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Comedy on the Spectrum: An Interview with Aspergers Are Us

May, Shaun (2013) Comedy on the Spectrum: An Interview with Aspergers Are Us. Comedy Studies, 4 (1). pp. 103-110. ISSN 2040-610X. E-ISSN 2040-6118. (doi:10.1386/cost.4.1.103_7) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:54026)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided. (Contact us about this Publication)
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/cost.4.1.103_7

Abstract

In this interview I talk with Noah Britton, Jack Hanke and Ethan Finlan, three members of Asperger's Are Us, a comedy troupe based in Massachusetts comprised of four individuals with Asperger's. The fourth member, ‘New’ Michael Ingemi, joined the interview just as we were wrapping up. Since its first description by Hans Asperger, many clinicians have suggested that Asperger's is characterized by deficits in humour comprehension. This view has been challenged by V. Lyons and M. Fitzgerald but there is still surprisingly little empirical literature on the topic, and this myth seems to persist despite much anecdotal evidence to the contrary. I would suggest that the very existence of Asperger's Are Us undermines that persistent myth.

In our discussion the group talk about their sense of humour, how it might differ from that of a neurotypical person and what they think about popular representations of the condition. Furthermore, I would suggest that their views, and their work more generally, are best understood as being at the intersection between the neurodiversity movement and what Reid et al. call ‘disability humour’. That is, humour that ‘provides non-disabled audiences an opportunity to learn that the problem is not the impairment per se, but the attitude and structures that render the impairment disabling’3

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1386/cost.4.1.103_7
Uncontrolled keywords: Autism, Aspergers, comedy, humour, humor, interview
Subjects: P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1600 Drama
P Language and Literature > PN Literature (General) > PN1969.C65 Comedy acts. Stand-up comedy
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Arts
Depositing User: Shaun May
Date Deposited: 08 Feb 2016 08:11 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Feb 2021 13:33 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/54026 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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