Explores the role that laughter plays in constructing, preserving and transforming contemporary social and political life Provides the first full-length study of the politics of laughter Rejects the traditional, normative question of whether laughter should play a role in politics in favour of a new, critical question of how laughter operates politically Advances a critical theory of laughter that challenges the conventional wisdom that laughter is a naturally emancipatory experience Critically re-reads the accounts of laughter offered by Thomas Hobbes, Theodor Adorno, Ralph Ellison and feminist and queer theorists such as H l ne Cixous and Judith Butler Demonstrates the contemporary relevance of these theoretical accounts through analyses of recent events of laughter including the 2010 Jon Stewart Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear; Jordan Peele's 2017 film Get Out; and Hannah Gadsby's 2018 Netflix special Nanette Offers the theoretical resources to make sense of the political stakes and possibilities of the present Age of Hilarity