Diego Millan
Welcome to Funny Women! My name is Diego Millan, and I am an Associate Professor here. Part of my research deals with laughter and literature, and a few years ago I wanted to find a way to teach comedy and humor during spring term. This course is the result of those efforts.
Is comedy gendered? How does what makes us laugh, and how we make others laugh, position us in the world? What does the intersection of comedy and performance have to show us about identity formation in relation to race, class, and gender? How have women, in particular, mobilized comedy to disrupt, to refuse, or to otherwise affect structures of power? In seeking answers to these questions and more, this spring term course examined a history of funny women and the many cultural expectations that surround them.
We also expanded our view to consider how other meanings of “funny” – as oddity or curiosity – to consider how labels and cultural associations simultaneously police women’s behavior and provide foundations for imagining resistance. We read a novel by Fran Ross, examined several stand-up comedy specials, invited two notable scholars of humor (Dr. J. Finley from Pomona and Dr. Beck Krefting from Skidmore) to guest lecture and lead a workshop on joke writing.
Throughout, students were encouraged to examine comedy from a variety of angles—both critical and practical. We kept looking for what we called “the joke behind the joke,” a shorthand for either a deeper message or nuanced understanding of what made us laugh.
For final projects, students had the option of writing a critical essay, creating a critical podcast, or writing and recording sketches. Below is just a sample of the hilarious and thoughtful work created. I hope you enjoy these as much as I have.
College to Crazy
Carrington Brown, Mary Clare Caprise and Parker Silliman
Wrong Side of the Bed
Carrington Brown, Mary Clare Caprise and Parker Silliman
Behind the Set
Martha McDonald
Conversation with Kate Anderson
Natalya Russin