Conversation & Performance

This Isn’t Funny!: I, An Moron

Wed, Nov 8, 2017

7:00 PM–9:00 PM

The James Gallery

Dynasty Handbag presents an excerpt from her “insanely funny” falling-apart stand-up show, I, An Moron – which takes a googley eyed macroscopic look into the climate of contemporary north American white activism and its myriad ways to “resist” while still maintaining bourgeois pour-over prison labor coffee and nut milk. It is also a “queering” of the ever popular one-woman show that often hinges on heterosexual female struggles without necessarily taking into account their evil origins. Show is updated to include horrible current event jokes. Day of show events even!

Following Dynasty’s performance she will be joined by performance artists and comedians Morgan Bassichis, Dominique Nisperos, and Keisha Zollar in a panel discussion moderated by Bess Rowen to discuss: What is the role of humor and laughter during these difficult times? How is cleverness being confused with insult, and where is the line between a joke and a threat masquerading as a joke? Which styles and formats are proving productive to “resist” the status quo and which are serving to reinforce it? Is the purpose of a joke to open a new perspective or to bring joy? Is it an art form that gives voice to unconscious drives or opens up a space of social defiance? What assumptions about audience and producers are built into comedy?

Co-sponsored by the Ph.D. Program in Theatre at the Graduate Center, CUNY.