Parafictional persona
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Performing the Self: Parafictional Persona and the Comedian Comedy
A PhD drawing on the concept of parafictional persona to examine the phenomenon of comedians playing themselves in fictional comedy television. Continue reading
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Meta Humour in the 1950s Sitcom: Parafiction and Self-Reflexivity in The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
Scholars of television in the United States have noted an undercurrent of self-reflexivity in the early sitcom, typically understood as techniques that call attention to the medium’s artifice and the apparatus of television itself. However, one aspect of self-reflexivity in early television sitcom that warrants deeper analysis is the use of parafiction, or the deliberate… Continue reading
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Parafiction in the 1950s Sitcom: Meta Humour and Self-Referentiality in The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (1950–1958) portrays the domestic life of its titular comedians as a pair of married vaudeville and radio entertainers. Replicating the dynamic of their own successful vaudeville and radio double act, Burns plays the put-upon but patient straight man, leaving most of the comedic heavy lifting to Allen, whose… Continue reading