Tune in to hear Professor of Italian Dana Renga give a talk on “Dark Serial Humor: Jokes Are Never Telling” on 2/14. This talk is part of a series presented by University of Alabama that investigates the comic and its uses in moments or situations of trouble.
Dark Serial Humor sketches out why recent Italian television comedy has, with few exceptions, remained a local phenomenon as it is rarely exported beyond the nation’s borders. The talk then looks at some moments of serial humor in four of Italy’s most popular, recent tv (non comedy) exports with an eye towards unpacking that dark humor that occurs in highly distressing narratives (Gomorrah. The Series, Suburra Blood on Rome, The Young Pope, and We Are Who We Are). In the end, this talk suggests that a complex web of factors relating to, for example, marketing and distribution practices and co-production partners, confirms that Italian serial comic relief is more local than global.
