Presenter Information

Cameron SheppardFollow

Major

English

Anticipated Graduation Year

2021

Access Type

Open Access

Abstract

The goal of this project was to produce a short documentary analyzing the intersection of women, comedy, and politics in the United States. Over the last decade, there has been a significant increase in the representation of women within stand-up comedy. However, stand-up comedy has historically been a male-dominated field, which perpetuated the notion that 'women aren't funny.' The rise of female comedians in the 1950s catalyzed a wider movement of women to embrace stand-up comedy as an art form and as a means of political expression.

Faculty Mentors & Instructors

Kelly Howe

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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Standing Up: Women, Comedy, and Politics in the United States

The goal of this project was to produce a short documentary analyzing the intersection of women, comedy, and politics in the United States. Over the last decade, there has been a significant increase in the representation of women within stand-up comedy. However, stand-up comedy has historically been a male-dominated field, which perpetuated the notion that 'women aren't funny.' The rise of female comedians in the 1950s catalyzed a wider movement of women to embrace stand-up comedy as an art form and as a means of political expression.