Comedic Relief at Religious Expense
*Please note that the clips in this blog post contain explicit language and mature and highly controversial content that may offend
Comedy is often seen as a relief from the strains of life, it allows for people to take a break from their routines, relax and laugh. Comedy, especially stand up comedy and comedic television shows are considered to be a faction of popular culture that provides such a sensation. But to what end? The content of comedy can range from knock-knock jokes to satire about current news, and can sometimes touch upon sensitive subjects, such as religion.
Popular culture according to Stuart Hall, is the site of a power struggle (Klassen 53). Comedy in this sense provides avenues for interpretation, and that the agency of the consumers of pop culture plays a major role in decoding messages. In his theory, the dominant message is encoded by the creator, and then the meaning of the message is negotiated and decoded by the masses that receive the message. Such is the case with comedians and their comedic content. They create their jokes and their stories to present to people, stemming from their own sense of humor (which would be their encoding of their content), and then present it to audiences who (hopefully) decode it the way the comedian intended them to.
On the subject of religion, the decoding process is a risky business for comedians because one’s sense of humor is highly subjective. Meaning is conditioned by several factors: identity, regulation, signification, consumption, production according to Hall. Therefore those listening to comedy on the subject of religion can decode the meaning of the content differently depending on how each variable affects them. This is the biggest challenge for comedians when composing any of their content, however with religion being a particularly delicate subject, most comedians take the approach of realizing that their content will upset a few people. There is a large amount of very famous comedians that take to the stage and criticize specific religions or even the very notion of religion itself. The following video is a compilation of stand up comedians addressing religion; the last comedian is George Carlin, who is especially well recognized for his bit on religion.
Another medium for comedy other than televised or live shows of standup comedians, is cartoons. Comedy on the subject of religion is shown on cartoon television shows such as South Park and Family Guy. Such shows take religious controversies and turn them into satirical bits for their 40–60 minutes of airtime, and are well known for their inclusion of controversial subject matter in their story lines. One of the most recognized religious controversies with the media is that of the cartoon depiction of the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) in a Danish newspaper. The writers of the show South Park used this event to fuel their plot for one of their episodes, below is a compilation of clips from the episode:
The original Danish cartoon sparked international controversy and created many opposing opinions on religion in popular culture and how it can be an inflammatory and yet delicate subject. This episode was created for the purpose of demonstrating the right to the freedom of speech. However, it also demonstrates how decoding is essential to comedy. Comedians and writers alike in popular culture when creating their content encode them specifically to their sense of humor, in the hopes of relaying a message from their point of view and that the audience see it from their perspective, hopefully through laughter. South Park in this episode demonstrated how something can be decoded differently according to different people. In line with a McLuhan train of thought, in this sense the medium was very much the message.
Here is an additional link about a comedic movie about religion and two comedians’ perspectives on the subject:
Works Cited
Klassen, Chris. “Religion and Popular Culture.” In Religion and Popular Culture: A Cultural Studies Appproach. Don Mills: Oxford University Press, 2014.
