LARB Quarterly Journal No. 17: Comedy Issue 2019-12-09T01:31:25+00:00
LARB Quarterly Journal No. 17: Comedy Issue

We went back and forth about whether this should be the “Comedy” or the “Humor” issue and eventually

Dear Reader,

We went back and forth about whether this should be the “Comedy” or the “Humor” issue and eventually, as you can see, landed on the former. Comedy, after all, has connotations that humor doesn’t have. It implies a certain professionalism — it can of course, be a job and a big job at that; it also has an implicit goal. Comedy is meant to be funny or entertaining. Comedy also evokes its opposite — tragedy — and, in that evocation, lets its audience hope for a happy ending. It goes beyond something as amorphous as a sense. A sense of humor is certainly a good thing to have, more people should consider acquiring one, but right now the concrete seems more interesting. If humor is tragedy plus time, then comedy is humor plus politics, plus current events, plus social and economic circumstances. Comedy is humor plus the business of the world.

Order Now!
About the Book

Dear Reader,

We went back and forth about whether this should be the “Comedy” or the “Humor” issue and eventually, as you can see, landed on the former. Comedy, after all, has connotations that humor doesn’t have. It implies a certain professionalism — it can of course, be a job and a big job at that; it also has an implicit goal. Comedy is meant to be funny or entertaining. Comedy also evokes its opposite — tragedy — and, in that evocation, lets its audience hope for a happy ending. It goes beyond something as amorphous as a sense. A sense of humor is certainly a good thing to have, more people should consider acquiring one, but right now the concrete seems more interesting. If humor is tragedy plus time, then comedy is humor plus politics, plus current events, plus social and economic circumstances. Comedy is humor plus the business of the world.

The range of pieces in this issue of the Los Angeles Review Of Books Quarterly Journal demonstrates the diversity of implications in that word. Here, we’ve included many short, funny stories as well as two different critical takes on the current state of irony. Jonathan Ames considers his inappropriate love for his dog, Fezzik, while a number of comedians and comedy writers consider their own obsessions. You will also find pieces here that are not very funny. Comedy and tragedy go hand in hand, no sense in ignoring that. But don’t worry about those yet because this issue also has comics, which you won’t find in any other edition of the LARB Quarterly Journal. You should, as is the custom, flip through and read those first.

Yours,
Medaya

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ESSAYS

THE FALL OF THE CINEMATIC MUSE // Ryan Perez

READ ON LARB

YET ANOTHER LOVE THAT DARE NOT SPEAK ITS NAME // Jonathan Ames

READ ON LARB

TOWARDS A HUMOR POSITIVE FEMINISM: LESSONS FROM THE SEX WARS // Danielle Bobker

READ ON LARB

THE MAGIC — FLOATING — MOUNTAIN // Karan Mahajan

DICK GREGORY…IRREGARDLESS // Peter J. Harris

I WOULD DIE TO PLAY HARVARD // Kristina Wong

IRONY AND THE NEW WHITE SUPREMACY // Sarah LaBrie

BINGESPEAK // Alexander Stern

FICTION

WELCOME TO MY STUNNING AIRBNB! // Mitra Jouhari

HOW I FINALLY LEARNED SELF LOVE IN A POST NUCLEAR WORLD // Broti Gupta

ARCHES AND LAND BRIDGES AND PILES OF ROCK // Lydia Conklin

JOKE BETWEEN SOLDIERS // Carmiel Banasky

DREAM HOUSE // Demi Adejuyigbe

THE PARTICULARS OF BEING JIM // Amy Silverberg

POETRY

TWO POEMS // E.J. Koh

TWO POEMS // Marc Vincenz

TWO POEMS // Mary-Alice Daniel

SCHRÖDINGER’S CAT // Megan Amram

TWO POEMS // Paige Lewis

TWO POEMS // Ruth Madievsky

THREE POEMS // Sharon Olds

TWO POEMS // Timothy Donnelly

OBSESSIONS

GET IN BED // Danielle Henderson

A GOOD FEEL // Amy Aniobi

HEARTTHROBS // Zan Romanoff

BREAKFAST // Fred Armisen

SHAKE SHACK // Kara Brown

QUIET CAR JUSTICE IN THE AGE OF TRUMP // David Litt

SHELFISHNESS // Todd Strauss-Schulson

COMICS // Lydia Conklin, Liana Finck, Charlie Hankin, and Jason Adam Katzenstein

FEATURED ARTISTS // Mel Bochner, John Divola, Martin Kersels, Ali Prosch, Amanda Ross-Ho, Cassidy Routh, Maureen Selwood, Stephanie Washburn

 

Details
Author: Tom Lutz
Series: LARB Quarterly Journal, Book 108
Publisher: Los Angeles Review of Books
Publication Year: 2018
ASIN: 1940660300
ISBN: 1940660300
Order Now
Buy from Amazon
Tom Lutz

See bio page.

Preview
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the page above are "affiliate links." This means if you click on the link and purchase my book(s), I will receive an affiliate commission. If you are familiar with the royalty system, you know that this helps make writing books profitable. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."