Welcome to The Dark Side of Stand-Up Comedy: Submission 3

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Submission 3

Comedian Bio

Shane Rhodes has been doing stand-up in his hometown of Fort McMurray for a little over a year at Bailey’s open Mic night.

Story

This story takes place shortly after the Fort McMurray Wildfire in 2016. I was supposed to meet some coworkers for drinks after to catch up and I was hanging out with my friend Lisa at the time, so I invited her along and insisted on paying because I'm a gentleman. We have ONE drink with my coworkers then my best friend Larry calls me and says, "hey come for a drink at Name Changed for Privacy Bar" so we head down. She orders ONE more drink and we hangout for a bit she gets ONE more drink; this is when shit gets weird. She's mumbling and swaying in her chair. The bouncer asks her to leave, and she doesn't like this. She starts getting incoherently angry and can't get out of the booth on her own. Me being the 6'2 giant I am, I threw this 5' girl over my shoulder like a bloody caveman and walked out of the bar with her going nuts but making no sense. We're going down the street, Larry in tow, when she says the worst thing possible.....it rhymes with grape. Now we have a mob of heroes following us and I'm on a mission to get her home. I didn't realize they got Larry. Poor guy got tackled by 5 guys before the bouncer saved his ass and explained the situation. Larry got 5 shots and a line of Colombian snow. Meanwhile I'm dealing with the littlest psycho. I get her to my Jeep and prop her against the door with more guys from another bar swarming in. She says it again. Now I have to explain that I'm throwing this drunk girl in my vehicle for another reason. They let me go without verifying, true gentlemen. I call her mom on the drive and explain what’s happening and we get home, I put her on her stairs and her mom calls a fucking ambulance! She starts falling forward so I catch her and look at her trying to get her to stay awake and she lunges and bites my face! I let go. She falls forward so I reach out and catch her and she lunges out and bites my thigh an inch below my pecker! I'm freaking out. The ambulance shows up, asks me questions, then tells me to go. So now I'm driving past cops and ambulances with a bite mark on my face freaking the fuck out. When she got released from the hospital I fucked up and let her give me an “I'm sorry BJ” on a dirt road while coyotes watched from the recline. I wish this story was made up I really do.

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Upload a story/video about the dark side of stand-up. Top Prize -- $500 --- 5 Runners Up get $100

Are you a comedian with a great story about a time when things went horribly wrong? We want to hear about it. Selected stories will appear in a scholarly book titled The Dark Side of Stand-Up Comedy, under contract with Praeger. The co-editors of the book Dr. Patrice Oppliger (Boston University) and Dr. Eric Shouse (East Carolina University) will select winners based upon the quality of your story and the originality of the contribution. (Tip: We are more interested in vivid descriptions of “dark” experiences than laughs per minute.) The “dark side” of stand-up comedy can potentially refer to a comedian’s onstage performance, his or her offstage life, or the relationship between the two. Stories should be original works of between 500-3,500 words that have not been published elsewhere. Authors will need to sign a contract releasing all rights in order to be eligible to participate in the contest. All stories that fit the scope of the contest as determined by the editors will appear on the official The Dark Side of Stand-Up Comedy Blog.

Don’t like to write?

Pick up your phone and record yourself telling your story about the “dark side” of stand-up. Put the link to your publicly accessible YouTube video in the box where it says to “cut and paste your story” and you could win $500 without all that pesky typing.

We want great stories. We will take them however we can get them. So get cracking.

The deadline to submit is March 1, 2018. Early submissions are appreciated!

About The Book

The book, The Dark Side of Stand-Up Comedy, was motivated by comedians themselves. In autobiographies, interviews, and podcasts, stand-up comics regularly reference comedy’s “dark side.” Which raises the question: By what criteria is it fitting to call a comedian’s life or art dark? Answering that question is important because in popular culture comedians are regularly stereotyped as “sad clowns” with tortured pasts despite the fact that most comedians have fairly typical childhoods (Greengross, Martin & Miller, 2012). Perhaps more significantly, the stereotype of the “sad clown” covers over the various forms darkness can take.

Take, for example, the very different role that “darkness” played in the lives and stand-up performances of George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Robin Williams. Although George Carlin’s stand-up was often dark (reveling in subjects such as death, suicide, and war), he maintained an admirable degree of lightness in his personal life. Carlin described himself as “a joyful individual” who “had a long and happy marriage and a close and loving family.” Richard Pryor, on the other hand, transformed the many tragedies he suffered in his personal life—including setting himself on fire while in a cocaine-induced stupor—into comedic material. And while Robin Williams improvisational style was the epitome of lightness on stage, he ultimately committed suicide. To say that there was a “dark side” to George Carlin, Richard Pryor, and Robin Williams is correct, but it wasn’t the same side.

There are various “dark sides” to be found in the lives and works of stand-up comedians. The “dark side” can potentially refer to a comedian’s onstage performance, his or her offstage life, or the relationship between the two. It is for this reason that we have assembled an interdisciplinary team of scholars who employ a wide range of methods to investigate this subject. It is our intention to present as wide an account of the “dark side” of stand-up comedy as possible, as well as to be genuinely polyvocal, allowing the voices of stand-up comedians and academics to speak with and inform one another.

About The Authors

Dr. Patrice Oppliger, Boston University, has been an active contributor to the International Society of Humor Studies conferences for over 20 years. She reviews articles and books for HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research. She is the author of four books: Tweencoms: A Look at 25 Years (1991-2016) of female characters in the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon Comedies (Lexington Books, under contract); Bullies and mean girls in popular culture (McFarland Publishing, 2013); Girls gone skank: Sexual representations of girls in American culture (McFarland Publishing, 2008); and Wrestling and hypermasculinity (McFarland Publishing, 2004).

Dr. Eric Shouse, East Carolina University, draws upon cultural studies and rhetoric to better understand the role of humour in popular culture. He is a stand-up comic and a professional joke writer and an active member of The International Society for Humour Studies. His work has been published in HUMOR: International Journal of Humor Research, Comedy Studies, Text and Performance Quarterly, KB Journal (Kenneth Burke Journal), and M/C Journal: A Journal of Media and Culture, amongst others. He is currently working very hard thinking and writing about the dark side of stand-up comedy, whereas you have squandered your valuable time and energy reading his biography.

Thursday, February 8, 2018

Submission 3

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