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The paramount question answered in this absorbing collection of essays is: What's so funny about American humor, and why? What are American humor's characteristics? How have they evolved and displayed themselves? Which characteristics are distinctively, or even uniquely, American? Originally appearing as an issue of the American Quarterly, these essays take a close look at American humor from revolutionary times to the present day, and particularly focus on the neglected trends of the past fifty years. Looking at American comic figures as diverse--and even surprising--as Mark Twain and Richard Nixon, at various vehicles for American humor such as comic strips, radio and television, movies, and standup comedians, and at different genres of humor including political, ethnic, and feminist humor, this book brings a lively new perspective to the study of American culture.
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AMERICAN HUMOR
CONTRIBUTORS PETER M. BRIGGS, ASSOCIATE EDITOR JOSEPH BOSKIN JOSEPH DORINSON ALAN GRIBBEN M. THOMAS INGE LAWRENCE E. MINTZ NANCY WALKER STEPHEN J. WHITFIELD
American Humor ARTHUR POWER DUDDEN, EDITOR
NEW YORK OXFORD OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
1987
Oxford University Press Oxford New York Toronto Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi Petaling Jaya Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town Melbourne Auckland and associated companies in Beirut Berlin Ibadan Nicosia
Copyright © 1987 by Arthur Power Dudden Published by Oxford University Press, Inc., 200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permisson of Oxford University Press, Inc. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data American Humor. Some essays previously published in the American quarterly spring 1985, v. 37, no. 1. 1. American wit and humor—History and criticism 1. Dudden, Arthur Power, 1921 . II. American quarterly. PS430.A42 1987 817'.009 86-12869 ISBN 0-19-504212-3 (alk. paper) All of the essays in this book except one were previously published in substantially the same form in the American Quarterly, Spring 1985, Volume XXXVII, Number 1. Grateful acknowledgment is hereby given to the American Studies Association and the American Quarterly for permission to republish this copyrighted material. The previously unpublished essay is by M. Thomas Inge.
246897531 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
A RATIONAL ANTHEM My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet land of felony, Of thee I sing— Land where my fathers fried Young witches and applied Whips to the Quaker's hide And made him spring. My knavish country, thee, Land where the thief is free, Thy laws I love; I love thy thieving bills That tap the people's tills; I love thy mob whose will's All laws above. Let Federal employees And rings rob all they please, The whole year long. Let office-holders make Their piles and judges rake Our coin. For Jesus' sake Let's all go wrong! Ambrose Bierce
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Acknowledgments Grateful appreciation goes to the late Brownlee Sands Corrin of Goucher College for his innovative approaches to the study of American humor, to Bruce Kuklick and Richard R. Beeman and Janice Radway, Editors in turn, and to Nicole Cawley-Perkins and Shirley T. Wajda, Managing Editors in turn, of American Quarterly. A special note of appreciation must also go to Peter M. Briggs of Bryn Mawr College for his wise counsel and generous assistance. Bryn Mawr College August 1986
Arthur Power Dudden
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Contents Introduction: American Humor Arthur P