Comedy in the Classroom: Professor Christopher Gilbert

Emily Brill

Arts & Entertainment Editor

Comedy has always been at the center in the life of Christopher Gilbert, Associate Professor of English, here at Assumption University and teaches much of the courses that fall under the Communication and Media major.

It starts with his family, “one of our primary modes of communication with each other is comedy and we joke a lot, and it really is central to the way that we engage with one another” and that virtue is carried with him throughout his teaching career.

The ideas of comedy and editorial cartooning are paramount for his areas of interest and most of his area of study, which he does not shy away from in his teaching structures.

Professor Gilbert has spent most of his time at Assumption University engaging in meaningful conversations about culture and comedy, both being special areas of study for him.

After getting his master’s degree and Ph. D. in Rhetoric from Indiana University, it is easy for him to look at the more complicated side of things rather than the “commercial” side, which he was also able to look at after receiving a bachelor’s degree in marketing from UMASS: Amherst.

One of the main areas of interest throughout his college career and now in his research is editorial cartoons and comedy, more specifically, satire television.

Professor Gilbert explains that he “found it very interesting that this way of communicating through comedy, satire, irony, any number of ways to imagine that it was not confined to spaces outside of the mainstream or outside of say, official political culture or outside of official politics, it was invading the center”, which then became part of his curriculum in most of his courses.

Most of his interest in editorial cartooning involves politics and political culture, including the main topic of his book, war culture.

In his book Caricature and National Character: The United States at War, Professor Gilbert focuses on how to understand American character and culture, specifically in times of war or crisis.

The book highlights his interest in caricature and comedy, discussing how symbols and images have become a part of our country’s culture. He refers this interest back to a grandfather “figure” to him, “to then be able to look at, like, the stories about war culture coming from this very anti-war individual, how do we grapple with that? Does comedy provide us a way to grapple with it or does it problematize it or does it make it more troubling?” as this grandfather “figure” fought in World War II.

Professor Gilbert has always had a strong interest in how we, as a culture, can communicate through comedy, specifically looking at political culture.

Gilbert explains that “the relevance of it has been both striking me and haunting me because these sorts of conflicts are the things that probably trouble me and others the most” when speaking about the importance that his book holds in our modern society.

When speaking about his teaching methods and bringing comedy, satire, irony, etc. into the classroom, “the personal stuff matters, it’s what gets us invested”, so it is easy for him to become connected with his students and have meaningful conversations with them.

For Professor Gilbert, he has “always been interested in bringing things that I think matter, to me, to bear as often times, a resource for students to get engaged in things that matter to them”, which is how he can make connections more prominent in his teaching.

“Chris’ perspective when he voices it is respected, but he doesn’t go out of his way all the time to make sure his perspective is heard” says Molly McGrath, Professor of Philosophy at Assumption.

Professor McGrath has served on different committees with Professor Gilbert and considers his voice and presence to be “gentle” when there are times of disagreement among committees. McGrath also states that “his focus on culture and helping students decode, understand, and read the cultural artifacts around them” directly connects to her material and research on the philosophy of culture, which further connects students to the main goal of a liberal arts education.

Similarly, Ty Monroe, Professor of Theology at Assumption states “I think our teaching slash general education styles and vibes mesh well together” when speaking about the partnership for the COMPASS linkage here at Assumption.

Professor Monroe believes it was easier for the first years entering Assumption to relate to Professor Monroe and Professor Gilbert because of how they teach. “He’s trying to suggest to students, ‘notice how words spoken, written, drawn point to realities that are beneath the surface or above the surface, there’s more that meets the eye” referring to how their teaching materials interconnect.