Date	In-Class Discussions & Screenings	Before-Class Readings, Screenings, and Et Cetera
8/18	Introduction to the Course Always Be My Maybe (2019, 96 mins.) Information Request Survey Make a syllabus meme with Frinkiac (The Simpsons), Master of All Science (Rick and Morty), or Morbotron (Futurama); or make an animated GIF or TikTok video.
	Best TikTok video
8/23	Narrative Film Discussion	Television, pp. 24-34 only
8/25	Narrative TV Discussion The Big Bang Theory (22 mins.) click for illustrations click for illustrations	Television, pp. 34-40 only Friends (alternative: HBOMax)
8/30	Humor Theory Screening Our Hospitality (11 mins.) Disorder in the Court (17 mins.) South Park (3 mins.) Curb Your Enthusiasm (27 mins.)
9/1	Humor Theory Discussion	Carroll, pp. 4-54
9/6	Ken Kwapis Screening Cornball Tuesday: Groups A & B The Office (29 mins.) The Bernie Mac Show (23 mins.) Space Force (23 mins.)
9/8	Ken Kwapis Visit	Wikipedia article, But What I Really Want to Do Is Direct chapter (Blackboard) Recommended: The Office Ladies podcast with Ken Kwapis
9/13	Visual Humor: Keaton Screening Sherlock, Jr. (45 mins.) click for images click for images
9/15	Visual Humor Assignment Prep: Bring A Laptop Start Screenpedia work here!	Install VLC Media Player (optional, but recommended)
9/20	Sheila Lawrence Screening Bunheads (44 mins.) Mad About You (23 mins.) Cornball Tuesday: Groups C & D	Sheila Lawrence on IMDb Wikipedia articles: Bunheads, Amy Sherman-Palladino, Mad About You
9/22	Sheila Lawrence Visit	Recommended: Lawrence on Gilmore Girls Fan Fest 2017
9/27	Screenshots (via UA Box link sent to jbutler@ua.edu) and Screenpedia Article (via URL sent to jbutler@ua.edu) for (Mostly) Visual Analysis Due by 11:59 p.m. Assignment Details Sample Keaton article on Screenpedia
9/27	Verbal Humor Screening: Screwball & Romcom The Lady Eve (94 mins.)	Wikipedia articles: Preston Sturges. Optional: Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda
9/29	Verbal Humor Discussion: Screwball & Romcom Ali Wong and Randall Park Play Romantic Movie Quote Game	Mortimer, 1-19, 20-26, 45-49, 68-82, 132-146
10/4	(Mostly) Visual Analysis Due in Class, 2:00 p.m. Assignment Details Template for embedding screenshots
10/4	Rick Dowling Screening Cornball Tuesday: Groups A & B Jeff Foxworthy, The Good Old Days (2022, 11 mins., Netflix) Jeff Foxworthy & Marc Maron, WTF (2022, 5 mins.) Jim Gaffigan, Noble Ape (2018, 15 mins., Amazon) Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip (1982, 15 mins.) Ali Wong, Baby Cobra (2016, 20 mins., Netflix)	Optional: Bernie Mac, Original "Milk & Cookies"
10/6	Rick Dowling Visit Rick Dowling, Stand-Up for Autism (2007; 10 mins.)
10/11	TV Comedy: Multicamera Screening 11:59 p.m. First comedy recap due. I Love Lucy (25 mins.) 2 Broke Girls (21 mins.)	Recommended Wikipedia articles: Lucille Ball, Michael Patrick King, Whitney Cummings, Norman Lear
10/13	TV Comedy: Multicamera Discussion Seinfeld analysis Recommended: All in the Family and The Mary Tyler Moore Show	Butler, The Sitcom, pp. 57-93. Recommended: "The Contest" episode of Seinfeld (season 4, ep 10, Netflix)
10/18	Bill Kinder & Bobbie O'Steen Screening 11:59 p.m. Second comedy recap due. Ratatouille (111 mins.) Cornball Tuesday: Groups C & D
10/20	Bill Kinder & Bobbie O'Steen Visit Making the Cut at Pixar support materials Video 1.2: Stages of Production Video 3.5: Deconstructing Dialogue—Case Study: Linguini	Bill Kinder on IMDb, Pixar on Wikipedia
10/25	TV Comedy: Single-Camera Screening Scrubs (22 mins.) Reservation Dogs (24 mins.) click for illustrations Reboot (29 mins.) 11:59 p.m. Third comedy recap due.
10/26	Last day to drop a course with a grade of "W".
10/27	TV Comedy: Single-Camera Discussion/Analysis Single-camera Seinfeld exercise	Butler, "Televisuality"
11/1	Michael Martone Screening She-Hulk: Attorney at Law (28 mins.) The Goes Wrong Show (30 mins.) Fourth comedy recap due. Cornball Tuesday: Groups A & B
11/3	Michael Martone Visit Contributor's Note Exercise Duck Amuck (7 mins.)	Martone Wikipedia article; the homepage and the "Jeremy Butler" article on the Winesburg, IN Wiki. Martone writings: Michael Martone, pp. 11-12, 19-21, 45-47; The Blue Guide to Indiana, pp. 39-41: Plain Air: Sketches from Winesburg, Indiana, pp. 94-95.
11/8	GO VOTE TODAY! Comedy and Identity Screening 11:59 p.m. Fifth and final comedy recap due. Girlfriends (21 mins.) Designing Women (24 mins.) Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens (21 mins.)
11/10	Comedy and Identity Discussion	Smith-Shomade, "Laughing Out Loud"; Butler, "Redesigning Discourse: Feminism, the Sitcom and Designing Women."
11/15	Student Presentations on TV Comedies Groups A & B: Archi, Gardner, Ava, Daisy, Josh, Kate
11/17	Student Presentations on TV Comedies Groups C & D: Logan, Marguerite, Mayeth, Sam, Zachery
11/18	A (Mostly) Verbal Analysis Due, 11:59 p.m., via TurnItIn Assignment Details	From Butler, The Sitcom: "A Critical/Cultural History of the Sitcom" and "Introduction: Comedy Genre, Humor Theory"
11/22-25	THANKSGIVING WEEK! No classes.
11/29	Peter Berryman Visit (38 mins.) Cornball Tuesday: Groups C & D Humor Poll and SOI surveys	Wikipedia article, official Website
12/1	Workday: Comic Pieces
12/7	Final Exam Period: Student Performances of Comic Pieces, Wednesday, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Humor Poll Redux Assignment Details Performance order: Ava Zachary Sam Josh Archi Marguerite Intermission Kate Gardner Mayeth Logan

Reading List

Textbook:

Noël Carroll, Humour: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).

Additional Readings (Alphabetical Order):

PDFs of the readings are posted on Blackboard Learn.

• Miranda J. Banks, "I Love Lucy: The Writer-Producer," in Ethan Thompson & Jason Mittell, eds., How to Watch Television first edition (NY: NYU Press, 2013), 244-252
• James Curtis, Buster Keaton: A Filmmaker's Life (New York: Knopf, 2022)
• Jeremy G. Butler, "Redesigning Discourse: Feminism, the Sitcom and Designing Women," Journal of Film and Video, 45, no. 1; pp. 13-26. Online version.
• Jeremy G. Butler, Television: Visual Storytelling and Screen Culture (New York: Routledge, 2018).
• Jeremy G. Butler, "Televisuality and the Resurrection of the Sitcom in the 2000s," in Television Style (NY: Routledge, 2010), 173-222.
• Ken Kwapis, But What I Really Want to do is Direct: Lessons from a Life Behind the Camera. (New York, NY: St. Martin's Griffin, 2020). ISBN 978-1-250-26012-3
• Michael Martone, Michael Martone (Fiction Collective 2. 2005), pp. 11-12, 19-21, 45-47.
• Michael Martone, The Blue Guide to Indiana (Normal. Illinois: Fiction Collective 2, 2001), pp. 39-41.
• Michael Martone, Plain Air: Sketches from Winesburg, Indiana (Reno, Nevada: Baobab Press. 2022), pp. 94-95.
• Claire Mortimer, Romantic Comedy (New York: Routledge, 2010).
• Beretta E. Smith-Shomade, "Laughing Out Loud: Negras Negotiating Situation Comedy," in Shaded Lives: African-American Women and Television (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2002), 24-68.

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