In the 1950s, “sick” humor emerged in comics, novelty recordings, and club acts. By 1959, “sick” had a specific genre identity, which Time magazine described as “partly social criticism liberally laced with cyanide, partly a Charles Addams kind of jolly ghoulishness, and partly a personal and highly disturbing hostility toward all the world.” The comics medium dominated every aspect of that description—Addams as point of origin, the “ghoulishness” of EC horror books, equal parts horror and humor, and, finally, “hostility,” specifically identifying Lenny Bruce, but signifying MAD’s humor in a jugular vein. James Thompson (A People’s History of Comics), Charles Hatfield (California State University, Northridge), and Michael Dooley (Pasadena’s Art Center College of Design) examine the intersection of the comics medium and the sick comedy genre, using the lens of critical genre theories. Did “sick” become an actual label for exhibition/distribution? If not, why not, and what did it say about the comics, the times, and the genre?
Sunday March 30, 2025 12:30pm - 1:30pm PDT
Room 210
