Comedy as Social Action: Amy Schumer, Chris Rock, and Eddie Murphy

In times of social or political strife, look for the truth tellers. Through history, comedy has enabled the common man to express truth to power. Over the past few decades, comedy has been used to bridge the gap in issues of race, sex, politics, and terrorism. But how does comedy survive the age of sensitivity and trigger warnings? In this session, these ideas will be explored using stand-up and sketch comedy, analyzed from a rhetorical and socially conscious point of view.

Jason McCormick teaches in the English department at Hunter College and BMCC. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from The New School and will be graduating with an MA in Literature from Hunter College. He studies and writes stories about the weird, paranormal, and monstrous.