Abstract

This paper addresses the comic routine of Australian born U.S. comedian Gregg Turkington’s alter-ego, ‘Neil Hamburger’, from the perspective of Aristotle’s ancient conception of the risible as a species of the unacceptable, or the unseemly. In doing so, it explores two thresholds of acceptability, subjective and social, which are relevant to an understanding of Hamburger’s comic style. The paper argues that Hamburger’s style willfully violates those thresholds, risking the audience’s laughter, and yet working towards the visualization of a less normative kind of ‘unseemliness’ that underlies Hamburger’s politics: reverence for celebrity and the sacred.

Highlights

  • The ‘sick’ humour of Australian born US comedian Gregg Turkington’s alter-ego, ‘Neil Hamburger,’ invites us to ask questions about the meaning of offensive humour as an instance of the unacceptable

  • Humour and the Unacceptable tell the kind of jokes that genuinely risk not being funny? What is his purpose in deliberately going so close to many bones? In short, how does offence play into his politics?

  • It is because it reflects politics that are already at play in the ‘serious realm’ (Mulkay 1988: 197–219)

Read more

Summary

Introduction

The ‘sick’ humour of Australian born US comedian Gregg Turkington’s alter-ego, ‘Neil Hamburger,’ invites us to ask questions about the meaning of offensive humour as an instance of the unacceptable. Aristotle’s comment about humour being a fault that does not cause pain, suggests, as I have said, a subjective (and when shared, social) threshold beyond which humour becomes horror, and the merely unseemly becomes the abominable as the comic situation or joke cuts too close to the bone.

Results
Conclusion

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call

Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.