Comic Drunks, Crazy Cults, and Lovable Monsters: Bad Behavior on American Television

Meticulously researched and engagingly written, this book demonstrates how the history of TV comedy is also a history of stereotypes of bad behaviors and our changing understanding of their roles in our lives. Amanda Ann Klein, East Carolina University

This is the rare book that is both theoretically rich and thoroughly entertaining. . . . An original and groundbreaking study that shows us why comedy matters. Joanne Morreale, Northeastern University

From The Honeymooners to It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Diffrient’s triumphantly wide-ranging analysis of television comedy delivers a sophisticated and decidedly fun take on the medium’s longstanding reliance on 'bad' behavior. Alice Leppert, Ursinus College

Diffrient’s book demonstrates how television comedy defines and polices behavior within the culture. . . . A valuable work that ought to provide a model for the field. Philip Scepanski, author of Tragedy Plus Time: National Trauma and Television Comedy

Comic Drunks, Crazy Cults, and Lovable Monsters is more than just an in-depth survey of television comedy and its preoccupation with the immoral, the unacceptable, and the inappropriate; it is a compelling history of the medium, an intriguing cultural study, and a thoughtful examination of just who and what we are. In short, his book about being bad is very, very good. Douglas Howard, coeditor of Television Finales: From Howdy Doody to Girls

Such expansive close analysis rooted within rigorous historiography offers a refreshing read within television studies, impressive scholarship indeed. Christine Becker, University of Notre Dame

Demonstrating an almost encyclopedic knowledge of television history, Diffrient provides a captivating examination of our cultural fascination with comic drunks, cults, and monsters. Amanda Konkle, Georgia Southern University