'What’s So Funny? Comedy, Culture Wars, and the Power of Laughter'

The Lisska Center for Intellectual Engagement presents “What’s So Funny? Comedy, Culture Wars, and the Power of Laughter” featuring Beck Krefting and moderated by Diana Mafe, Director of the Lisska Center for Intellectual Engagement.

Comedy brings people together and makes them laugh. But humor is subjective and what is funny to one person may not be funny to another. Jokes can be a medium for testing and challenging social norms, but they can also reinforce prejudices. When does a joke go too far? What makes some comedy savvy and subversive but other comedy tasteless and offensive? Join us for a conversation on comedy, culture wars, and the power of laughter with comedy studies expert and stand-up comedian Beck Krefting. 

Krefting is professor of American Studies specializing in stand-up comedy studies and Director of the Center for Leadership, Teaching, and Learning at Skidmore College. She is the former vice-president and president of the American Humor Studies Association and one of four co-founders of the Critical Humor Studies Association. Her monograph, “All Joking Aside: American Humor and Its Discontents” (2014), charts the history and economy of charged humor or stand-up comedy in the service of social justice. She continues to perform stand-up comedy.