Smart asses: stand-up comics with advanced degrees

Abstract Greg Giraldo, a Harvard Law graduate, achieved notoriety thanks to regular appearances on the popular Comedy Central roasts. The success that Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong, MD (‘Dr. Ken’) had as a stand-up comic earned him roles as Ben Chang on the television series Community and Leslie Chow in The Hangover I, II and III. In this paper, grounded in a series of in-depth interviews with working stand-up comedians with graduate-level educations, I probe the relationship between intellectualism and humor production, and describe the degree to which ‘aca-comics’ can integrate their identities as comedians and their professional lives. To cite just a few examples, I will share the story of a young woman employed by the Center for Disease Control who uses a stage name and never discusses work for fear of damaging her professional reputation, a PhD in Psychology who markets himself in the professional speaking world as a psychologist who is also a comedian, and an Assistant Professor of African History who longed for tenure so he could ‘come out’ to his colleagues about his other life as a stand-up comic in New York City.