: Laughing All the Way: Your Sense of Humor—Don’t Leave Home without It, John Morreall, Cartoons and Foreword, Robert Mankoff. Motivational Press, 2016. pp. 288.
- Steven Gimbel: The Importance of Being Funny: Why We Need More Jokes in Our Lives, Al Gini. Rowman and Littlefield, 2017. pp. 168.
- John Marmysz: Why Can’t Philosophers Laugh? Katrin Froese. Palgrave Macmillan, 2017. pp. viii + 227.
- Richard Vagnino and Lauren Olin: Isn’t That Clever: A Philosophical Account of Humor and Comedy, Steven Gimbel. Routledge, 2017. pp. 208.
- Alvin Dahnand and Lloyd Haft: Genuine Pretending: On the Philosophy of the Zhuangzi, Hans-Georg Moeller and Paul J. D’Ambrosio. Columbia University Press, 2017. pp. 240.
- Martin Donougho: All Too Human: Laughter, Humor, and Comedy in Nineteenth-Century Philosophy, Lydia L. Moland, ed. Springer, 2018. pp. xi + 198.
- Anne Louise Nielsen: Kierkegaard and the Legitimacy of the Comic: Understanding the Relevance of Irony, Humor, and the Comic for Ethics and Religion, Will Williams. Lexington Books, 2018. pp. 203.
- Giorgio Baruchello: Why So Serious? Philosophy and Comedy, Russell Ford, ed. Routledge, 2018. pp. x + 157.
- Chris A. Kramer: A Philosophy of Humour, Alan Roberts. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. pp. ix +133.
- Christine A. James: Philosophy, Humor, and the Human Condition: Taking Ridicule Seriously, Lydia Amir. Palgrave Macmillan, 2019. pp. xv + 305.
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- Call for Papers, Book Reviews, Guidelines
