The Ethics of Humour and Comedy

Abstract

This chapter deals with the ethics of humor and comedy by outlining and reviewing the different theoretical ethical arguments directed at humor and comedy. The chapter provides an original typology of ethical approaches to humor and comedy that is relevant for understanding and evaluating examples of controversial humor and comedy. The typology examines five interdisciplinary theories of the ethics of humor and comedy that center on a range of important features in ethical debates about humor and comedy including intention, meaning, language, identity, inequality, social relations, and othering. The chapter illustrates the typology by evaluating the applicability of each ethical theory of humor and comedy to Hannah Gadsby’s Netflix stand-up comedy special, Nanette. We illustrate that, as the line between ethical and unethical humor and comedy is fluid and linked to changing political and social concerns, academic research on the ethics of humor and comedy is a continuing endeavor. We suggest that new research should be aware of changing structures and conventions in comedy performance and offer ways in which future interdisciplinary research could advance understanding of the ethics of humor and comedy.