2026 Daphne Mayo Public Lecture - Professor Noël Carroll

Laughing and Screaming

All are welcome to attend our free event.

About the lecture

Considered abstractly, the emotions of horror and humor would appear to be extreme opposites. Humor relaxes us; horror stresses us. Horror makes us nervous; humor provides a safe place. Horror engenders fear; humor evaporates it. And yet, a close look at horror films reveals that horror and humor can co-exist in various ways. Typically, terrifying monsters, like the Mummy, can become comic butts when co-starring with buffoons like Abbott and Costello. Does this really happen with any frequency, and, if it does, how is it possible. This talk will attempt to answer both of these questions. 

Event details

Date: Wednesday 29 July 2026
Time: 5:45pm for 6pm lecture, followed by light refreshments from 7-8pm
Location: Room 1M16, 308 Queen Street, UQ Brisbane City (view map) 

All are welcome to attend our free event.

Enquiries: engagement@hass.uq.edu.au

About our speaker

Noël Carroll is a Distinguished Professor of Philosophy at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the author of twenty-three books including The Philosophy of Horror: or Paradoxes of the Heart and Humor: A Very Short Introduction, and he has edited or co-edited nine anthologies including The Palgrave Handbook of the Philosophy of Film and Motion Pictures. In addition to being a philosopher he has been a journalist and he has written five motion picture documentaries.

This lecture hosted by UQ's School of Communication and Arts is supported by the Daphne Mayo Visiting Fellowship.

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