Happy Thanksgiving!

During our first few months of existence, we here at “Humor in America” have used holidays as a means of exploring humor (and filling space).  From Fourth of July to Labor Day to Halloween, we have marked certain ritual days by linking them to their related humor.  Thanksgiving, on the other hand, has very little humor to it–aside from the ceremonial Turkey, which is surely a funny animal.

But Thanksgiving is a holiday with little humor to it.  Few movies focus on Thanksgiving family foibles–it is too close to Christmas, and few of the traditions associated with the holidays evoke laughter.

Instead, the holiday is a time for giving thanks.  So, thank you for looking at this site.  Yesterday we passed 4,000 page views, with over 50 posts from  contributors.

[Update: three years later, we have passed 300k views with over 200 posts.  Thanks to all our contributors–old and new–for helping us expand.  Check out the “Contributors” section for more information.  The top posts below are also new, but fitting for this post.]

Thanks to our contributing editors for their excellent work:

Matt Powell:

Thanksgiving Dinner: A Musical Menu

Thanksgiving with Bob Hope, Lady Gaga and Tennessee Ernie Ford

A Slice of Magical Realism with your Pumpkin Pie

 

Bonnie Applebeet:

Roseanne, Roseanne, and Where We Stand

Humor in America is on Twitter!

Beza Merid:

Stand-up at the Knitting Factory (Brooklyn, NY)

Humor and the Digital Archive

Sharon McCoy

American Deadline Politics, Supercommittees, and Channeling Teddy

Politics, Mark Twain, and Blackface

“Drink Some Lemonade, and Forget About It”

Poetry Corner–Paul Laurence Dunbar: Changing the Joke to Slip the Yoke

‘Cause Life Ain’t Funny

Caroline Zarlengo Sposto (our poetry editor)

Happy Birthday W.C. Handy!

“Memo to the Candidate: The Town Hall Meeting”

Humor, Irony and Modern Native American Poetry

Introducing our Poetry Editor

Tracy Wuster (managing editor)

Five Subjects Behind: Some thoughts on grunge, time machines, and “Clam Chow-Dah!”

Occupy Wall Street in Political Cartoons

Occupy Wall Street Cartoons, Post 2

The Mark Twain Prize

Humor Studies: An Interview with Don Nilsen

Class Projects Welcome

Happy Birthday…E.B. White!

We would also like to thank our many contributors:

M. Thomas Inge

The Essential Nature of American Laughter

Politics and the American Sense of Humor

Michael Kiskis

The Critics Dream Mark Twain: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Jason Mellard

Sagebrush Comedian: The Passing of Cactus Pryor

Phil Nel

Syd Hoff’s Teeth: The Leftist Satire of A. Redfield

Don Nilsen

Humor Studies: An Interview with Don Nilsen

Sam Sackett

WHEN COMIC STRIPS WERE COMIC

THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING HUMOROUS STORY

WIT AND HUMOR ON RADIO AND TELEVISION

Richard Talbot:

Mark Twain and Medicine: A Review of Sorts

Please read and enjoy the posts.  And please contribute.  We would love to add you to this list.

Bonus cartoons:

Dana Summers-Tribune Media Services

Thanksgiving on Wall Street, an OtherWords cartoon by Khalil Bendib.