PWJ: S4E20 – AH – “After Hours” with Terry Lindvall

Following on from Tuesday’s episode where I discussed the different kinds of laughter described by Screwtape, I was joined by author Terry Lindvall to speak further about the subject.

S4E20: “After Hours” with Terry Lindvall (Download)

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Timestamps

00:00 – Entering “The Eagle & Child”…
00:11 – Welcome
00:59 – Dr. Terry Lindvall
04:08 – Quote-of-the-week
04:30 – Drink-of-the-week
05:22 – Introduction to Lewis
08:41 – Screwtape’s Letter #11
14:58 – Laughter #1: Joy
21:00 – Laughter #2: Fun
24:53 – Laughter #3: Jokes
31:48 – Laughter #4: Flippancy
40:18 – Surprised By Laughter
41:50 – God Mocks
50:27 – More Information
54:17 – “Last Call” Bell and Closing Remarks

YouTube Version

After Show Skype Session

No Skype Session today!

Show Notes

Biographical Information

Terry Lindvall is the elder twin born in Basel, Switzerland, and wandered about the world with his family, as his father was an Army Chaplain.

Educated at Vanguard University in literature and biology, he stumbled into Fuller Theological Seminary and then fell into the University of Southern California, studying theology and communication respectively. He has taught at Azusa Pacific University, Wheaton College, Regent University, Duke Divinity School, the College of William and Mary, and is presently ensconced in the C. S. Lewis Chair of Communication and Christian Thought at Virginia Wesleyan University.

He is the author of a number of books on cinema, as well as: God Mocks: A History of Religious Satire from the Hebrew Prophets to Stephen Colbert and Surprised by Laughter: The Comic World of C.S. Lewis.

He has been married to Karen for over 35 years and they have two children, Chris, a comedy writer in Los Angeles, and Caroline, a 7th grade English teacher in Virginia Beach. His wife likes walks on the beach, a fine wine, and our churches. He follows her obediently. He aspires to be one of the last patriarchs of this generation, but doesn’t have the Alpha Male zest. Unfortunately, he read too much Edgar Allen Poe as a child and now his writing is heavy with adjectives. He should have read more Emily Dickinson.

Biographical information

Quote-of-the-week

• The quote-of-the-week came from the letter we discussed in the previous episode:

[Englishmen] take their “sense of humour” so seriously that a deficiency in this sense is almost the only deficiency at which they feel shame.

C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters (Letter #6)

Drink-of-the-week

• The drink-of-the-week was Scottish Breakfast tea. It’s stronger than English Breakfast tea and more floral than Irish Breakfast tea. Terry drank some lemon squash.

Patreon Toast

• There was no Patreon toast today.

Discussion

Background

• I asked Dr. Lindvall to tell us a little bit more about himself and how you came to be interested in Lewis.

Screwtape

• We then discussed the kinds of laughter mentioned in Letter #11 of The Screwtape Letters.

Surprised By Laughter

• Terry wrote a book called “Surprised By Laughter” which covers in more depth the material we discussed about Letter #11.
• Terry has also recorded a series of talks about Lewis where he speaks about his laughter:

God Mocks: History of Religious Satire

• Terry has also rewritten another book about humour, called God Mocks: A History of Religious Satire from the Hebrew Prophets to Stephen Colbert.
• During our discussion, Terry offered a short comparison between Stephen Colbert and C.S. Lewis. He offers a more comprehensive comparison in the following video: