At the latest edition of Revolutionizing Activism: Using Humor When Things Are Dire, Caty Borum Chattoo (Center for Media and Social Impact/ Yes, And… Laughter Lab) kicked off our discussion by underscoring the significance of humor across cultures and histories. Borum Chatoo notes: we find comedy in the most oppressive conditions over and over again, precisely …
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Government meetings can become a key performance venue with some clever planning. The bar is already set so low that one can easily say their peace and do it with panache! Get inspired by these fun examples… There are situations where open public comment, response, or testimony is invited; shareholder meetings, city council, Q&As, and …
We’re fans of Roy Wood Jr. here at the Center for Artistic Activism and his video on Voter Suppression in the United States is a fun watch The Daily Show: Are Harsher Vote-By-Mail Laws Really Just Voter Suppression?
In Late Night comedian Amber Ruffin’s latest “Amber Says What” she asks a lot of valuable evaluation questions of the Trump administration’s latest political spectacle. We may start incorporating these into our work. Some highlights: Why this? What was the desired effect? Why is this happening and what is happening? Did you know this was …
Roy Wood Jr. does his own form of audience testing. In this interview for the Good One Podcast, Wood talks about how he developed a hilarious bit called “Black Patriotism?” for his special, Father Figure. In the interview Wood talks about testing his jokes on different kinds of audiences in different parts of the country …
Notes from Stephen Duncombe’s presentation Politics of Humor in an Age of Fools HEMI Encuentro at UNAM, Mexico City, 10 June 2019 I’ve been thinking a lot about the politics of humor in these very dire and serious times. So what do I think? A great deal of humor points out the absurdity of the normal, …
Steve and Steve get to hang out with Marlène Ramírez-Cancio, co-founder and co-director of Fulana, a Latina satire collective whose videos have been shown internationally at film festivals, museums, and universities, and whose members lead satire and parody workshops for emerging artists. Marlene talks about how satire can successfully be used to change the world through critical …
We don’t agree with his policies, but this ad is funny and very effective: Gerald Daugherty, a Republican county commissioner in the Austin-area Travis County, has produced one of the best ad-spots of the season, depicting him as a politics-obsessed public servant whose long-suffering, side-eyeing wife can’t wait for him to be re-elected so she …
http://battlefieldcasualties.co.uk/ Great use of comedy as an entry point for veterans issues. A Veterans for Peace UK film, directed by Price James, written by Darren Cullen, featuring Matt Berry.
For our latest expedition we went out for a night of live stand up comedy. Combining local clubs, touring acts, cable networks, netflix, and the White House correspondents dinner, the American art form of stand up is far reaching and growing. We headed to the The Comedy Cellar in New York City with our special …
Off Color, a video series, highlights artists of color who use humor to make smart social statements about the sometimes subtle, sometimes obvious ways that race plays out in America today. Dating in Los Angeles is not easy. Just ask Kristina Wong, a Chinese-American performance artist and writer who says she wants reparations for “yellow …
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A great example of using humor and social marketing techniques to make a very effective piece.
Great example of using humor to talk about difficult topics. Bravo.
In 2012, market researcher John Wooley was dispatched to help the big ISPs figure out how to sell their vision for a “faster,” “cleaner” Internet. Six months later he produced this report — and shared it with the world. A great example of using comedy to play the villain, a great narrative, and still able …
Continue reading “Narrative, comedy, and a message: The Internet Must Go”
Tim DeChristopher makes an appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman and is able to talk about some really radical ideas in a sensible way.
This is from 2006 but somehow stayed relevant. Our crack team of anti-poverty activists is totally devoted to marshalling every resource at our disposal,” Lindstrom said as she stood under a flickering light bulb in the office’s bathroom and added some water to an old toner cartridge to squeeze every last drop of usable ink …
Continue reading “Nonprofit Fights Poverty With Poverty | The Onion”
One of my favorite lessons from the School for Creative Activism is this: fun can be powerful and comedy can be dead serious. The best activism is effective because it hits people at an emotional level – at that gut-level sweet spot where decisions are made before conscious thought. But it’s not an easy spot to reach …
This piece from Slate in 2005 introduces the interesting idea of a meta-bigots: Silverman has become an important member of a guerrilla vanguard in the culture wars that we might call the “meta-bigots”…. The meta-bigots work at social problems indirectly; instead of discussing race, rape, abortion, incest, or mass starvation, they parody our discussions of …
Continue reading “Sarah Silverman, Comedy, and the idea of the meta-bigot”
7 year old Interviews Occupy DC protesters Wonder Showzen: Where will you hide when the revolution comes? This is from a couple years ago, but I have never forgotten it.
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