Free Winter Lecture Series—January and February

Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

We are pleased to offer a selection of lecture topics in January and February. Lectures are free and open to Osher members and non-members alike. Two are scheduled to meet in-person at Edenwald Senior Living in Towson (800 Southerly Road, Towson, MD 21286), and the others will meet via Zoom.

Please register for the lectures you wish to attend by clicking the link below each entry. You will receive Zoom links for any of the online lectures you register to attend.

• January 31: The Great Old Days: A Look at ‘The Godfather’ Saga
• February 14: Ruth Handler: The Woman Behind Barbie
• February 28: The Shame of Satire

Comedy has been mocking society’s foibles since the poets of ancient Rome, but right now may be the Golden Age of Satire with “The Daily Show”, Samantha Bee, Bill Maher, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, and “The Onion” shaming the shameless by taking pungent, potent pokes at the hypocrisies of society. But does shaming have any effect? Even many satirists don’t think so, yet pushback has been harsh, from the “Charlie Hebdo” massacre in Paris to repression of satirists worldwide, from imprisonment of Chinese bloggers to a comedian standing trial in Germany. Satirists are always being accused of being offensive, but generally, they don’t care. George Carlin said, “it’s the duty of a comedian to find out where the line is…then step over it.” One thing is certain: that line is different for everyone. So, how do we decide when satire goes too far? This talk explores how satire challenges society’s taboos by getting people to examine their assumptions. Ultimately, satire is less about changing minds than getting people to think.

David Misch is a former stand-up comedian, writer, and teacher. As a screenwriter, his credits include “Mork and Mindy”, “Saturday Night Live”, “The Muppets Take Manhattan”. He is the author of “Funny: The Book: A Beginner’s Guide to Corruption”. He has taught comedy courses at University of Souther California and musical satire at UCLA. He’s given lectures at Yale, Columbia, the Smithsonian, 92nd St.Y, Oxford University, Trinity College Dublin, University of Sydney, VIEW Cinema (Torino, Italy), San Miguel (Mexico) Writers’ Conferences, Raindance Film Festival (London), Austin Film Festival, American Film Institute, Writers Guild of America, Sony, DreamWorks, Lucasfilm, Disney, Second City, and the Actors Studio.