Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
Date of Degree
6-2023
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Program
Women's and Gender Studies
Advisor
Matthew Brim
Committee Members
Dana-Ain Davis
Subject Categories
Other Arts and Humanities
Keywords
Stand-Up Comedy, Queer, Queer Stand-Up Comedy, History
Abstract
Stand-up comedy has long been a straight comic’s domain. In the last decade or so, there’s been a seismic shift in that paradigm as more openly queer comics have taken their spot on the stage. This emergence has created a queer comedy boom, where queer comics are centered. There has been scant documentation on the history of queer stand-up comedy; this project does just that. It tracks the historical presence of queer stand-up comedians in the spaces these comics occupy—the stage—from the early 1900s to the current moment of the queer stand-up comedy boom, a comedic goldmine of counterhegemonic content. It investigates the moves a comic has to consider when building their act. It avoids theorizing or reviewing stand-up comedy; rather, it celebrates the milestones of queer stand-up comedians—from their challenges to their triumphs. This capstone project meets the requirements of a thesis while exceeding that genre, and it should be read simultaneously as a book proposal.
Recommended Citation
Karp, Marcelle, "The Queer Comedy Boom: The History of LGBTQ+ Stand-up Comedy" (2023). CUNY Academic Works.
https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gc_etds/5268