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Syllabus COM410: Humor in Communication Spring 2003 |
Professor Judith Swift
Office: 874-4809 E-mail: jswift@uri.edu
Office Hours: Monday 2-3, Thursday 1-3 and by appointment
Office Location: 308A Independence Hall
Wednesday, 4:00- 6:45
p.m.
Materials and syllabus: www.uri.edu/artsci/com/swift
Teaching Assistant
Ralph Supper
Course Description: This course will examine the genres, background, content, structure and performance of humor, most particularly in stand-up comedy. It will explore the elements of comedy in general and will seek to place comedy in the framework of society. Students will observe and critique routines of various types and genres. Students will develop materials incorporating humor for specific settings, e.g. a business meeting, an award ceremony, and an introduction of a civic leader. Students will also be expected to collect appropriate materials, write original material and develop these into a routine to be performed in an open public venue.
Goals
Content: The course will begin with an examination of the origins of comedy and specifically with the traditions of social comedy in the guise of the fool or jester in the courts of Europe. You will examine genres of comedy (parody, satire, farce, slapstick), elements and structure of jokes (setup, punch line, payoff moment) and elements of comedic rehearsal and presentation (expectation/ violation, pace, delivery, context, physicality, sound effects) and a vocabulary of related terms. You will look at the extended comic monologue as well as the joke sequence routine. The course will also give some insight into the specific problems and advantages of comedy on radio and television. You will spend some time on improvisation and the ad-lib as methods for generating comedy.
You will review the work of some of the great extended monologists (e.g. Ruth Draper, Garrison Keillor, Shelley Berman), social commentary comics (Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce, Bill Cosby, Chris Rock), sight gag comics (Red Skelton, Lucille Ball), and improvisational comics (Sid Caesar, Lily Tomlin, Elaine May).
A portion of most classes will involve student presentation of comic material and group analysis and criticism.
Written assignments will include the following:
All writings will, of course, be word-processed and use correct grammar, spelling, etc., with references and resources properly credited. Length is to be adequate to address the assignment. In other words, you determine the length based on your assessment of how best to complete the task. Assignments should be turned in as attachments via e-mail to jswift@uri.edu. There is no need for hard copy. You will also turn in a written version of your humorous speech.
Listserv: There is a listserv for this class at COM410@pete.uri.edu. I will use the listserv to post important notices and extended information on assignments. You may also post to the list but realize that it goes to the entire class. This is useful for questions to which everyone might want the answer. This also allows you to communicate with groups for project work. Papers should not be e-mailed to the list. Send them directly to me at jswift@uri.edu. Please use the list considerately so you do not clutter everyone’s mailboxes with extraneous materials. In this class, however, jokes are not extraneous. Sprinkle them liberally.
Performance/participation assignments will include the following:
Evaluation: Evaluation will be based on grades of the written projects outlined above, committed rehearsal and performance of the speech, monologue and final project, as well as regular class attendance and participation.
Weekly Activity:
| Week |
Content |
Assignments DUE |
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Jan. 22 |
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| Jan 29 | Assigned groups will work as comedy writing teams. |
Joke writing: Individual jokes due |
| Feb. 5 |
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Group monologues due (to be delivered by one team member) Completed jokes from each group must be e-mailed to jswift@uri.edu and rsup4989@postoffice.uri.edu. |
| Feb. 12 |
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| Feb. 19 |
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| Feb. 26 |
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| March 5 |
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Ideas for improvisation due on March 1 |
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March 12 |
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| March 19 |
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| March 26 |
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Group situation comedy presentation Speech due |
| April 2 |
Comedy
routine development
Joke
writing
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| April 9 |
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| April 16 |
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| April 23 |
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| April 30 |
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| May 12 |
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Complete
written content of final project due Final Project presentation |
General Notes: This syllabus is an outline of proposed events. It is subject to change. I will never change it to make anything due earlier for you. I may change the order of things to allow for a special opportunity or to allow additional exploration on a particular topic. I will supply additional supplementary readings along the way.
Communication: I expect everyone to use e-mail–direct to me at jswift@uri.edu for papers or personal notes, and inquiries, and the listserv COM410@pete.uri.edu for general issues and postings–in order that we can communicate efficiently with each other. We will use this tool to increase class discussion by posting additional ideas, observations, questions, jokes, and insights. If you need to see me, stop by during office hours, call or e-mail and I’ll get you in as quickly as possible.
Submission of Written Work: All written assignments are to be submitted as an attachment—not pasted into—via e-mail. Please send with a subject header in the e-mail as follows: YOURLASTNAME.MONOLOGUE (or whatever the topic of the assignment happens to be). The file should be saved as YOURLASTNAME.MONOLOGUE.DOC (or whatever the topic of the assignment happens to be). The document should open to reveal your name, the date and the topic as a header on the paper. If more than one person developed the script/project, then all names should be listed. Do not deviate from this format. I do not want to be trying to figure out who sent what paper on what topic. I will return incorrect submissions. All e-mail with attachments should be copied in to Ralph Supper.
Attendance: Attendance is expected. You are upperclass Communication Studies majors and I assume you want the stimulation of class discussion with a professor and your peers. If you will not attend on a given day, please call or e-mail. Absences will hurt your grade because class participation is an important aspect of my evaluation of your work. If you are working on a group project and do not show to work with your group, that counts doubly against you. Groups cannot function as teams if they do not support each other with respect. Blowing the team off is disrespectful.
Reading List:
Dean, Greg. Step by Step to Standup Comedy. Heinemann Publishing; (July 15, 2000); ISBN: 0325001790. 224 pages
Additional Recommended Reading:
Carter, Judy, Standup Comedy : The Book. Dell Books (Paperbacks); (September 1989) ISBN: 0440502438. 204 pages.
Bruce, Lenny, How to Talk Dirty and Influence People : An Autobiography. Fireside; Reprint edition (May 1992). ISBN: 0671751085. 188 pages.
Other readings and/or viewings as applicable and assigned including excerpts from books, films, articles, magazine and newspaper reviews.
Grading: Grades will be determined in accordance with the University system as described in the University Manual beginning in Section 8.53.10.
| 20% | In-class discussion/writings/performance |
| 15% | Presentation on comedic performer(s) |
| 20% | Delivery of speech, oral and written |
| 20% | Critique and delivery of in-class situation comedy presentation |
| 25% | Final Presentation |
Teaching Assistant: Ralph Supper will be serving as a teaching assistant in the class. He has completed this course and also does quite a bit of work performing and writing comedy. He will be of tremendous assistance to you in the preparation of projects. If he agrees to work with you and sets up an appointment to do so, do not blow him off. That is the same as failing to keep an appointment with me. This kind of behavior is rude with anyone because it is inconsiderate of other people's time, but it will affect your grade if you are not respectful of meetings with Ralph.
Honor Code: I expect each of you to contribute his/her own work; however, I also encourage you to work together to solve problems, achieve solid analysis, critique performances, and even to prepare and explore the theses of your final performances. I also expect that you will all be direct about crediting yourself and/or others about completed work. There is nothing wrong with assisting each other. The only caveat is to acknowledge that assistance. With regard to group work, you will be required to sign a contract agreeing to be responsible for disclosing the amount of your work and to be forthright about how much you did or did not contribute. This saves each of you from ever having to be in the awkward position of reporting or covering for another student. I also know each of you want to be honorable in your individual or group projects. On the other hand, if a student violates rules pertaining to plagiarism or cheating, I will report that student to the appropriate university authorities. I will do this because it is no favor to cover for a person who acts dishonestly. We call this enabling. It is also unfair to the students in the class who come by their grade honestly. For information on plagiarism, please see the University Manual beginning with Section 8.27.10.
Special Needs: If you have any special circumstances arising from a disability, please let me know how I can assist you. As stated in the University Manual: "The student with a disability shall be responsible for self-identification to the Disability Services for Students in the Office of Student Life, providing appropriate documentation of disability, requesting accommodation in a timely manner, and follow-through regarding accommodations requested." In other words, it is your responsibility to make arrangements for any special needs and my responsibility to accommodate them with the assistance of the office of Disability Services for Students.
Philosophy of Teaching: I am committed to an engaging, active partnership of learning in which I rediscover and discover aspects of comedic communication/presentation along with you. I am also interested in using comedy as a springboard for the exploration of a wide range of topics from historical events to contemporary issues. Comedy is at its best when it serves as a catalyst to inspire continued communication. Humor is a catalyst for social interaction and communication. The question of "what is funny" leads us to examine our own taste and preferences. The exploration of comedy allows us to consider circumstances in which human beings display their most exalted and most depraved impulses and actions. In short, this is exciting stuff. However, just as no one is responsible for our individual happiness but us, no one is responsible for our intellectual excitement. I can bring mine to the classroom but you also need to be prepared to risk exposing and exploring yours. Learning should be fun and painful–thinking ‘til it hurts, and addictive. I look forward to the time we will have together examining and laughing at the variations of standup comedy.
Classroom Etiquette: Although I am perfectly happy to enjoy the benefits of an informal classroom in which people feel free to speak without the raising of hands and can sit in a less formal arrangement than row-by-row, this informal setting requires a particular adherence to good manners. Quite simply, I expect you all to be respectful of me and of each other. This includes extraneous private commentary between and among students, the use of any telecommunications devices that connect you to the outside world, and the continued courtesy of respectful attention without interruption when others are speaking. We all learned this behavior either at home or in Kindergarten or both. You are the Sesame Street generation - actually the second Sesame Street generation; you grew up with TV shows that taught the value of please and thank you. Consider this experience to be one in which your communication style will be judged and a major part of that judgment is your ability to be courteous on both an interpersonal and group level. I embrace humor; I do not embrace disruption. I am utterly intolerant of any student being harshly judgmental or making fun of a fellow student. I expect you are all courteous people at heart and will have absolutely no difficulty in meeting and exceeding these expectations.
Censorship: This class examines an area of human expression, which cannot be fully explored, examined, created or tested in an atmosphere of judgment or disapproval. While we will discuss what constitutes hurtful humor OR hurtful intent, we must concurrently be open to freedom of expression as fundamental to the creative process of humor. There will be no censorship in this class. This includes topics such as race, gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, age, physical appearance, etc. At the same time, however, we will all discuss and agree upon an in-class method for assuring a safe place for those who find humor hurtful to express that feeling and for all of us to analyze this result.
N.B.: Although the subject of this class is comedy, the process of studying, analyzing and preparing comedic material is demanding. While humor is to some degree subjective, there are numerous objective standards by which it can be judged and evaluated. It will never be sufficient to find or make something funny. The concomitant obligation will be to analyze why it was funny and/or how one planned it to be funny. In essence, much of the work will be tedious, repetitive, demanding, painful, rigorous and, with lots of hard work, ultimately funny and fun.
Field Trip: There will be a field trip to a comedy club, time and date to be arranged based on your schedules. Cost is about $13.00
Materials: please go to www.uri.edu/artsci/com/swift to locate Writing Tips and Brainstorming: The Creative Process.