Search For Lectures

Chaplin's 'The Tramp' and the Rhetoric of Comedy - Leland Poague
3:00 PM – Pioneer Room, Memorial Union - Leland Poague joined the Iowa State university English department in 1978. Professor Poague received his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon and then taught at several colleges in New York before coming to Iowa . He has served as consultant for the American Cinema for Rochester, New York's PBS station. He has published numerous articles and he is the author of three books on American film directors, with his latest, Wilder and McCarey, soon to be out. Part of the National Affairs Series: Humor in America.

Magazine Humor - Brendan Gill
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Brendan Gill has been a writer for The New Yorker Magazine since his graduation from Yale in 1936. He presently serves as the magazine's film and drama critic. Among Mr. Gill's other writings are The Trouble of One House (1950), Tallulah (1972), and his widely read memoirs Here at the New Yorker (1975). Part of the National Affairs Series: Humor in America.

Magazines and the Revitalization of American Humor - Norris Yates and Walter Harrison
3:00 PM – Pioneer Room, Memorial Union - Norris Yates is Professor of English at Iowa State and widely respected critic of American humor. He is the author of The American Humorist: Conscience of the Twentieth Century, an important critical survey of modern American humor. His other books include William T. Porter and the Spirit of the Times, a study of frontier humor; and Robert Benchley, a study of the well known twentieth century humorist. He teaches courses in American literature and modern fiction at Iowa State. Walter Harrison is Instructor of English at Iowa State, where he teaches writing courses. Mr. Harrison has written on American humorists Ring Lardner, James Thurber, and Philip Roth. His most recent article is "Six-Pointed Diamond: Baseball and American Jews." Part of the National Affairs Series: Humor in America.

Political Humor - Mike Peters
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Mike Peters is cartoonist for the Dayton Daily News. His cartoons have appeared frequently in such magazines as Time, Newsweek, and The New Republic, and his work is syndicated in more than 160 newspapers, including the Des Moines Register. His cartoons have been compiled into two books, The Nixon Chronicles and Clones, You Idiot...I Said Clones. Mr. Peters received his B.A. degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1965. His awards include the Overseas Press Award in 1974 and the national Sigma Delta Chi Distinguished Service Award for Cartooning in 1975. Part of the National Affairs Series: Humor in America.

The Ungentlemanly Art: America's Political Cartoons - Stephen Hess
3:00 PM – Pioneer Room, Memorial Union - Stephen Hess is a Senior Fellow in Governmental Studies at the Brookings Institution in b]Part of the National Affairs Series: Humor in America.Washington, DC. A former US Alternate Representative to the UN General Assembly, Mr. Hess is the author of several books on politics and the presidency. He is co-author of The Ungentlemanly Art, a book on American political cartoons, and is a syndicated columnist as well as a frequent commentator on public radio and television. Part of the National Affairs Series: Humor in America.

He Who Laughs, Lasts: Humor, Psyche and Society - Arthur Asa Berger
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Professor in the Broadcast communication Arts Department, San Francisco State Universiy. A noted critic of American media, Professor Berger is the author of The Comic Stripped American.

Why People Laugh - Leonard Feinberg
3:00 PM – Pioneer Room, Memorial Union - Leonard Feinberg is a Distinguished Professor of English at Iowa State University. He received his B.S., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University of Illinois. Professor Feinberg received the Outstanding Teacher Award and professor of the Year Award in 1964. Widely known for his studies of satire, he is the author of The Secret of Humor, Asian Laughter, and Introduction to Satire. His books are on permanent exhibit at the International House of Humor and Satire, Gabrovo, Bulgaria. Part of the National Affairs Series: Humor in America.

He Who Laughs Last: Humor Psyche and Society - Arthur Asa Berger
12:00 PM – Pioneer Room, Memorial Union - Arthur Asa Berger is Professor of Broadcast Communication Arts at San Francisco State University. Professor Berger's academic interests lie in the areas of popular culture, media, communication, humor, and structuralism. He received his Ph.D. in american Studies from the University of Minnesota. Professor Berger has previously taught at the University of Minnesota and at the University of Milan. A nationally recognized authority on popular culture, he is the author of several books, including The Comic-Stripped American. His most recent book, Television as an Instrument of Terror, is a collection of essays on media, popular culture, and everyday life. Professor Berger participated in the 1973 Institute on National Affairs, Pop! Goes Our Culture. Part of the National Affairs Series: Humor in America.

The Great American Sense of Humor - Brom Weber
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Brom Weber is a Professor of American Literature at the University of California, Davis. Professor Weber received his B.S. from City College of New York and his Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota. He is editor of An Anthology of American Humor and the author of Sense and Sensibility in Twentieth-Century Writing. A leading authority on American humor, he is past president of the American Humor Studies Association. Part of the National Affairs Series: Humor in America.

Comedy Performance - Mark Russell
8:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Mark Russell the resident political comedian of the Shoreham Hotel in Washington D.C., has appeared on many national TV show, including the Tonight Show, Today Show, and Steve Allen Show. His Mark Russell Comedy Special appears on the Public Broadcasting network. Mr. Russel's record albums include "Up the Potomac With Out a Canoe," " The Face On the Senate Floor," and "Assault with a Deadly Peanut." One of the nation's most witty humorists he has been co-host of NBC-TV's Real People, and has been featured in Time, Newsweek and The Wall Street Journal. Part of the National Affairs Series: Humor in America.