A cursory look at some of the Latin American movies with the highest attendance in the history of their respective national industries reveals that comedies have been extraordinarily successful. Surprisingly, the cultures of Latin America have produced little historiographical or critical material investigating their rich past and current production at the intersection of humor and cinema. This book addresses a variety of regional humor traditions such as exploitation cinema, Brazilian chanchada, the Cantinflas heritage, the comedy of manners and light sexuality, as well as a variety of humor registers evident in different Latin American films.

*Pilcher, Jeffrey M. (Rowman & Littlefield, 2000).While Pilcher's book discusses Mexican humor and culture, it focuses on one figure and nation.

Cinema and Humor in Latin America: An Introduction; Juan Poblete1. Luis Sandrini's Stutter, Early Argentine Film Comedy and the Representability of Time; Nilo Fernando Couret2. 'Comrades, There Are Moments in Life That Are Truly Momentary': Cantinflas and the Administration of Public Matters; Gareth Williams3. The Laugh of Niní Marshall. Comic Performance and Gender Performativity in Argentinean Classical Cinema; Paula Inés Laguarda4. The Early comedies of Tomás Gutiérrez Alea; Dianne Marting5. Backwardness and Modernity in the Rural Tradition of Mazzaropi Comedies; Maurício de Bragança6. Enrique Cahen Salaberry and Hugo Sofovich: Contrasting Directors and Strategies of Humor in Films Featuring Alberto Olmedo and Jorge Porcel; Fernando Pagnoni7. Colombian Popular Comedy for Dummies: The Nieto Roa and Dago García Producciones Formula; Juana Suárez8. Invasion of the Nacos! Mocking Social Prejudice in Contemporary Mexican Cinema; Héctor Fernández L'Hoeste9. Humorous Affects. Romantic Comedies in Contemporary Mexico; Ignacio M. Sánchez Prado10. Who's laughing now? Indigenous Media and the Politics of Humor; Freya Schiwy11. A Sense of Humor and Society in Three Chilean Comedies: Taxi para tres, Sexo con Amor, and Super, Todo Chile adentro; Juan Poblete