ABSTRACT
Contemporary Native American stand-up comedians like Eaglebear often deploy trickster strategies in their sets to simultaneously reassure and unsettle the audience. These strategies are playfully subversive and/or taboo, flirting with or outright embracing the socially inappropriate to disrupt expectations. Arguably, all stand-up comics use trickster tactics to some extent. However, Native American comics in particular take these tactics one step further; acting as trickster allows them to share real stories about contemporary Native communities, practices, and ideas that directly counter stereotypes about Native peoples that may not otherwise be well-received in another venue.
