Practically Joking

by Moira Marsh

Overview

In Practically Joking, the first full-length study of the practical joke, Moira Marsh examines the value, artistry, and social significance of this ancient and pervasive form of vernacular expression.

Though they are sometimes dismissed as the lowest form of humor, practical jokes come from a lively tradition of expressive play. They can reveal both sophistication and intellectual satisfaction, with the best demanding significant skill and talent not only to conceive but also to execute. Practically Joking establishes the practical joke as a folk art form subject to critical evaluation by both practitioners and audiences, operating under the guidance of local aesthetic and ethical canons.

Marsh studies the range of genres that pranks comprise; offers a theoretical look at the reception of practical jokes based on "benign transgression"-a theory that sees humor as playful violation-and uses real-life examples of practical jokes in context to establish the form's varieties and meanings as an independent genre, as well as its inextricable relationship with a range of folklore forms. Scholars of folklore, humor, and popular culture will find much of interest in Practically Joking.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780874219838
Publisher:	Utah State University Press
Publication date:	07/15/2015
Edition description:	1
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Moira Marsh is the subject librarian for anthropology, sociology, folklore, and comparative literature at the Indiana University Bloomington Libraries. She holds a PhD in folklore from Indiana University, and her research on practical jokes, cross-cultural approaches to laughter, and humor theory has been published in folklore journals, textbooks, and encyclopedias.

Table of Contents

List of Figures ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

1 What's Practical about Practical Jokes? 8

2 The Types of the Practical Joke 21

3 The Great Drug Bust: Morphology of an April Fools' Joke 31

4 Lies, Damned Lies, and Legends 45

5 The (Im)morality of the Practical Joke 57

6 All Jokes Are Bad if They Are Any Good: Humor Support and Unlaughter 72

7 The Rhetoric of Humor Support 84

8 "That "Was Why We Were Such Good Mates" 100

9 Pranks, Rituals, and Hazing 116

10 Pranks in Public: Spoofs, Rags, and Stunts 134

11 Some Practical Jokers 152

Post-Play 171

References 176

About the Author 187

Index 188

Index of Practical Joke Examples 195