Chiara Bucaria is Associate Professor in English Language and Translation at the Department of Interpretation and Translation of the University of Bologna, Italy. Her main research interests include the translation of audiovisual products, censorship and textual manipulation, and dark humour. Chiara Bucaria was the recipient of the International Society for Humor Studies' Emerging Scholar Award in 2006.


Luca Barra is Lecturer in Television and Media Studies at the Department of Arts of the University of Bologna, Italy. His research mainly focuses on television production and distribution cultures, comedy and humour TV genres, the international circulation of media products (and their national mediations), the history of Italian television, and the evolution of the contemporary media landscape."

One of the very few volumes focusing specifically on taboo comedy and television

Offers a wide range of critical approaches, different objects and perspectives

Includes both emerging and established contributors in Humour and Television Studies

1.Taboo Comedy on Television: Issues and Themes. Chiara Bucaria and Luca Barra.- Part I.Controversial Humour in Comedy and Drama Series.- 2.The Rise and Fall of Taboo Comedy in the BBC. Christie Davies.- 3.The Last Laugh: Dark Comedy in U.S. Television. Kristen A. Murray.- 4.'This Is Great, We're Like Slave Buddies!': Cross-Racial Appropriation in 'Post-Racial' TV Comedies. Carter Soles.- 5.Phrasing!: Archer, Taboo Humor and Psychocanalytic Media Theory. Matt Sienkiewicz.- 6.Taboo Humanity: Paradoxes of Humanizing Muslims in North-American Sitcoms. Kyle Conway.- Part II. Controversial Humour in Variety Shows, Commercials and Factual Programming.- 7.Dummies and Demographics: Islamophobia as Market Differentiation in Post-9/11 Television Comedy. Phil Scepanski.- 8.Excessive Stand-Up, the Culture Wars, and '90s TV. Evan Elkins.- 9.Tosh.0, Convergence Comedy, and the 'Post-PC' TV Trickster. Ethan Thompson.- 10.Crudeand Taboo Humour in Television Advertising: An Analysis of Commercials for Consumer Goods. Elsa Simões Lucas Freitas.- 11.Filthy Viewing, Dirty Laughter. Delia Chiaro.- 12.A Special Freedom: Regulating Comedy Offence. Brett Mills