Punching Up in Stand-Up Comedy

Rashi Bhargava is currently an Assistant Professor in Sociology at the Department of Sociology and Social Work, Christ (Deemed to be University), Bengaluru. Prior to joining Christ, she taught at the Department of Sociology, Maitreyi College, and other colleges in University of Delhi for almost a decade. She completed her doctorate from the Centre for the Study of Social Systems, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her research interests include politics and culture in North-East India, sociology of gender and urban spaces, visual culture and disciplinary practices of sociology and social anthropology in South Asia. Her recent publications include Social Scientist in South Asia: Personal Narratives, Social Forces and Negotiations co-edited with Achla Pritam Tandon and Gopi Tripathy and Materiality and Visuality in North East India: An Interdisciplinary Perspective co-edited with Tiplut Nongbri.Richa Chilana is currently teaching at the School of Liberal Studies, UPES, Dehradun, as an Assistant Professor. She has a decade-long experience of teaching English Literature at the Department of English, Maitreyi College, University of Delhi. Her doctoral thesis titled “Negotiating the Veil: Purdah in Twentieth Century Indian English Writing” (Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University) engaged with the complexities of purdah as a garment, an ideology and division of space on the basis of gender. She has taught, has an avid interest and has published research articles and book chapters in the fields of gender studies, Indian English writing, popular fiction, and literature and cinema.

‘The current times are such that one must stand up and be counted, stare straight into the eyes of the nefarious powers that be, throw punchlines well above one's weight, and laugh out loud. And this is what this very timely book teaches and beseeches us to do. A must-read for all those who, even in these grim times, believe that truth must be spoken to power, and that too with a smile, nay a guffaw!’—Professor Saugata Bhaduri, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India.‘This intricate analysis of punching up is timely and fascinating. The contributors use diverse methods and approaches to explore what it means to punch up across a range of contexts. The international focus is particularly welcome, with discussion of both established stand-up comedy scenes and more recent additions to stand-up’s increasingly global presence. A brilliant book.’—Dr Sophie Quirk, University of Kent, UK.

• Introduction; Part I Punching In and Punching Up: Origins, Limits and Possibilities 1 The History of Moroccan Stand-Up Comedy: From Storytelling to Charged Humour; 2 Standing Up for Speaking Up: Stand-Up Comedy in the Indonesian Context; 3 The Jamel Comedy Club: (Mis)understanding Stand-Up Comedy’s Relationship with Urban Culture in France; 4 Stand-Up Comedy as Escape: Caste and Media Infrastructure in Mumbai; 5 Voices from the Comedy Contact Zone: Regarding Performative Strategies Toward Race and the Transnational Body; Part II Gendered Experiences and Stand-Up Comedy 6 Humour as Antihistamine in the Discourse of Persian Stand-Up Comedy: Female Stand-Up Comedians in Iran; 7 Asserting Cultural Citizenship through Situated Comedy: Female Comedians in India; 8 Notes on Hannah Gadsby’s Nanette, Adorno’s Kulturindustrie and Feminism; Part III Comics and the Audience: Connections, Ethics and Efficacy? 9 Awkward Connections: Stand-Up Comedy as Affective Arrangement; 10 The Revolution Will Be a Joke: Semiotic Ideologies of Ethics and Efficacy in Stand-Up Comedy; 11 Standing Up for a Cause: The Cathartic and Persuasive Power of Stand-Up Comedy; 12 Which Direction Do We Punch? The Powers and Perils of Humour against the New Conspiracism