The Editor’s Drawers

I am honored and excited to assume the role of editor of Studies in American Humor, having served as associate editor and book review editor over the past seven years. I bring to the journal my knowledge of twentieth-century American literature and culture and feminist humor, my experience as professor of English in the graduate liberal studies program at the State University of New York, Empire State University over the past nineteen years, and my scholarly contribution as author of New York Women of Wit in the Twentieth Century (2024) and editor of Transgressive Humor of American Women Writers (2017), among others. I want to take the opportunity to thank former editor David Gillota for his many years of dedicated service to the journal in various capacities as book review editor, associate editor, and ultimately his guiding role as editor. I have learned much from past editors including David Gillota, Judith Yaross Lee, Larry Howe, and James Caron and hope to continue to grow the journal to reflect the diversity and interdisciplinarity of the field of humor studies itself. I would also like to welcome our new editorial team: Gretchen Martin, professor of English at the University of Virginia’s College at Wise and author of Dancing on the Color Line: African American Tricksters in American Literature (2015) with an expertise in nineteenth-century American literature and humor, who will continue in her deft role as associate editor; Chris Gilbert, associate professor of English at Assumption University and author of the forthcoming When Comedy Goes Wrong (2025) and Caricature and National Character: The United States at War (2021), an expert in visual and graphic humor and political humor, who will shift from book review editor to associate editor; Matt Sienkiewicz, professor of communication and international studies at Boston College, author of That’s Not Funny: How the Right Makes Comedy Work for Them (2022) and coeditor of The Comedy Studies Reader (2018) and Saturday Night Live and American TV (2013) and an expert in global media, communications, and humor, who will join the team as associate editor; and Brett Ingram, associate professor in communication at Boston College with expertise in political media, rhetoric, and humor, who will assume the role of book review editor. Each of them brings a valuable perspective and in-depth knowledge of a variety of fields of humor studies that is in line with the journal’s commitment to shaping and reflecting developments in American humor studies broadly construed across various disciplines, time periods, and genres through a diverse and inclusive lens.This issue, which reflects the work done by the previous editorial team, features two articles, an in-depth overview of the year’s work from 2023, and a collection of book reviews. In “Desire for the Good: How Debate About Satire’s Public Sphere Efficacy Confuses Aesthetics with Politics,” James E. Caron considers the scholarly debate over the efficacy of satire, arguing against the assumption that satire functions as political speech when it operates as comic political speech. Thus he approaches satire as a playful aesthetic object, not as “political communication,” an entity whose politics can only be understood if its poetics are understood first. This distinction has implications for the efficacy of comedic performance and satire in particular, and brings to light the problem with asserting that comic laughter is progressive by nature. In “Stand-Up Comedy as Decolonial Performance,” Joseph Richards considers stand-up comedy’s potential as decolonial performance practice through an examination of selected Dave Chappelle Netflix specials. In particular, he draws on Thomas DeFrantz and Anita Gonzalez’s understanding of Black performance to analyze Chappelle’s use of breath, play, Black Power, and Black performance.In “The Year’s Work in Humor Studies, 2023,” Joanne Gilbert and Todd Thompson take on the monumental task of reviewing humor scholarship from 2023, which they expertly divide into six categories: literature and history, film and television, satire and political humor, performance, online and virtual humor, and theory and pedagogy. In addition to providing a salient overview of individual works, they make insightful observations regarding the evolving field of humor studies that has seen a proliferation of scholarship that focuses on film/television and media studies, genre hybridization, the power of humor to effect social change, and the relationship between humor and horror at a time of social and political uncertainty. We thank Joanne Gilbert for her final and valuable installment as contributing editor to Studies in American Humor and Todd Thompson for his ongoing role as contributing editor to the journal and for his leadership in taking on the role of executive director of the American Humor Studies Association. We are grateful to longtime executive director Tracy Wuster for his immeasurable contribution to AHSA and the journal.This issue concludes with a selection of book reviews edited by Chris Gilbert with the assistance of incoming book review editor Brett Ingram on a variety of subjects from comedic performance to feminist satire and religious satire to folklore and cultural politics, which reflects the breadth of disciplinary and critical approaches to humor studies today.We are pleased to announce two upcoming special issues of Studies in American Humor: “Humor in the Gilded Age,” guest edited by our own Chris Gilbert and based on the Fall 2024 Quarry Farm symposium “Gilded Ages: Humor, Literature, and Society,” forthcoming in fall 2025, and “AI and Humor,” guest edited by Rob King, Columbia University professor of film and media studies, expected in fall 2026. As always, we welcome contributions from emerging and existing scholars across the field of American humor studies; please send submissions to http://www.editorialmanager/com/sah or direct your queries to [email protected]. We look forward to hearing from you!We would like to dedicate this issue to the memory of Joe Alvarez, Tom Inge, and John Lowe, each of whom has made a lasting contribution to the field of humor studies, to the American Humor Studies Association, and to Studies in American Humor. Their light and laughter will be greatly missed.