Fachbereich 7

Sprach- und Literaturwissenschaft


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Professional Writing and Discussions: Language and Humour in British Panel & Sketch Shows


DozentIn: Andrew Jones, B.A., M.Phil.

Veranstaltungstyp: Seminar

Ort: nicht angegeben

Zeiten: Do. 10:15 - 11:45 (wöchentlich)

Beschreibung: Professional Writing and Discussion classes are designed to allow students – under the guidance of their course instructors – to undertake a more active and independent development of their language skills by applying them to a specific topic area. Ultimately, the central aim of these courses, whatever topic area and skills focus you choose, is to facilitate your transition into a self-sufficient and proficient user of the English language. You will continue to train your productive and receptive language skills, you will further expand your lexico-grammatical knowledge in connection with the specialist language used in the course, and you will acquire supplementary cultural knowledge on English-speaking countries. You will be expected to attend class regularly and contribute actively and intelligently. Furthermore, you will need to complete oral and written tasks during the course of these classes, hold a graded session and submit a final written portfolio.

This particular course is for students who would like to explore British humour and culture in more detail. After a brief examination of humour theory, the course will be divided into two segments of approximately equal length. The first half will deal with sketch shows such as Goodness Gracious Me, Little Britain, The Catherine Tate Show, The Two Ronnies, Morcambe and Wise, A Little Bit of Fry and Laurie, and more. This will allow us to place Britishness at the forefront of our considerations and examine how humour is used (often very politically incorrectly) to confront topics such as immigration, racism, sexism, disability, sexuality and nationalism. Use of language will be particularly relevant, especially in terms of how catchphrases and word play are used to create jokes. This will allow you to write scripts for some scenes for your own sketch show, which you will include in your written portfolio.

The second part of the course will explore British comedy panel shows including Have I Got News for You, Mock the Week, Eight out of Ten Cats (Does Countdown), QI, Shooting Stars, Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Would I Lie to You? and Room 101. This part of the course allows us to view spontaneous, humourous language combined with current affairs and trivia knowledge. This requires quick thinking, an advanced vocabulary and knowledge of how to craft answers that will amuse a live audience. Be warned: we will be playing some panel quizzes of our own in class!

Trigger warning: please only sign up for this class if you feel able to withstand politically incorrect material including depictions of (among other things) homophobia, racism, sexism, ableism, body shaming and necrophilia. We will discuss this material in context, but you will need to watch it in order to be able to discuss it.

Up to seven spots in the course can be allocated in advance to students who come to one of my office hours on January 30th or February 6th, 13th or 17th (note: email is not an acceptable alternative to this!) and confirm that they (1) are prepared to commit to taking the course and completing the tasks described above and (2) have identified a panel/sketch show or overarching topic that they would like to investigate for their class session. All other registrations are provisional and will be allocated based on factors such as level of need and semester of study.


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