CONTACT INFORMATION
cornelia_cody@mcgraw-hill.com
codyhickox@aol.com
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Adjunct faculty in the Department of Undergraduate Drama Tisch
School of the Arts at:
New York University
Senior Editor in the Bilingual Department at:
mcgraw-hill.com
Married for 13 wonderful years to Dana Hickox.
Mother of fabulous eight-year-old Gregory Cody Hickox, who
pitches for the Brooklyn Little League Baseball Team: Big Dogs.
Previous academic experience: MA: Performance Studies,
New York University; MA: The Writing Seminars, The Johns Hopkins
University; B.A. English and theater, Goucher College
Previous work experience: actor, playwright, translator/interpreter Spanish&English, high-school teacher
I am interested in the following:
1. Is there such a thing as New York City humor? If so, how is
it defined? By whom? How? Through which media or venues?
2. Can one say that "New York City is performed?" If so, how is
New York City performed? What can we learn from such New York
city performances as Seinfeld, Sex and the City, Woody
Allen? How do performers like John Leguizamo and Danny Hoch fall
within these questions?
3. Related to the above: How do New Yorkers perceive the
city via popular culture? How do non-New Yorkers perceive the
city via popular culture? What do venues like The New York
Times'Metropolitan Diary tell us about this
perception/preconceived notions/myths/etc?
4. What are the stories that New Yorkers tell about the city? I
am very interested in the city's personal experience
narratives. What are the common traits, characters, events? What
do these tell us about the city? What are the humor elements
present in the narratives? Do all of these stories employ
humor? If so, why? How? When? For what purpose? And what does
that, in turn, tell us about New York City?
5. Is humor an important component of living in New York
City? If so, why?
6. Is Brooklyn humor a different animal? What is Brooklyn
humor? How is it different from a more generic New York
humor? The syllabus I will develop for this class will be based
on the study of Brooklyn humor. What is it? Who is it? Why have
so many comedians and comics come from Brooklyn? What can we
learn about New York City humor by focusing on Brooklyn? A
standup comic I saw the other night
began his act by saying: "My mother comes from another
planet. [beat] She's from Brooklyn." The audience laughed. Why?
LINKS
Gliner
Center for Humor Studies
American Humor Studies Association of MLA