Hysterical!: Women in American Comedy

Ideal for classroom use, this anthology of original essays by the leading authorities on womens comedy surveys the disorderly, subversive, and unruly performances of women comics from silent film to contemporary multimedia

Winner, Susan Koppleman Award for Best Anthology, Multi-Authored, or Edited Book in Feminist Studies, Popular and American Culture Associations (PACA), 2017

Amy Schumer, Samantha Bee, Mindy Kaling, Melissa McCarthy, Tig Notaro, Leslie Jones, and a host of hilarious peers are killing it nightly on American stages and screens large and small, smashing the tired stereotype that women arent funny. But todays funny women arent a new phenomenonthey have generations of hysterically funny foremothers. Fay Tinchers daredevil stunts, Mae Wests linebacker walk, Lucille Balls manic slapstick, Carol Burnetts athletic pratfalls, Ellen DeGeneress tomboy pranks, Whoopi Goldbergs sly twinkle, and Tina Feys acerbic wit all paved the way for contemporary unruly women, whose comedy upends the norms and ideals of womens bodies and behaviors.

Hysterical! Women in American Comedy delivers a lively survey of women comics from the stars of the silent cinema up through the multimedia presences of Tina Fey and Lena Dunham. This anthology of original essays includes contributions by the fields leading authorities, introducing a new framework for womens comedy that analyzes the implications of hysterical laughter and hysterically funny performances. Expanding on previous studies of comedians such as Mae West, Moms Mabley, and Margaret Cho, and offering the first scholarly work on comedy pioneers Mabel Normand, Fay Tincher, and Carol Burnett, the contributors explore such topics as racial/ethnic/sexual identity, celebrity, stardom, censorship, auteurism, cuteness, and postfeminism across multiple media. Situated within the main currents of gender and queer studies, as well as American studies and feminist media scholarship, Hysterical! masterfully demonstrates that hysteriawomen acting out and acting upis a provocative, empowering model for womens comedy.