The Worlds of Comedy
For single classes, see Topics.
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UCLA course evaluations…
“The funniest class ever; I truly loved it.”
“Fantastic selection of clips.”
“Funny, irreverent, accessible.”
(more evaluations)
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There are survey courses in Art, History, Art History and History of Art History. (Really.) Isn’t it time for one of the most dynamic and popular of the arts to be taken seriously? (Here you say “Yes.”)
THE WORLDS OF COMEDY has the temerity to claim comedy is an art form, then try to prove it, as David Misch (“Mork and Mindy,” “The Muppets Take Manhat- tan,” “Saturday Night Live,” “Funny: The Book”) leads a wide-ranging look at humor’s history (from the mythological Trickster to yesterday afternoon), anthropology (how laughter comes from wooly mammoths), biology (Thank you, dopamine!), philosophy (the hilarious threesome of Thomas Hobbes, Immanuel Kant and “Siggy” Freud), psychology (“Peekaboo!” is everyone’s first comedy routine), and even theology (both religion and comedy are based on suspending disbelief). Plus surveys of sit- coms, satire, stand-up, sketch comedy, comedy’s principles, the unlikely relationship between comedy and horror, not to mention what and how comedy means.
This multimedia presentation includes hundreds of video clips from comedy experts, including Chaplin, Keaton, Groucho, Woody, Sellers, Pryor, Martin, Ferrell, Python, Colbert, Schumer, Stiller and Silverman. David also draws on his own back-
ground to show how professional comedy is made. (Video here.)
An academic version of this course (“Practical Foundations of Comedy”) was given at the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts.
David’s seminar “How Comedy Works” is a three-hour version of the course, aimed primarily at professionals; he’s given it at movie studios such as Sony Pictures, Disney, Lucasfilm and DreamWorks, as well as the American Film Institute, Austin Film Festival, Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (NY), Oxford University, Raindance Film Festival (London), Cinestudio Paris, McGill University (Canada), University of Auckland (Australia) and the University of Malta.
Most of the topics covered in “The Worlds of Comedy” are also offered in individual talks, many of which have video excerpts here).
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EVALUATIONS
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES EXTENSION
“You MUST have this class again. It was so interesting and full of information and history.”
“Exceeded my expectations.”
“Superb, great fun.”
“An amazing set of examples, especially the historical ones; interesting way of looking at comedy as a requisite part of our lives.”
“Great teacher, visuals, laughs and subject matter!”
“Comprehensive overview of subject.”
“I just retired after 30 years of teaching U.S. History. I respect that the discussions were so well planned and the lectures easy to understand.”
“One of the best courses offered.”
“Wonderful, we left with smiles on our faces.”
“The cookies he brought for the last class had absolutely no effect on my evaluation.”
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA,
SCHOOL OF CINEMATIC ARTS
“David is enthusiastic, funny, made difficult concepts easy to understand, encouraged student participation and had helpful visual aids.”
“He is extremely familiar with the subject and readings. He’s open to and encourages students to raise their hands and share their analysis. Showed a variety of clips, audio, etc.”
“He explained difficult concepts well. He also assigned readings that made the study of comedy academically challenging.”
“He understood the fundamentals of comedy and communication was clear. He made time for students and is open-minded.”
“It was a surprisingly intellectual, challenging course. I learned a lot and looked forward to the class every week.”
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SKIRBALL CULTURAL CENTER (Los Angeles)
“(I liked) the scope of his knowledge of the topic, his entertaining style of presentation & humor, analyzing the profound nature of comedy from a cultural, historic, psychological, philosophical, scientific point of view.”
“Intimate, personal, easy to talk to. Entertaining.”
“Deep knowledge of both history & current world of comedy. Extremely well organized & prepared. Material selected for video/audio was very funny. And the teacher was very funny.”
“He was very organized with a great deal of information. Responsive to questions.”
“A fascinating subject taught by an academically – and experientially – informed instructor.”
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UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, CHAPEL HILL
(Osher Lifelong Learning Institute)
“David did a fabulous job. He is incredibly knowledgeable and was extremely well-prepared.”
“It worked beautifully to be able to incorporate so many images and film clips.”
“Thoughtful, articulate, funny…. top notch.”
“David provided wonderful insights and wonderful clips.”
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UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS, BOSTON
(Osher Lifelong Learning Institute)
“I loved David’s program; I did laughter out loud on Mute!”
“Brilliant content.”
“I learned new ways to look at comedy.”
“A great course leaves you wanting even more and that’s where I’m at at.”
“Well-organized and thought-provoking.”
“A fun and informative class made even more enjoyable by the knowledge and enthusiasm of the instructor.”
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OSHER ONLINE (Osher National
Resource Center, Northwestern University)
“Fantastic lectures and clips!”
“Outstanding. One of the best courses ever.”
“A truly fascinating class! I loved how David interjected his own humor in his other explorations.”
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