Just for Laughs
A Mini-Course on Comedy in Film and on TV
February 27 and February 28, 2013
Sweigart Auditorium (Room 115)

Wednesday, February 27
When Boy Meets Girl, All Hell Breaks Loose (in Hollywood)

• 8:30-11:20 a.m. Screening and Student Presentations/Discussion: The Newspaper Comedy and the Screwball Tradition
  • 8:30-10:30 a.m. Movie—A George Stevens classic
  • 10:10-11:20 a.m. Student Presentations/Roundtable: The Newspaper Comedy
• 11:30 a.m.-3:15 p.m. Screenings: Wilder Times in Movies—The Gender- and Genre-Bending Movie of a Master
  • 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Movie—One of Wilder’s best with Marilyn Monroe
  • 1:35-3:15 p.m. Movie—An early Wilder with a tricky situation
• 3:20-3:55 p.m. Student Paper Panel: What’s So Funny about Sex and Gender?
• 4:00-4:20 p.m. Kick-off: Comedy in the Movies and on TV
  Symposium overview, issues, and themes
• 4:30-5:30 Keynote Speaker: Acclaimed Comic Actor Tom Papa (Rider ’90)
  Tom will talk about his career as a writer and actor in film and television comedies. A veteran stand-up comedian, Tom will share his experience about how to prepare for a life in comedy and the media. Tom Papa hosted NBC’s “The Marriage Ref” (2010-2011), starred opposite Matt Damon in Steven Soderberg’s The Informant and opposite Paul Giamatti in the animated feature The Haunted World of El Super Beasto.
• 5:30-5:55 p.m. Opening Reception for Students, Faculty, and Guests
• 6:00-7:00 p.m. Featured Speaker: Kevin Lally—Running Wilder: The Comedies of Billy Wilder
  Author of Wilder Times: The Life of Billy Wilder will speak about this master of the cinema and his comedies.
• 7:10-8:10 p.m. Roundtable: Classic and Contemporary Comedy in American Cinema
  With Kevin Lally, Dr. Vanita Neelakanta, and Christopher Halladay
• 8:15-10:00 p.m. Screening: Wes Anderson’s Quirky Humor

Thursday, February 28
It’s All in the Timing: Comedy and Its Social/Historical Contexts

• 9:30 a.m.-11:25 a.m. Screenings: Hollywood Comedy—Silent and Pre-Production Code
  • 9:30-10:00 a.m. Silent Comedy: Entertaining Charlie Chaplin Short
  • 10:00-11:25 a.m. Pre-Code Hollywood: Risqué Jean Harlow Treat
• 11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Faculty Presentations:
  What Makes It Funny?: Dr. Miriam Mills, Department of Theatre and Dance; FMS Steering Committee
  Gender and the Television Sitcom: Dr. Barry Janes, Department of Communication and Journalism
• 1:10-4:20 p.m. Student Presentations/Discussion:
  • 1:10-1:50 p.m. The Comic Hybrid: Cops, Spies, Shrinks, Kids, and Time Travelers
  • 2:00-2:50 p.m. Over the Top: Satire, Parody, and Paranoia
  • 3:00-3:50 p.m. In a Family Way: The Body, Heart, and Soul of Comedy
  • 4:00-4:30 Beyond Comedy: Open-call Presentations
• 4:30-6:20 Screening: Hollywood Comedy After the Production Code
  Entertaining Take on the Sexual Revolution
• 6:30-7:00 p.m. Reception for Students, Faculty, and Guests
• 7:00-8:00 p.m. Featured Speaker: Dr. Thomas Doherty, Brandeis University “Hollywood Comedy Before, Under, and After the Production Code”
  Professor Doherty is a prize-winning author, noted scholar and lecturer specializing in multiple aspects of American film history. His books include Teenagers and Teenpics: The Juvenilization of American Movies in the 1950s; Projections of War: Hollywood, American Culture, and World War II; Pre-Code Hollywood: Sex, Immorality, and Insurrection in American Cinema 1930-1934; and Hollywood’s Censor: Joseph I. Breen & The Production Code Administration.
• 8:10-9:00 p.m. Roundtable: Censorship, Audiences, and Comedy in Transition
  With Professor Doherty, Cineaste film editor Richard Porton, and Dr. Richard Butsch
• 9:15-10:30 p.m. Student Film Festival and Competition
  Awards for Best Student Paper and Best Student Screenplay