Campus Events

How do various forms of comedy - including stand-up, satire, and film and television - transform contemporary invocations of nationalism and citizenship in youth cultures? And how are attitudes about gender, race, and sexuality transformed through comedic performances on social media? This book seeks to answer these questions by examining comedic performances by Chris Rock and Louis C.K., news parodies like the 'The Daily Show' and 'The Colbert Report', the role of satire in the Arab Spring, and the groundbreaking performances by women in 'Bridesmaids'. Breaking with the usual cultural studies debates over how to conceptualize youth, the book instead focuses on the comedic cultural and political scripts that frame affective strategies post-9/11.

In a rebroadcast of an April 2001 segment, Steve Kroft interviews political satirist Jon Stewart about The Daily Show.

In this program, Bloomberg Game Changers profiles Jonathan Stuart Leibowitz, now Jon Stewart, from his New Jersey boyhood through the standard struggle of the stand-up comedian - part time jobs and late night gigs at New York's comedy clubs. It will shine a spotlight on his early television shows and movies, including rare video from his early career, to show his transformation into the dominant American commentator of our time.

The contributions and unique personalities of Steve Allen, Jack Paar, and Johnny Carson headline this study of seminal late-night television. Jay Leno recalls his early experiences with Carson, who fostered many careers in comedy. The program also features other pioneering figures from the late-night scene-including Regis Philbin, who offers revelations about his years as Joey Bishop's sidekick; Dick Cavett and Arsenio Hall, who both talk about broadening the late-night audience; and actress Sigourney Weaver, who provides details about her father, Pat, creator of Tonight and a visionary TV executive. Part of the series Pioneers of Television.

Born and raised in South Africa, Trevor Noah used his mother's influence to turn the painful stories from his life into a unique voice on the international comedy circuit. But how did his tumultuous upbringing land him in a position to fill Jon Stewart's shoes on The Daily Show, one of the most sought-after jobs in all of late night television?