Female stand-up comics occupy a permanently liminal space which can be broken down into three small areas, characterized thusly: the interpersonal, the sexual and the professional spheres. Issues of power, footing and the carnivalesque are threaded throughout these three spaces, and I use the work of Michel Foucault, Mikhail Bakhtin and Erving Goffman to examine the ways in which the female comics I talked, lived and performed with over a two-year period negotiate this permanent liminality to both their advantage and their detriment. The three liminal spaces overlap and intersect, with female comics occupying at times two, and sometimes all three, at any given moment, in a constantly forming and re-forming state of “otherness” that separates them from the default male comic body. In locating female comedians in a permanent liminality, I illustrate the structures at play that are demonstrative not only of the comic experience, but of larger issues surrounding gender in contemporary society. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1993. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [211]-227).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1996. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [220]-225).

In the early days of the twentieth century when vaudeville was the most popular theatrical entertainment in America, there were a number of female singers who became its star performers. In the process of conducting preliminary research for a dissertation topic on female singers of this era, it quickly became evident that while much has been written about opera singers of that era, only limited material was available on female vaudeville singers. Furthermore, the small amount of information which was available was so randomly scattered among various sources that it was difficult to perceive a composite picture of these performers.The purpose of this investigation into the musical styles and repertoire of three great female singer-comediennes of early vaudeville--Eva Tanguay, Nora Bayes and Sophie Tucker--is to determine what the reasons were for their tremendous popularity. Because vaudeville was the prime source of entertainment before the days of mass media, the American public was quick to make stars of many of its performers. This study seeks to ascertain what it was about thesewomen's particular musical styles, repertoire and personalities which made them so interesting and caused the public to make them vaudeville stars. Though there are certainly other female singers of this period which are also of interest:, these three were chosen because they were unique.This study is presented as a series of articles with separate chapters devoted to Eva Tanguay, Nora Bayes and Sophie Tucker as individuals. These chapters include biographical material, especially from books about vaudeville performers, and also explore critical reviews and other reports on their work from such sources as "Variety," "Theatre Magazine," and various newspaper accounts. Analysis of these sources on each individual within the chapters is included as well. The final chapter contains a summary of the research and a discussion of what conclusions were reached about the musical styles and repertoire of Eva Tanguay, Nora Bayes and Sophie Tucker as a result of this investigation.In addition to discovering the reasons for these performers' popularity and appeal, it is hoped that a viable by-product of this research has been to arouse renewed public interest in these three fascinating ladies of early vaudeville.

xi, 158 p. A print copy of this thesis is available through the UO Libraries. Search the library catalog for the location and call number. / This study, set in the context of the feminist sex wars, explores the performances of Holly Hughes, Carmelita Tropicana, and Split Britches throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. The purpose of this study is to better understand the implications of a specific style of lesbian comedic performance, found at the WOW Café and defined here as lesbian camp, throughout a contentious era in feminist politics. The motivating questions for this study are: How can a performance inspire an activated spectatorship? How have lesbian comedic performance practices provoked feminist theory and practice? Chapter II defines lesbian camp and attempts to trace a dialogue among lesbian performance critics and academics ruminating over lesbian camp and its existence. It also explores lesbian camp's relationship to drag and butch-femme as well as how lesbian camp functions within specific performances of Holly Hughes, Split Britches, and Carmelita Tropicana. Chapter III argues that it is the very element of lesbian camp that brings forth the potential for an activated spectatorship. It is a chaotic, unstable environment that exposes and disassembles deep-seated fears, ideals, and practices seemingly inherent, although pragmatically constructed, to our communities and cultures throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. It presents a climate of resistance through the disruption of identificatory practices. This, in turn, provokes an activated spectatorship. Chapter IV examines the effects these artists had on the larger stage of the feminist sex wars and culture wars. Holly Hughes, for example, became a national figure, defunded from the National Endowment for the Arts due to her subject of the queer body, then deemed obscene and pornographic. Split Britches were popularized by feminists in the academy not only for their creative techniques but also for their (de)construction of butch-femme coupling. Carmelita Tropicana brought drag to a whole new level with incorporation of male and female drag into her hybrid performances. / Committee in charge: John Schmor, Chairperson, Theater Arts; Sara Freeman, Member, Theater Arts; Theresa May, Member, Theater Arts; Ellen Scott, Outside Member, Sociology