Thesis (M.A.)--Bowling Green State University, 2007. / Document formatted into pages; contains v, 96 p. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Le cabaret de l’Écluse est une petite salle de spectacles, ouverte entre 1951 et 1974 au 15, quai des Grands Augustins à Paris, et dont la particularité est de programmer chaque soir des numéros variés — chant, sketch comique, poésie récitée, marionnettes, mime et projection de dessins. Au fil des vingt ans d’existence de ce cabaret, s’y produisent des artistes aussi divers que Barbara, Raymond Devos, Marcel Marceau, Yves Joly, Philippe Noiret et Jean-Pierre Darras ou Cora Vaucaire. À rebours de l'éclectisme déroutant du spectacle qu'il accueille, c'est en tant que lieu que le cabaret de l'Écluse semble le mieux « donner prises », construisant son identité à partir d'une localisation parisienne qui l'insère dans un paysage urbain, social et culturel soutenu par une tradition historique complexe. Il fait ainsi partie des cabarets dits « rive gauche », qui fleurissent près de la Seine après la Seconde Guerre mondiale et affichent spatialement leur refus du divertissement commercial qu’offrent par ailleurs les « boîtes » plus luxueuses de la rive droite. Cette lecture déterminée de l’espace qui fait du cabaret un mot-valeur doit être comprise dans une histoire plus longue. Se construit en effet depuis le XIXe siècle, loin des premières représentations du lieu, d’abord attaché à une inquiétude sociale, l’image du cabaret comme un espace refuge où la poésie trouverait à s’épanouir contre l’affirmation croissante d’une culture industrielle et commerciale.En dépit d’un tel patrimoine axiologique, le cabaret de l’Écluse présente une réalité plus métissée. S’il rend hommage à des modèles littéraires prestigieux, comme le Chat Noir ou le Lapin Agile, dont il contribue à prolonger le mythe, il intègre pourtant, pour chacun de ses numéros, les apports du café-concert, du music-hall et du cinéma — autant de manifestations associées à une culture du divertissement souvent bannie du champ littéraire. Cette hétérogénéité est soulignée par la formule même du spectacle, qui érige la variété en principe de composition. À la diversité des modes d’expression convoqués répond ainsi le caractère composite de leurs héritages. L’Écluse apparaît donc comme un objet pluriel qui exige, pour être pensé, de fonder de nouvelles catégories d’analyse. C’est précisément au prisme de la variété, envisagée comme un véritable outil méthodologique aux prolongements herméneutiques et éthiques féconds, que nous l’étudierons.Irréductible aux déterminations axiologiques, le cabaret de l'Écluse fait vaciller la stabilité de son ancrage géographique, et nous oblige à repenser les territoires et prérogatives du littéraire, qu'il n'effleure, par le biais poétique, que pour mieux le sidérer. Quelle place accorder à ce lieu rebelle qui prend de cours nos critères d'analyse traditionnels et rend illisible le paysage artistique et culturel qu'explorent les études littéraires ? À force d'écarts et de détours, le lieu qui s'imposait à nous par sa visibilité évidente ne risque-t-il pas de perdre toute consistance ? L’Écluse parviendrait à demeurer — telle est notre hypothèse — en transformant le lieu géographique et social du cabaret pris dans les mailles d'un réseau et d'un champ, dans les filets de déterminations historiques, en un espace poétique délié. Lieu traversé, habité de propositions spectaculaires variées, il fonderait à partir de leur mise en présence cet espace poétique, que nous nous proposerons de définir non comme une certaine mise en forme du texte mais comme un réseau d’échos, tissés d’une prestation à l’autre. Cette « manœuvre foudroyante de rapports » déplace la production du sens du plain-chant à ses résonances. / L’Écluse was a small performance hall which presented mixed shows every evening between 1951 and 1974 : songs, shorts comedy sketches, recitations of poems, puppet shows, mimes and projected drawings. Many performers worked at L’Écluse. Some became famous, suche as Barbara, Raymond Devos, Marc Marceau, Yves Joly, Philippe Noiret and Cora Vaucaire. Despite the confusing eclectism of the cabaret shows, the place itself seems to offer a stable way to consider the subject. Indeed, L’Écluse built itself through its localisation in Paris, situated in an urban, social and cultural landscape shaped by a long and historical tradition. It was part of these « cabarets rive-gauche » that bloomed in Paris after the Second World War, pretending to refuse every form of commercial entertainment usually proposed to tourists by luxurious night-clubs on the right bank of the Seine river. This emblematic partition of the French capital between a right and a left bank resulted from a long history. Since the end of the XIXth century, cabarets were indeed considered as places of arts, where poetry could blossom far from a besides growing industrial and commercial culture. However, l’Écluse’s identity was not as clear as it seemed. The cabaret payed tributes to its prestigious literary precursors such as Le Chat Noir and Le Lapin Agile, but also to café-concerts, music-halls and popular movies, that are frequently left out of the literary field. This complete heterogeneity appeared in its shows themselves, shaped by various artistic expressions. L’Écluse was thus ruled by variety. It was therefore a complex object that requires specific methods to be considered. It is precisely through the prism of variety, regarded as a fruitful methodological analysis tool, that we intent to study it. With its mixed shows, L’Écluse cannot be sorted into a « black-or-white » category. It encourages us to re-think what belongs to literature or not. Where can such an unclassifiable place, that catches us unawares and strikes down our usual analysis categories, stand in literary studies ? Accordingly, we postulate that L’Écluse converted its place, defined by historical, geographical and social determinations, into a creative poetic space, shaped by the coexistence of various artistic expressions and the echoes that appeared between each of them and not by the pretended quality of its acts. The meaning of the shows was thus not provided by what was clearly said : it came from what remained unformulated.

This written explication deals with the integration of the forms of stand-up comedy and domestic comedy in order to create a comic text. The comic text explores issues regarding the presentation and representation of Jewish cultural identity. The integration results in both the experienced and imagined truths of the playwright to become present on stage. These were points of enquiry in the writing, directing and performing of DRIVEN: A COMEDY IN 70 MINUTES, which opened at The Intimate Theatre, Orange Street, Cape Town on the 23 November 2004. The Introduction deals with defining key terms and forms to be used and discussed in the thesis, informing the reader of the writer's purpose in creating comic text by integrating stand-up and domestic comedy. In the first chapter the generating of comic text is explored. The generating of comic text is achieved by using the comic persona. The comic persona is developed using identity, outside voice. Once the comic persona is in place it is possible to: create an authentic stage persona for the stand-up comedian and to create a 'theatrical climate' consisting of plot, characters, themes and narrative storylines. In the second chapter the idea of pastiche (borrowed elements) is explored in terms of its impact structurally and stylistically in the writing, directing and performing of DRIVEN. Structurally this impact is evident via the use of 'pastiching' the structure of situation comedy (sitcom) and stylistically through the use of Yiddish and the influence of other comedians' performance styles on the comic persona. The third chapter delves into the way Jewish cultural identity is represented through stand-up comedy and Jewish cultural identity is presented through domestic comedy. The stand-up comedian, through persona, audience relationship and other devices associated with the form, becomes the representation of Jewish cultural identity. Characters, story and situation, through the use of both comic traits (elements associated with Jewish cultural identity) and stereotypes, become the presentation of Jewish cultural identity.

Celebrities such as Halle Berry, Dave Chappelle, Kathy Griffin, and Don Imus have recently evoked public ire for making what some people have seen as tasteless jokes. Their notorious humorous communication shares two notable qualities: the discourse was mass mediated and the “jokes” were all premised on stereotypes. This two-part dissertation addresses the complicated subject of understanding the meanings viewers co-create with humorous mediated communication that is premised on racial stereotypes. I focus on Chappelle’s Show as my primary text of analysis, but the findings here have applicability to the wider genre of humorous mediated communication that is premised on stereotypes. In the first part of the dissertation I survey humor theory and humor criticism, noting weaknesses in the ways that communication scholars have previously studied humorous mediated texts. I then suggest that humor scholarship can be improved through two principal methods: 1. humor scholars of various academic disciplines need to use a unified set of terms that refer to the humor stimulus, humor motivation, and the possible effects of the humor, and 2. critics of humorous mediated texts need to approach them as a unique genre, with a critical lens that accounts for the polysemy inherent in many humorous texts. In the next part of the dissertation, I model a multi-methodological approach to mining the mélange of meanings in Chappelle’s Show. My in-depth case study of racial stereotype-based humor in Chappelle’s Show incorporates textual analysis of a dozen sketches, qualitative analysis of viewer opinions about the show, and a quantitative analysis of viewing behaviors as well as the relationship between viewing the show and prejudice. This multi-methodological approach helps better mine the polysemic meanings of the text because it explores the spectrum of the communication model from stimulus to receiver. I conclude that Chappelle’s Show can both encourage and reduce prejudice. While inconclusive conclusions are an anomaly in media criticism, I advocate the pursuit of such conclusions in humor criticism. Stereotype-based mediated comedic texts demand an exploration of their multiple meanings, not a definitive statement about how they should be interpreted or how they affect an audience. / text