Скачать или смотреть Subversive Humor in Jeff Dunham Beside Himself - Joshua Panaro

Jeff Dunham, a very popular ventriloquist, continues to make jokes in regard to sensitive issues, such as stereotypes and racism, and still makes audiences laugh. Humor and comedy are different for everyone; there are people like Lindsey Toomer who believe that “when the entire basis of a comedy act is based on stereotypes, one should rethink laughing at these jokes” (Toomer); however, she disregards that this type of humor is important for audiences to experience. This humor can be viewed as subversive humor because some of Dunham’s jokes confront serious matters, but at the same time, the ventriloquist dummies make it more playful and less serious. Furthermore, at first, the audience does not see the serious meaning of the joke, causing laughter, but by bringing these serious topics up in the form of humor, it makes the audience think about what the joke is actually saying. By applying Relief Theory to one of Jeff Dunham’s latest filmed shows, Jeff Dunham Beside Himself, we see that through Dunham’s use of subversive humor, there is tension in the audience because they are not used to talking about, let alone joking about, serious matters.