Religion and Comedy

A joke can unite people in laughter or reinforce ideological divisions. We often tell jokes not knowing how they will land, or what impact they will have. In this course, we will examine how comedy has taken up religious concerns, and also inquire into what effect that genre has on these concerns in turn. What is unique about comedy as a constitutive force in our religious and political imaginaries? Together, we will think about comedy, with comedy, and within comedy to explore comedy's relationship to social, political, and religious life. Why think about religion comedically? Why laugh about serious matters?