The role of comedy: article summary
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Institution affiliated
The role of comedy
Rojecki, A. & Levine, L. (2020). Comedy as Social Indicator and Status Differentiator
Any piece of art does more than just entertaining people. Comin performers, especially stand-up comedians, do more than creating humor every time they are on a stage. In their study, Rojecki and Levine seek to demonstrate the function of stand-up comedy in society, besides making people laugh. They worked on the thesis that the relationship between stand-up comic and the audience lends comic as both an indicator of social status and a tool for social change. The researchers build on the premise that stand-up comedians respond to and draw upon “ideas about society that are often unexpected, incongruous, or inconsistent with dominant worldviews” (p. 4). As a result, comedians pass culturally-informed facts that are specific in terms of time, demographics, and social order.
Rojecki and Levine conducted an ethnographic study using open-ended interviews and observations in Chicago and Dallas. They used the snowball sampling technique to recruit participants. For the interviews, they recruited a total of 16 stand-up comedians, 5 of them being women. Most interviewed took place using social media and telephone, with only two taking place face-to-face. The researchers also used observation of various stand-up comedy performances around Chicago and Dallas.
Their findings revealed that comedians have many roles besides making people laugh. They reveal and critique social hypocrisy, including making their audience aware of the same. They not only comment on social hypocrisy using humor but also offer people alternative social practices. As part of their job, comedians analyze their audience’s characteristics and demographics to predict their responsiveness. They consider venues, demographics, real-time feedback, and political climate to characterize their audience. Stand-up comic, therefore, can be an indicator of social class since comedians characterize audiences into different social categories. Since performers develop their comics from social issues, they can as well be agents of social change. The findings point out to the overarching role of comedy in society.
I think this study is one of a kind. It brings to the fore some of the things that many people would overlook. I particularly found the link between comedy and social status interesting. Many times, it is easy to ignore the work that takes place behind the scenes before a comedian comes live on stage. Also, it was interesting to know that the audience, and not the performer, lead a performance. The comedian’s only role is to anticipate.
I want to learn more about the role of an audience in developing a comic performance. How does the audience influence the choice of social aspects that comedians use? I also want to know if the audience considers things that comedians say to be serious. Comedy is all about jokes, yet the researchers claim that it can bring about serious social changes. Do people take comedians seriously?