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Associate Professor Nicholas Holm staff profile picture

Contact details +6449793544

Associate Professor Nicholas Holm BA(Hons), MA, PhD

Associate Professor

Doctoral Supervisor
School of Humanities Media and Creative Comm

Nick's research addresses the political nature of popular culture, in particlar the role of humour as an aesthetic category, and the interrelation of aesthetic theory, political economics and popular culture. He also likes to write about animals that nobody else likes.

His work is primarily theoretical and interreptive in nature, and he has published articles in a range of major interdisciplinary academic journals, including Cultural Studies, New Media and Society, Thesis Eleven, New Formations and The European Journal of Cultural Studies. Other major publications include a monograph on the political function of contemporary humour (Humour as Politics, 2017) and a textbook about the critical study of advertising that was re-published in a second edition in 2023. He is the editor of the journal Comedy Studies, and a book reviews editor for the journal Humor.

Nick is a regular contribtuor to news media and popular publications, including his role as a comedy reviewer for The Post and stuff.co.nz. His popular writing has appeared in NZ on Screen, LA+, RNZ, and stuff.co.nz, and he has been interviewed regarding the politics of humour for a range of national and international media outlets.

Nick is the co-ordinator of Wellington and Distance offerings of multiple couirses in the Media Studies program, including Adverting and Consumer Society (154.202), Popular Culture and the Media (154.203), Culture, Power and the Media (154.301) and Researching Media and Cultural Studies (154.704).

Nicholas Holm is an Associate Professor in Media Studies based on the Wellington campus, where he teaches courses on media and communication, popular culture, and advertising. His research explores the political role of popular culture and entertainment media, with a particular focus on humour and comedy. He is a regular commentator, writer, and reviewer on popular culture and comedy in Aotearoa New Zealand. His current research project explores the idea of fun as a political category.

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Professional

Contact details

  • Ph: 04 979 3544
    Location: 7C 43, Block 7
    Campus: Wellington

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Arts (Honours) - Victoria University (2007)
  • Master of Arts - McMaster University (2008)
  • Doctor of Philosophy - McMaster University (2012)

Certifications and Registrations

  • Licence, Supervisor, 黑料网

Research Expertise

Research Interests

Humour, Comedy and Satire

Online humour and memes

Popular Culture and Entertainment

Advertising and Consumer Culture

Cultural Theory, Cultural Studies, Cultural Politics

Visual Culture and Aesthetics

Cultural Critique and Criticism

Taste and Distinction

Thematics

21st Century Citizenship

Area of Expertise

Field of research codes
Communication and Media Studies (200100): Consumption and Everyday Life (200203): Cultural Studies (200200): Cultural Theory (200204): Languages, Communication And Culture (200000): Media Studies (200104): Screen and Media Culture (200212)

Research Outputs

Journal

Holm, N. (2024). Humour versus dignity in the public sphere. The European Journal of Humour Research. 12(1), 41-55 Retrieved from https://europeanjournalofhumour.org/ejhr/article/view/830
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2023). The limits of satire, or the reification of cultural politics. Thesis Eleven: critical theory and historical sociology. 174(1), 81-97 Retrieved from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/07255136231154266
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N., & Tilley, E. (2023). The Aesthetics of Creative Activism: Introduction. Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism. 81(2), 131-140
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N., Tilley, E.
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Holm, N. (2023). Everyone's a Critic (So What Comes Next?). Media Theory. 7(1), 113-124 Retrieved from https://journalcontent.mediatheoryjournal.org/index.php/mt/article/view/894
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N., & Koenraad, K. (2023). Humour in Radio Commentary: a micro analysis. Te Reo. 66(1), 17-38 Retrieved from https://nzlingsoc.org/journal_article/humour-in-radio-commentary-a-micro-analysis/
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2022). No more jokes: Comic complexity, Adult Swim and a political aesthetic model of humour. European Journal of Cultural Studies. 25(2), 355-372
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2024). Deadpan humour, the comic disposition and the interpretation of ironic ambiguity online. New Media and Society. 26(1), 253-270
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Donian, J., & Holm, N. (2021). Trevor Noah and the contingent politics of racial joking. The European Journal of Humour Research. 9(3), 30-48 Retrieved from https://ww.europeanjournalofhumour.org/ejhr/article/view/525
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2021). No time for fun: the politics of partying during a pandemic. Cultural Studies. 35(2-3), 452-461
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2020). Consider the (Feral) Cat: Ferality, Biopower and the Ethics of Predation. Society and Animals. 30(7), 781-797 Retrieved from https://brill.com/view/journals/soan/30/7/article-p781_6.xml
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2020). Bright Grey: The Political Dialectic of Bureaucratic Boredom. New Formations: a journal of culture/theory/politics. 100-101, 129-145 Retrieved from https://muse.jhu.edu/article/761225
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2021). Excalibur, aesthetics and an other Britain: from whimsical tradition to tabloid aesthetic. Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics. 12(5), 912-923
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2020). Critical capital: cultural studies, the critical disposition and critical reading as elite practice. Cultural Studies. 34(1), 143-166
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2019). ‘Fred, it’s a mess’: Fred Dagg and the cultural politics of the laconic. Comedy Studies. 10(1), 39-55
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Duncan, P., & Holm, N. (2018). Cultural Studies, Marxism and the Exile of Aesthetics. Open Cultural Studies. 2(1), 746-757 Retrieved from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/culture-2018-0067/html
[Journal article]Authored by: Duncan, P., Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2018). The Political (Un)Consciousness of Contemporary American Satire. Journal of American Studies. 52(3), 642-651 Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-american-studies/article/political-unconsciousness-of-contemporary-american-satire/F2FB4C34CE567F31B71F70A69138318E
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, NH. (2016). Humour as edge-work: Aesthetics, joke-work and tendentiousness in Tosh.0 (or Daniel Tosh and the mystery of the missing joke-work). Comedy Studies. 7(1), 108-121
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, NH., & Veldstra, C. (2015). Introduction: You can't be serious. Comedy Studies. 6(1), 1-3
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, NH. (2015). Consider the possum: Foes, anti-animals, and colonists in paradise. Animal Studies Journal. 4(1), 32-56 Retrieved from http://ro.uow.edu.au/asj/vol4/iss1/4/
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2012). Consider the squirrel: Freaks, vermin, and value in the ruin(s) of nature. Cultural Critique: an international journal of cultural studies. 80(1), 56-95 Retrieved from http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/cultural_critique/v080/80.holm.html
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2011). The distribution of the nonsensical and the political aesthetics of humour. Transformations. (19), Unpaginated Retrieved from http://www.transformationsjournal.org/journal/issue_19/article_04.shtml
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2011). Reassessing the right to laughter: Humour, dissent and the liberal imagination. AntePodium: online journal of world affairs. 16(1), 1-42 Retrieved from http://www.victoria.ac.nz/atp/articles/pdf/Holm-2011.pdf
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2011). Ex(or)cising the spirit of Japan: Ringu, the ring, and the persistence of Japan. Journal of Popular Film and Television. 39(4), 183-192
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2009). Conspiracy theorizing surveillance: Considering modalities of paranoia and conspiracy in surveillance studies. Surveillance and Society. 7(1), 36-48 Retrieved from http://surveillance-and-society.org/ojs/index.php/journal/article/viewFile/conspiracy/conspiracy
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2007). F--- you, I won’t do what you tell me: A dritical qnalysis of rebellion, revolution and the dionysian in popular music. New Zealand Journal of Media Studies (Online). 10(1), 24-30 Retrieved from http://www.nzmediastudies.org.nz/articles/10_1_004_HOLMa.PDF
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2018). Dustin Bradley Goltz Inger-Lise Kalviknes Bore: Screen Comedies and Online Audiences. Humor: international journal of humor research. 31(2), Retreived from https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/humor-2018-0122/html
[Book Review]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, NH. (2013). Evil Media. Media International Australia Incorporating Culture and Policy: quarterly journal of media research and resources. 1(147), 164-165
[Book Review]Authored by: Holm, N.
Holm, N. (2012). Book review: Introduction to antiphilosophy, by Boris Groys, translation by D. Fernbach (2012). Culture Machine. , 1-6Retreived from http://www.culturemachine.net/index.php/cm/article/view/491/513
[Book Review]Authored by: Holm, N.
Holm, N. (2012). Book review: Critique on Critique a review of On critique: A sociology of emancipation by Boltanski (2011). Cultural Studies Review. 18(2), 341-346Retreived from http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/csrj/article/view/2774
[Book Review]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2012). Book review: The people’s media critique reveiw of Swift Viewing: The popular life of subliminal influence by Charles R. Acland (2011). Reviews in Cultural Theory. 3(1), 62-66Retreived from http://www.reviewsinculture.com/?r=86
[Book Review]Authored by: Holm, N.
Holm, NH., & Holm, N. (2010). Review of Aesthetics and Its Discontents, by Jacques Rancière. Culture Machine. 11(1)
[Journal article]Authored by: Holm, N.
Holm, N. (2010). Book review: Aesthetics and its discontents, by Jacques Rancière (2009). Culture Machine. , 1-10Retreived from http://www.culturemachine.net/index.php/cm/article/view/393/411
[Book Review]Authored by: Holm, N.

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Book

Holm, N.(2023). Advertising and Consumer Society A Critical Introduction. : Taylor & Francis
[Authored Book]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, N. (2022). Laughing at the End of the World: Climate Change Comedy and the Limitations of Comic Activism. In E. Tilley (Ed.) Creative Activism Research, Pedagogy and Practice. (pp. 105 - 122). Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
[Chapter]Authored by: Holm, N.
Holm, N.(2017). Humour as Politics The Political Aesthetics of Contemporary Comedy. : Palgrave Macmillan
[Authored Book]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Holm, NH.(2016). Advertising and consumer society: A critical introduction. : Palgrave
[Authored Book]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Taffel, SA., & Holm, NHF. (Eds.) (2016). Ecological entanglements in the Anthropocene. Lanham: Lexington Books
[Edited Book]Edited by: Holm, N., Taffel, S.

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Nazir, B., Holm, N., & Worthington, KL. (2018). Brand Pakistan: Global imaginings and national concerns in Pakistani anglophone literature. In Routledge Companion to Pakistani Anglophone Writing. (pp. 335 - 347).
[Chapter]Authored by: Holm, N., Worthington, K.
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Holm, N. (2018). 'Against the Assault of Laughter': Differentiating Critical and Resistant Humour. In . MacKenzie, Iain, F. Francis, & KBR. Giappone (Eds.) Comedy and Critical Thought: Laughter as Resistance. (pp. 31 - 44). : Rowman and Littlefield
[Chapter]Authored by: Holm, N.
Holm, NH. (2017). The politics of deadpan in Australasian satire. In . Davis, Jessica M. (Ed.) Satire and Politics: The Interplay of Heritage and Practice. (pp. 103 - 124). : Springer
[Chapter]Authored by: Holm, N.
Holm, NH. (2016). Consider the lawnmower: Aesthetics, politics and entanglements of urban nature. In NH. Holm, & S. Taffel (Eds.) Ecological Entanglements in the Anthropocene. (pp. 17 - 33).
[Chapter]Authored by: Holm, N.Edited by: Holm, N.
taffel, SA., & holm, NHF. (2016). Ecological crises, nonhumans and the age of man. In NHF. Holm, & SA. Taffel (Eds.) Ecological entanglements in the anthropocene. (pp. ix - xxv). : Lexington Books
[Chapter]Authored by: Holm, N., Taffel, S.Edited by: Holm, N., Taffel, S.
Holm, NH.(2016). The Political (UN)Consciousness of Contemporary American Humour.
[Discussion Paper]Authored by: Holm, N.
Holm, NH. (2016). Art for Fun and Profit: The Political Aesthetics of Advertising. In . James F. Hamilton, R. Bodle, & E. Korin (Eds.) Explorations in Critical Studies of Advertising,. (pp. 97 - 109). : Routledge
[Chapter]Authored by: Holm, N.

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Thesis

Holm, N. (2012). Dissent in jest: The political aesthetics of contemporary media humour. (Doctoral Thesis, McMaster University)
[Doctoral Thesis]Authored by: Holm, N.
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Other

Tilley, E., Holm, N., Bacharach, S., Baldini, AL., Bartholomew, S., Burgos, A., . . . Ventzislavov, R. (2023). Special issue: The aesthetics of creative activism. Oxford University Press
[Other]Authored by: Holm, N., Tilley, E.Edited by: Holm, N., Tilley, E.
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Holm, NH. (2017). Rick and Morty, or the cultural logic of late animation.
[Internet publication]Authored by: Holm, N.

Teaching and Supervision

Teaching Statement

As a teacher of media and cultural studies, my goal is not just to empower my students, but to provide them with the intellectual resources and skills to be responsible, considerate, and reflexive citizens in a mediated world. I want to teach them to not just ask questions, but to gather evidence and offer answers that acknowledge complexities and make room for difference. In pursuit of these ends, my teaching is informed by a belief that to not only understand our contemporary society, but to engage with it and thrive within it, my students need to understand the media. I want to challenge my students in ways that extend far beyond the classroom and will inform their professional and personal lives as media users, consumers and producers.

I am accredited as a Senior Fellow of the UK Higher Education Academy.

Contact Supervisor

Graduate Supervision Statement

I'm interested in supervising, or just chatting about, any projects addressing the politics of popular culture in general, and more specifically humour (and related concepts of parody, satire, irony and comedy), advertising, meme culture, aesthetic theory, fun, entertainment, popular taste, urban wildlife, cultural studies more broadly or any combination of the above.

Please note that my research is primarily theoretical and interpretive in orientation. I am therefore not able (or interested) in supervising projects that are premised in quantitative methods, or which involve substantial use of interviews, CDA, or formal content analysis.


Associate Professor Nicholas Holm is available for Masters and Doctorial supervision.

Summary of Doctoral Supervision

Position Current Completed
Main Supervisor 2 0
Co-supervisor 2 2

Current Doctoral Supervision

Main Supervisor of:

  • Dan Burgess - Doctor of Philosophy
    Laughing while M膩ori: Humour, Culture, and Contestation in Aotearoa NZ
  • Nikite Krishnamurthy - Doctor of Philosophy
    The Nation Imagined: A Critical Study of Nationhood and Identity through the Cover Art of Indian Speculative Literature.

Co-supervisor of:

  • Navid Masoudnia - Doctor of Philosophy
    Anthropocene Feminism and the Cinema of James Cameron
  • Jessica Pawley Copping - Doctor of Philosophy
    Learning to Love Reading in the Digital Age: Designing for social reading as a secondary literacy programme

Completed Doctoral Supervision

Co-supervisor of:

  • 2020 - Barirah Nazir - Doctor of Philosophy
    Brand Pakistan: A Reception oriented Study of Pakistani Anglophone Fiction
  • 2020 - Louisa Berry - Doctor of Philosophy
    The World Inverted: Chuck Palahniuk's fiction as a challenge to contemporary capitalism

Media and Links

Media

  • 01 Apr 2014 - Other
    The Wheat from the Chaff
    interviewed for history of Chaff Student Newspaper

Other Links