Sources: Encyclopedia of Humor Studies

Abstract

Search online for information about any sitcom and you are likely to find a fan-authored site that provides minute details about every character and episode. Yet such web sources seldom offer intellectual linkages from popular shows like The Office to an identification of the first “mockumentary” (This is Spinal Tap) to an academic explanation that this particular genre involves “the appropriation of codes and conventions from the full continuum of nonfiction and fact-fiction forms” (515). Sage’s Encyclopedia of Humor Studies does precisely this, and thus is an invaluable aid to students exploring this highly fascinating discipline.