The International Society for Humor Studies held a 2024 Webinar Series, featuring the Society’s newly established Specialists Interest Groups. The Series began at the 2024 ISHS Conference with a session on AI Humor hosted by Tristan Miller, Christian Hempelmann, and Julia Rayz. The series resumed on Saturday, May 11 with the webinar, The Varieties of Humorous Experiences in Animated Films, and continued on successive Fridays through June. The final 2024 webinar on Humor, Translation, and Taboo was rescheduled for November 15, 2024.
Below is the complete Webinar schedule. Each webinar listing contains a link to the webinar recording. ISHS members should have received or can request the passcodes to the recordings. If you have general questions about the webinar series, you can contact the ISHS Executive Secretary, Martin Lampert, at humorstudies@outlook.com. If you have specific webinar questions, you can contact the appropriate webinar organizer.
April 19, 2024, 5:00 pm, CDT
Organizers: Christian Hempelmann, Tristan Miller, & Julia Taylor Rayz
Presenters
How Funny is ChatGPT? A Comparison of Human- and A.I.-produced jokes
Humor Theories through the Lens of Large Language Models
Large Language Models and Laughter: Is It Still the Best Medicine?
Advancements in AI Humor Comprehension and Generation: Implications for the Future of Cartooning
Witscript: The AI Machine that Makes Jokes
Link: Recording of Humor and AI
Use the link above to access the passcode-protected recording of this webinar. ISHS members can request the passcode from humorstudies@outlook.com.
Varieties of Humorous Experience in Animated Films
Saturday, May 11, 2024, 8:00 am, PDT
Chairs: Terry Lindvall & William Costanzo
Presenters
C. S. Lewis Chair of Communication and Christian Thought, Virginia Wesleyan University
Making Us Laugh: Exemplary Models and Mimetic Taxonomies of Laughter in Animated Films
SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of English and Film
Laughing at Cultural Norms with Animation: Transnational Perspectives
Senior Assistant Professor, University of Szeged, Hungary
Raya and the Last Dragon (2021): a Paradigm Shift Regarding Women's Humor at The Walt Disney Company
Link: Recording of Animated Laughter
Use the link above to access the passcode-protected recording of this webinar. ISHS members can request the passcode from humorstudies@outlook.com.
Friday, May 17, 2024, 8:00 am PDT
Chairs: Alberto Godioli & Laura Little
Presenters
Temple Law School
Comedy Collides with the Courtroom and Beyond
University of Groningen
Dark Humor and Free Speech Jurisprudence
University of Liverpool
Creativity, Innovation and Humour
Link: Recording of Humor and the Law
Use the link above to access the passcode-protected recording of this webinar. ISHS members can request the passcode from humorstudies@outlook.com.
Friday, May 24, 2024, 8:00 am PDT
Chairs: Elisa Gironzetti & Beatrice Priego Valverde
Presenters
MIDI Research Group, Mobile Eye-Tracking Lab, KU Leuven
Whose Side are You On?
On the Role of Eye Gaze in Teasing Sequences in Face-to-Face Interaction
Abstract
Université Paris 8, UR TransCrit
What's in a Face?
Exploring the Role of Facial Expressions as Multimodal Markers in Humorous Interactions
Abstract
Institut de Neurosciences de Systèmes, Aix-Marseille University
Watch out for Humour!
Interaction of Gaze and Laughter Functions
Abstract
Literature & Languages, Texas A & M University--Commerce
Discussant
Link: Recording of Interactional Humor
Use the link above to access the passcode-protected recording of this webinar. ISHS members can request the passcode from humorstudies@outlook.com.
Friday, May 31, 2024, 8:00 am PDT
Chairs: Liisi Laineste & Anastasiya Fiadotava
Presenters
University of Haifa
What Do We Mean when We Talk about "Locality" in Digital Humor?
University of Burgundy
When Pre-Internet Humour is Shared by Gamers Old Enough to Tell dad Jokes: Online Fan Communities and the Transmission of Adventure Game Humour across Generations
Texas A&M University at Commerce
Dark Brandon: Memetic Drift Meets the Politics of Hate
Ritsumeikan University, Kyoto
Finding Mi-Mu: Analyzing Memes/neta in Japanese Online Media
Link: Recording of Online Humor Research
Use the link above to access the passcode-protected recording of this webinar. ISHS members can request the passcode from humorstudies@outlook.com.
Friday, June 7, 2024, 8:00 am PDT
Chairs: Nicole Graham & Lina Liederman
Presenters
Independent Scholar
Joke or Jerk? Mormons, Ex-Mormons and Apologetic Debates on Social Media
Université Paris Cité
Rabbinic Humor: From the Talmud to YouTube
Classics and Liberal Arts, University of Bristol
Safeguarding Liberties, Testing Limits: Satire and Religious Censorship in Stewart Lee's '90s Comedian
Philosophy Department, North Carolina A&T State University
Seriousness & Religion are not the Opposite of Humor & Laughter:
Why We Should Jettison the Idea that Somehow Humor is an Opposite to the Serious Wherever We may Find It
Link: Recording of Humor and Religion
Use the link above to access the passcode-protected recording of this webinar. ISHS members can request the passcode from humorstudies@outlook.com.
Friday, June 14, 2024, 8:00 am PDT
Chairs: Diego Hoefel, João Paulo Capelotti, & Rujuta Date
Presenters
Languages, Media, and Communication, University of Limpopo
Racial disparagement humour in South African Social Media
International Panel on the Information Environment, Switzerland
It is not that Funny:
Disparagement Humour and Gendered Racism in Brazil
Institute for Social Anthropology, Austrian Academy of Sciences
Where Humor Meets Resistance:
The Story of Palestinian Political Prisoners
Department of English & Drama, University of Toronto
Puns and Pain in Palestine: Black Comedy as Resistance in Ahmed Masoud's The Shroud Maker
Link: Recording of Humor and Conflict
Use the link above to access the passcode-protected recording of this webinar. ISHS members can request the passcode from humorstudies@outlook.com.
Rescheduled, November 15, 2024
Chairs: Chiara Bucaria, Delia Chiaro, & Anthony Dion Mitzel
Presenters
University of Bologna
Tacit Translation and the Taboo in the Age of the Reel
University of Bologna
The Adaptation of Audiovisual Taboo Humour through Paratexts
University of Bologna
Meme Template Translation: Recursion, Cultural Nodes, and the Global Memetic Flow of Taboo and Humor
Link: Registration for Humor, Translation, and Taboo
Current ISHS members will receive an e-mail invitation and link to attend this webinar and do not need to register separately. Non-members can self-register for this webinar using link above.
AI Humor (during the 2024 ISHS Conference, April 19-21)
Organizers: Tristan Miller, Christian Hempelmann, and Julia Rayz
Contact: Tristan.Miller@umanitoba.ca
Animated Laughter: Varieties of Humorous Experience
in Animated Films (May 11, 2024)
Organizers: Terry Lindvall & Will Costanzo
Contact: tlindvall@vwu.edu
Key Issues in Humor and the Law (May 17, 2024)
Organizers: Alberto Godioli & Laura Little
Contact: a.godioli@rug.nl
Multimodality and Interactional Humor –
Methods and Theories (May 24, 2024)
Organizers: Elisa Gironzetti & Beatrice Priego Valverde
Contact: elisag@umd.edu
Cutting Edge of Online Humour Research (May 31, 2024)
Organizers: Liisi Laineste & Anastasiya Fiadotava
Contact: liisi@folklore.ee
Humor and Religion (June 7, 2024)
Organizers: Nicole Graham & Lina Liederman
Contact: nicole.graham@kcl.ac.uk
Call for papers deadline, March 31, 2024.
Humor and Conflict in the Global South (June 14, 2024)
Organizers: Diego Hoefel, João Paulo Capelotti, & Rujuta Date
Contact: joao.capelotti@gmail.com
Humor, Translation and Taboo in 2024 (Rescheduled, November 15, 2024)
Organizers: Chiara Bucaria, Delia Chiaro, & Anthony Dion Mitzel
Contact: chiara.bucaria@unibo.it