Comic Lives examines the dynamic intersection of life narrative and comedy within the theoretical and methodological frameworks of auto/biography studies. In stand-up acts, comedy specials, podcasts, and print memoirs, autobiographical comedy offers a productive occasion for addressing key concerns in the discipline, in particular the challenges of representing trauma and the testimonial uses of personal stories. The contributors take up examples of auto/biographical comedy in Australia, Canada, South Africa, and the United States to explore the question of how comedians transform difficult life experiences—such as mental illness, the displacements of immigration, family conflicts, and institutional racism—into texts and performances aimed at making people laugh. Thinking about auto/biography and comedy, auto/biography as comedy, and auto/biographical comedy, this collection reflects on what auto/biography brings to comedy, what affordances comedy offers life narrative, the benefits and risks of playing life for laughs, and the capacities and limitations of the comic for resistance and counter-narrative.

This book will be of particular interest to students and researchers in fields such as literary studies, cultural studies, performance studies, and social theory, especially those exploring intersections of identity, trauma, and humor in contemporary media and performance.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue in a/b: Auto/Biography Studies.