Introduction: American humor and its discontents

Making connections: building cultural citizenship through charged humor

Twentieth-century stand-up: a history of charged humor

Laughing into the new millennium

When women perform charged humor: the (gendered) politics of consumption

Robin Tyler: still 'working the crowd'

Micia Mosely: humor out of the mouths of babes

Hari Kondabolu: performing in the age of modern-day minstrelsy

Conclusion: How to avoid the last laugh.