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In Cultural Literacy{Reference}, E. D. Hirsch frames a compelling picture of the knowledge-bound character of all cognitive activities. The book is dominated by an inventory of topics that every literate American should know something about.
The list set forth below is not prescriptive. These subjects were not judged for taste or comedic quality. {HyperNote 1} Here is merely a collection of topical elements observed to be immediately accessible by individuals in TV audiences, as evidenced by their laughter.
accent, Brooklyn; accents, foreign; advertising, billboard; airline public address; America's Most Wanted; Attila the Hun; auto mechanic; automobile features (commercials); baby behavior; Barnie (cartoon character); baseball mit (sight gag); Batman; birth control (various); birthday; black (dialect); blacks (stereotypes); blowtorch; blue collar; bashing, gay; Bobbitt, Lorena; Bolton, Mike; bondage; born-again Christians (anti-abortion); boxing; Boy George; Brady Bunch; Brando, Marlon (impression); Bryant, Anita; bridal shower; British courtroom; Bundy, Ted; Burger King; Buttafuoco, Joey; Carter, Billy; cash register (buttons); Catholic (birth control); channel selector (old type); cheating in sex; child molester; child support; Christen, Carol; circumcision; climate, California; climate, Canada; clothes iron; commitment (relationship); condoms; contact lenses (cosmetic); cops; creamed corn; crime, urban; Cro Magnon Man; crystal ball; Dahmer, Jeoffrey; Dallas (city); Dallas (TV series); Davis, Ben; deafness; defecate; Denney, Reginald; department stores; derangement (clock tower with rifle); Disneyland; dog poop; drooling, children; drooling, old people; earthquake; Einstein, Albert; emergency room; Energizer Bunny; engagement rings; eye crust; Fabio; facial analysis; fast food; fat people; FBI; female condom; football fans; foreigners (behavior); full-length mirror (cheap); gay bar; gays in the military; girl friends; GMC truck; golf clubs; grandmother behavior; green card; Grim Reaper; gun bill; gym shoes; hair styling; hand-me-down clothes; Harding, Tonya; Hashly, Rick; Hathaway, Jane; Hepburn, Katherine (impression); Hitchcock (Birds, Psycho); Hitler (Adolph); homeless woman; homophobic; hooters; Hubble telescope; infommercial (impression); invisible airplane (comic books); Jackson, Latoya; Jackson, Michael; Jehovah's Witnesses; Jordan, Michael; K-mart; King, Rodney; KKK; Kwasimoto; lesbian; Limbaugh, Rush (obesity); low self-esteem; macho (impression); magnum pistol; make-up; mammogram; marriage; marriage problems; marshmallow; masturbation; Mafia; McDonalds; medical textbooks; Menendez brothers; menstruation; Mexican (macho); Mineo, Sal (impression); Montezuma's Revenge; moon-walk; mother; Mr. Potato Head; mugging; multiple orgasms; murder; NAACP; New York; news programs; obesity; old age forgetfulness; Oliver North; orgasm; Packwood, (Robert) Senator; paper-or-plastic (at grocery); paranormal; Payless Drugs; peaking of sex drive (tumescence in men); penis size; perfume; Perot, Ross; personal ad; Pinto automobile; pirate eye patch; police cars; Police Academy (movie); potato (pronunciation); Presley, Elvis (ignorance, obesity); psychic counselling (late night TV); rats (in NYC); referee's wireless microphone; Reilly, Charles Nelson; rejection (coping); relationships; Retin, Mary Lou; Roadrunner (cartoon character); Schwinn (old fashioned bicycle); screen door; Sears; secretaries (phone manners); segue (on TV talk shows); senility (behavior); Seven-Eleven (foreign clerks); sex; shoulder pads; shower rod; Silverheel, Jay (trivia question); sick leave; Siskell & Ebert; skeet range; smoke alarm; smoking pot; snoring; spit; sports on TV; Sports Illustrated (swimsuit edition); Stewart, Rod; stress; stucco ceiling (texture); T-shirt (slogans); tank-top; taxes; teddy (garment); terrorists; Thanksgiv- ing; theft; therapy; Three Little Pigs; tin-can phone; Tourette's syndrome; tour guide; transexuality; truth serum (at dentist); turbo option (in cars); Turner, Tina; Tyson, Mike; Underdog (cartoon); underwear, men's; underwear, women's; vacuum cleaner; vagina; vampire; vulnerability (male); weathermen; weight gain; welcome mat; Western Union; Westside Story; Whopper with Cheese; wife swapping; Wimbeldon; Wonder Woman; World Trade Center (bombing); yuppie.{HyperNote 2}
HyperNotes {HyperNote 1} When this article was first published (in a local Mensa newsletter under the title "Laughter as a Gauge of Cultural Literacy"), readers eagerly nominated the most egregious entries they have found for inclusion in my list -- appointing me, as it were, to complete some grand and comprehensive research project. Others expressed revulsion for the listed topics, decrying them as vulgar or banal -- a stark revelation of the ignorance and tastelessness of American society in the final decade of the 20th Century. Though not made explicit in the article, my objective was sophisticated indeed: I was conducting research in preparation for my first shot at SUC (stand up comedy). And I wanted -- what? You got it, laughs.{Return}
{HyperNote 2}Topics scientifically collected from VH1's Sunday Comics, against the null hypothesis -- an objective experiment, characterized by lengthy observations at non-random intervals (bounded by bladder breaks) in 1994 by Paul Niquette. There were a total of 22 comics: 16 male, 6 female. For sophisticated investigators interested in carrying this important work forward, I strongly recommend the inclusion of topical tallies for depiction of frequency distributions in histograms (Brady Bunch, for example, would have formed a prominent statistical 'mode,' with a half-dozen references). {Return}
. E. D. Hirsch, Cultural Literacy, Random House, 1988 {Return} |