Humor

Humor

I am no stranger to cancel culture. I was cancelled after 9/11 simply for being Middle Eastern, as Arab terrorists were behind the attacks on the twin towers. This is despite the fact that I am not Arab, nor am I, contrary to popular opinion, a terrorist. In certain circles there have been calls to boycott my UK tour Namaste, a show in which I try to explore the nuances of the complex geopolitical landscape of the Middle East.

When I was elementary school age, my parents left me home alone while they went to pick up my sister from a school event. I thought it would be funny to prank 911. I called and said, 'There's an escaped murderer in my house!' and hung up, laughing at my funny joke. I got an immediate callback. I panicked, answered the phone, and hung up. They called back again, so I unplugged the landline. Just as the police were pulling up, my parents pulled up, too. The police pulled a gun on my dad and made him prove he lived there. I was so scared of getting in trouble that I made up a story about a man knocking on the door and trying to force his way in. I told them he was a white man with a dark beard and that he ran in the cornfield. I don't think my parents ever knew I made it all up. The next day, the Oklahoma City bombing happened, and I thought it was God punishing people because he was mad at what I did.

We are professors of marketing and management who study humor and workplace dynamics. Our own research-and a growing body of work by other scholars -shows that it's harder to be funny than most people think. The downside of cracking a bad joke is often larger than what you might gain by landing a good one. Fortunately, you don't have to tell sidesplitting jokes to make humor work for you. You can learn to think like a comedian instead.

Closer to home, I once visited my beloved grandmother-in-law in the senior home where she resided. I stayed for dinner, choosing the turkey option. "What!" Grandma exclaimed, "You don't like the chicken?!" The emotional vibes reverberating in this episode are ambivalent and textured. There is an element of care, benevolence, and interest, but there is also the sting of reproach and the claim of the high ground in a power game.

Dating isn't typically a team sport, but Heart Throb: The Dream Date Show plays by its own chaotic rules. Ten minutes before the show's September edition began, audience members submitted their relationship "green flags" and "red flags" via a QR code. This edition of the monthly Kickstand Comedy performance featured a twist: The flags had to be sports-related. What are sports-themed red flags?, I thought.

Named a "new face" at the 2013 Montreal Just for laughs festival, she went on to release her debut Hour special 'Gina Brillon: Pacifically Speaking' in 2014. Her HBO special 'Gina Brillon: easily offended' was released in 2019 as part of the entre nos series and in 2020 the critically acclaimed 'Gina Brillon; the floor is lava' premiered on Amazon and went on to become an imagen award nominee and a 2021 Gracie award winner.

Welcome to Hecklers Welcome!, San Francisco's only stand-up show where you get to talk back. This is not your average comedy night-this is a full-blown verbal brawl, where comics come ready to spar and the audience gets a license to heckle. Got jokes? Bring 'em. Got beef? Air it. Think you're funnier than the pros? Talk back and find out.

RSVP - Free Guestlist Entry w/ RSVP (otherwise $20-25 at the door) After a full day of bluegrass in Golden Gate Park, keep the vibes going with Hardly Strictly Comedy: The Unofficial After Party. Whether you're hopping on the N Judah, 5 Fulton, or 7 Haight, we're just a few stops away at The Function - San Francisco's only Black-owned comedy club and lounge.

When (my children) were in middle school, they did say, 'Um, hey, can you, like, not talk about us? Because our friends, you know, their parents let them see things that you do and then, you know, they joke on us.'