“Mormon humor” is a concept that would startle many non-Mormons, but despite the warning in D&C 59:15 that “much laughter . . . is sin,” Mormons have long appreciated a good laugh. Simultaneously willing to laugh at themselves and sensitive to criticism, Mormons must answer the question: If you can’t laugh at a man claiming to translate ancient scripture by burying his face in a hat, what can you laugh at? What about Mormonism is funny to Mormons and to non- Mormons? Does Mormon political and social life support Karl Marx’s famous dictum that “history repeats itself: first as tragedy, then as farce”? If not, why not? If so, how?

Holly Welker, Stephen Carter, Michael J. Stevens, Bengt Washburn, Troy Williams