Nancy Goldman

More than “Just” Comedy: An Opportunity and an Outlet for Marginalized Populations

Posted by Nancy Goldman, Dec 03, 2013 1 comment


Nancy Goldman

Nancy Goldman Nancy Goldman

When coming out in the early ‘90s, I began promoting live comedy shows featuring gay and lesbian comedians for gay and lesbian audiences.  At the time it was uncommon to be out at work or to see gay depictions in media.  These performers were doing much more than telling jokes and making us laugh; they were making us feel normal, validating our experiences and shaping our identities.  Coming together for these comedy shows gave us a time and place to discuss the issues impacting our lives and to socialize, and solidified our sense of community.

So, you might ask, what were these comedians doing in states like Texas, Arkansas and Kansas, performing in clubs filled with straight audiences that were easily surpassing their two-drink minimums? I’d suggest that they were planting seeds of social change.

In his seminal work Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Brazilian educator and philosopher Paulo Freire poses the question, “Who are better prepared than the oppressed to understand the terrible significance of an oppressive society?” For the past 50 years, stand-up comedy has provided an outlet for marginalized populations, and an opportunity to dispel stereotypes and reclaim lost power. Immigrants, most especially Jews in the 1950s, then Blacks in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and women in the ‘70s, have used the stage to hold a mirror to society, both reflecting and retracting social norms. These performers were invested in promoting positive examples of their communities, and were determined to increase tolerance by raising awareness and social consciousness.  Above all, they must have believed that we should all be doing better as a race and society and that improvement was possible.  Freire (2000) thought this is essential to effecting change. “In order for the oppressed to be able to wage the struggle for their liberation, they must perceive the reality of oppression not as a closed world from which there is no exit, but as a limiting situation, which they can transform.”  For me, these comedians were not only catalysts of change, but agents of hope.

Today, there are a variety of voices using humor to bring equally varied issues to our attention. Trevor Noah is a mixed race comic, born to an African mother and Swiss father during the era of apartheid. The first African comedian to appear on The Tonight Show, Noah is uniquely poised to tackle issues of racial identity.  Sarah Silverman’s sharp edge has long been pushing the boundaries regarding religion and race and, some would say, good taste.  She was recently the center of a firestorm discussion about gender stereotypes when Variety critic Brian Lowry criticized her for being “as dirty as the guys”.  Russell Brand uses his sense of humor to diffuse tension around his argument for government reform. And up-and-coming filmmaker Jessie Kahnweiler found a way to do the seemingly impossible - to demonstrate humor in coping with rape - in her short film, “Meet My Rapist.”

These are just a few examples of how humor is an important social force.  As Winston Churchill said, “A joke is a very serious thing.

1 responses for More than “Just” Comedy: An Opportunity and an Outlet for Marginalized Populations

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June 02, 2014 at 4:27 am

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