ABSTRACT

This article explores three examples of contemporary humour that situate seriousness and unseriousness as important points of departure for theorizing what Anca Parvulescu calls the work and ‘unwork’ of laughter. Through a textual analysis of Louis C.K.’s performative stand-up routines, the mimetic and participatory facets of meme culture at work in the global Nyan Cat phenomenon and in the hoaxing-based activist politics of the Yes Men, this article examines the layers of seriousness attached to what may otherwise be deemed unserious cultural practices. I argue that the relay between unserious content and playful practices may also operate alongside serious political actions that assume unserious and/or humorous guises.