Identifying humor in stand-up comedy: A preliminary study

This paper describes a preliminary study examining how the audience of stand-up comedy approach humor analysis. By expanding the scope of the General Theory of Verbal Humor (Attardo 2001), it was possible to use the framework to aid and systematize the interpretation process, resulting in shifting the theory’s focus from humor production to humor perception. The first part of the paper introduces the main premise of stand-up comedy. The second part is devoted to the theoretical aspects, namely the theory of humor. The third part discusses the methodology of the preliminary study: a two-step interpretation task done by four audience members. The fourth and the fifth sections present the results of the study and discuss the implications. The outcome of the analysis gives an understanding as to what the audience may focus on during the interpretation process, which allows for identification of differences in humor perception.

A pragmatic analysis of humour strategies and functions in 'Jenifa's Diary' and 'Professor JohnBull'

Studies on humour in Nigeria have been extensively carried out from the perspectives of stand-up comedy and computer-mediated communication. There is a dearth of scholarly enquiries on humour in situation comedies (sitcoms). This paper investigates humour in the interactions of characters in Jenifa’s Diary and Professor JohnBull, with a view to accounting for the manifestations of humour, the humour strategies deployed and the functions that the humorous utterances serve in the sitcoms. The work is situated in Culpeper’s Impoliteness Theory. Eight excerpts from the sitcoms were subjected to pragmatic analysis. Two discourse functions of amusing and castigating are discovered in the data. The former serves the function of facilitating discourse and changing presumed power and status, while the latter serves the function of maintaining one’s own space and autonomy, and demanding respect. Allusion, parody, retort, tease, banter and putdown are the humour techniques employed in the sitcoms. The study corroborates the claim of earlier studies that humour in every sphere of language use serves certain functions beyond the interactional need to create amusement.

JURI PADA FESTIVAL COMPETITION SCHOOL OF SMEA PENASA DI SMK PEMBINA I PALEMBANG

Siswa diusia sekolah telah mengalami perubahan, perkembangan dan pematangan baik fisik, kognitif, bahasa, moral, emosi dan sosialnya. Dimana masa usia ini diperlukan penyaluran minat bakat yang sesuai untuk membentuk karakter siswa. Festival Competition School Of SMEA Penasa yang diselenggarakan oleh SMK Pembina I Palembang dan diikuti 28 orang pada tanggal 25 November 2019 ini merupakan bentuk penyaluran bakat siswa yang diselenggarakan dengan beberapa perlombaan seperti storytelling, stand up comedy dan pembacaan puisi. Juri storytelling adalah Diana Widhi Rachmawati, S.Ip., M.M, juri stand up comedy Hendri Gunawan, S.Pd., M.Pd, Rih Laksmi Utpalasari dan I Nyoman Tirtayasa sedangkan juri pembacaan puisi Mardiana Sari, M.Pd. Penilaian storytelling terletak pada teknik atau kemampuan menceritakan sebuah kisah, dengan pengaturan adegan, event, dan dialog. Stand up comedy dinilai berdasarkan komedi yang dibawakan di depan panggung dan penilaian pada puisi terletak dari kemampuan dalam proses penciptaan bahasanya dalam satu karya terikat pada lirik bait irama dan rima.

Anti-racist Critique Through Racial Stereotype Humour

This article discusses the persistent deployment of racial stereotypes in contemporary stand-up comedy and its potential hegemonic or counter-hegemonic effects. It asks whether racial stereotypes should be avoided or condemned altogether, considering the risks of interpretative ambiguity and offensiveness, or, alternatively, whether there are specific performative strategies and conditions that might make racial stereotype humour a powerful weapon in the anti-racist toolbox. As regards the first, several critiques are considered and it is shown that racial stereotype humour, and its reception, may harbour multiple, subtle forms of racism. In terms of defences, racial stereotype humour’s role of discharging stubborn psycho-affective investments is highlighted, as well as its function as ‘subversive play’. The article further pays special attention to aspects of audience reception (such as issues of missed subtlety and ‘clever’ laughter) and the importance of the comic’s racial positionality in performing racial stereotypes.

CONSUMING CONCERNS: LANGUAGE STYLE OF HUMOUR ON FOUR FEMALE STAND-UP COMEDIANS

Comedy is a male-dominated world as sociolinguistics theory also mentions that women employ less humour compared to men. However, female comedians also appeared on television. In Indonesia, Stand-Up Comedy Indonesia (SUCI) is a popular stand-up comedy competition broadcasted by a reputable national network channel, Kompas TV. Interestingly, numerous young female stand-up comedians also took part as participants of SUCI. This study aimed to analyse humour performed by four female comedian finalists from different cultural backgrounds such as Arab-Indonesian, Chinese-Indonesian, British expatriate, and Indonesian with Batak ethnicity. This study employed a qualitative method by applying various techniques such as video selection, downloading, transcribing relevant data, reducing data, applying theories, and concluding. The data were analysed using the theory of women's language and the theory of types and functions of humour. The study found that women employed humour in stand-up comedy to speak up their minds and share their concerns with the audiences using various language styles, including rhetorical questions, hypercorrect grammars, taboo words, and rising intonations. The humour was employed primarily to share their concerns toward sensitive cultural issues such as stereotypes and identity, sexism, relationship and gender equality, and body positivity. In addition, it contributes to enriching the theory of women's language style and humour. Keywords: humour, stand up comedy competition, women's language style, identity

IMPLICATURE IN SAIKIRAN’S STAND UP COMEDY SCRIPT DARK SKIN AND GETTING MARRIED

This research focuses on implicature in Saikiran’s Stand Up Comedy Script Dark Skin and Getting Married. By using Grice theory of implicature, the make up of this research strongly refers to the use of descriptive qualitative method to process the data, which are originally taken from the script. The analysis reveals two types of implicature i.e. cconventional implicatures and conversational implicatures. Conventional implicature is associated with the general meaning and also related to specific words (but, and, even). Meanwhile, conversational implicature verifies two types, i.e. generalized conversational implicature and particularized conversational implicature. There are 13 data referring to cconventional implicatures and 4 data to conversational implicatures (2 data generalized conversational implicatures and 2 data particularized conversational implicatures). The results of this research indicate that Saikiran uses those implicatures when he wants the audience to understand about his life condition in funny ways, and the audience will possibly find it difficult to understand if they do not know his utterances in the contexts.

Persona as Personal Branding of Stand-Up Comedian in Indonesia

Stand-Up comedy is the new trend of Pop Culture. In Indonesia, the Stand-Up comedy trend has spread to all places, from the very west of Indonesia Island to the Papua. This research analyses the pop culture of stand-up comedy and the new creative industry in Indonesia, focusing on Raditya Dika, Ernest Prakasa, Cak Lontong, Dodit Mulyanto and Uus. Furthermore, this research explores the persona of each comic that represents their style of performance. This essay also aims to find out the difference in persona of Indonesian Stand-Up Comedy artists and how they come up with the persona. For the data, we choose YouTube platform to be analyzed. We analyze the presented materials, video’s thumbnails and the responses from the audiences. We use three theories during this research, which are Personal Branding Theory, Digital Media Theory, and Social Semiotics. The result shows that these comics are having different unique persona that sticks to themselves and make people recognize them.

Muslim Stand-Up Comedy in the US and the UK: Incongruity, Everydayness, and Performativity

The objectives of this article are two-fold: to provide a review of the major figures and trends in Muslim American comedy and discuss certain techniques and approaches that have been used by stand-up comedians to counter predominant and discriminatory perceptions of the “Other”. To reiterate film critic Jack Shaheen’s argument in Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People, the Western public is fed constructions of Islam as a “problem”; the terms “Arab” and “Muslim” are interchangeably used; Muslim men are depicted as “terrorists”; and Muslim women are depicted as “veiled and oppressed”. Much has been written on the generation and effect of stereotypes promoted by popular culture. However, stereotyped groups also use popular culture to speak for themselves. Popular culture also functions to resist, counter, push back against, and subvert stereotypes. In other words, the “Other” can speak for him or herself through popular culture as a means of contesting stereotypes that define Muslims and Arabs in terms of cultural and religious understandings that narrowly categorize individuals through attributes such as religiosity and femininity. This potential is being realized by second-generation Muslims familiar with the platforms created and provided by other marginalized groups in Anglo-American popular culture, and their work has come into its own especially in the aftermath of 9/11, a time that saw both the intensification of stereotypes and heightening of Muslim American consciousness. I concentrate on these specific stand-up comedians in the US and the UK, despite the fact that there are others in the diaspora who discuss Islamophobia, because these American and British comedians address all of the three most common stereotypes of Muslims: “Arab = Muslim”, the “terrorist”, and the “veiled and oppressed woman”.

ILLOCUTIONARY ACTS IN ABDUR’S STAND UP COMEDY INDONESIA

Tujuan dari penelitian ini, yang pertama adalah untuk mengidentifikasi kategori tindak ilokusi dan kedua adalah untuk menjelaskan makna tentang tindak ilokusi dari ujarannya Abdur dalam Stand Up Comedy Indonesia season 4. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode deskriptif kualitatif untuk menganalisis ujaran-ujaran Abdur sesuai dengan kategori-kategori dari tindak ilokusi dan menginterpretasikan ujaran-ujaran tersebut. Data diambil dari ujaran-ujaran Abdur dalam video Stand Up Comedy Indonesia season 4. Teori yang digunakan untuk menganalisis kategori-kategori dari tindak ilokusi yaitu menggunakan teori dari Searle (1979) dan untuk menemukan makna menggunakan teori dari Grice (2013). Hasil menunjukan bahwa ada tiga kategori dalam tindak ilokusi dari ujaran-ujaran Abdur yakni assertive, directive, and expressive category. Banyak ujaran Abdur termasuk dalam assertive category, yakni berbicara tentang seorang pembicara yang berusaha untuk memperoleh atau mendapatkan suatu keyakinan dalam melakukan suatu keyakinan tertentu, yang mana berbicara tentang fakta dari situasi yang ada di Propinsi Nusa Tenggara Timur yang di ekspresikan didalam komedi. Ujaran-ujaran Abdur mempunyai keunikan tersendiri karena ujaran-ujaran tersebut mempunyai makna mendalam yang tersirat didalam komedi.