THE RELEVANCE OF ART AND POPULAR CULTURE IN SHAPING AFRICA’S PRESENT AND FUTURE COMEDY
“Humour is a feat way for us to have evolved so we don’t hit each other with sticks”, says Scott Weems, a cognitive neuroscientist, and author. (O’Hara,2016). Stand-up comedians seek to appeal their audience. Audience hit rock bottom when the tendency of humor hits them hard and provokes laughter. Humour controls human health and emotions. Listeners get to release stress and are relaxed because they are amused by the comedians. Humour is good for the soul but not when it mocks political leaders and their way of governance.
Amy Schumer a writer, actor, stand-up comedian; gets criticised for what she wears. Though a Jewish, she does not openly admit in…show more content… Her colleague Jon Ronson states that comedy is about connecting with the audience which makes them- the comedians feel better about themselves when the audience is excited. “My first thought when I think about humor is it’s a great way for us to have evolved so we don’t have to hit each other with sticks,” says Scott Weems, a cognitive neuroscientist, and author. Humour in a wrong context or directed towards a group of people may cause conflict, but, for Weems, humor is a way of settling issues and emotions. Satire is to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted- Josie Long. ‘Politics can leave you beleaguered, miserable’, Josie Long says. In the case of the USA, John Fugelsang says, comedy has gotten so good because the news has got so bad. Alfie Moore- a cop by profession utilizes to humor to meaningless policies. Being just a mere police officer, his views and opinions were not put into consideration. He got his superiors to listen to him when he left to be a stand-up comic. A phrase uttered by someone got to him; ‘If they are laughing they are…show more content… (2014). The science of comedy: can humour make the world a better place? Re- retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2014/feb/11/science-comedy- academics-social
Hammerman, S. (2017). Dirty Jews: Amy Schumer and Other Vulgar Jewesses. In Ross S.,
Renov M., Brook V., Ansell L. (Eds.), From Shtetl to Stardom: Jews and Hollywood,
49-72. West Lafayette, Indiana: Purdue University Press.
Wong, J. (2014). When has satire or comedy actually led to social or political change?
Retrieved from https://www.quora.com/When-has-satire-or-comedy-actually-led-to-social-or-political-change
Robert Mugabe. (n. d.). Retrieved from https://www.peoplemagazine.co.za/celebrity- news/robert-mugabe-funniest-quotes Davies, G. (2017). The Language of Discipline. In Golley J., Jaivin L., & Tomba L (Eds.), /Control/
(pp. 109-130). Australia: ANU Press. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1sq5tvf.13
LaMerre, H. L., Walther W. (2013). Ability Matters: Testing the Differential Effects of Political
News and Late-Night Political Comedy on Cognitive Responses and the Role of Ability in Micro-Level Opinion Formation. 25(3), 304-320. doi: 10.1093/ijpor/edt008.
Philadelphia, PA: