Rate My Professor David Gillota

David Gillota serves as Assistant Provost and Professor of English at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. He earned a Ph.D. in English from the University of Miami in June 2008, an M.A. in English from the University of North Texas in August 2003, and a B.A. in English in 2000. His career at UW-Platteville includes progression from assistant professor to full professor, service as chair of the Department of Humanities, and teaching courses in literature and film within the College of Liberal Arts and Education.

Gillota's scholarship centers on humor in American literature, film, and popular culture, encompassing ethnic humor, stand-up comedy, and horror comedy. He authored the books Ethnic Humor in Multiethnic America (Rutgers University Press, 2013) and Dead Funny: The Humor of American Horror (Rutgers University Press, 2023). Key peer-reviewed publications include “Man, I Told You Not to Go in that House”: The Humor and Horror of Jordan Peele's Get Out (Journal of Popular Culture, 2021); Beyond Liveness: Experimentation in the Stand-up Special (Studies in American Humor, 2020); Reckless Talk: Exploration and Contradiction in Dave Chappelle's Recent Stand-Up Comedy (Studies in Popular Culture, 2019); Stand-Up Nation: Humor and American Identity (Journal of American Culture, 2015); Black Nerds: New Directions in African-American Humor (Studies in American Humor, 2013); and “People of Colors”: Multiethnic Humor in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle and Weeds (Journal of Popular Culture, 2012). He has also published book chapters such as Schlemiel Feminism: Jewish Humor and Activism on Broad City (2021) and The New Jewish Blackface: African American Tropes in Contemporary Jewish Humor (2011).

In 2023, Gillota was appointed editor of Studies in American Humor. He received the 2022 faculty award from the College of Liberal Arts and Education and has contributed to university panels and forums on satire in horror films, critical race theory, race and inequity, and related cultural topics.