Abstract

ABSTRACT This article advances a novel way of understanding humor and stand-up comedy. I propose that the relationship between the comedian and her audience is understood by way of trust, where the comedian requires the trust of her audience for her humor to succeed. The comedian may hold (or fail to hold) the trust of the audience in two domains. She may be trusted as to the form of the humor, such as whether she is joking. She may also be trusted as to the content of the joke. This approach has two distinct virtues. The first is that it makes sense of partial successes. These are cases where the humor neither completely succeeds nor fails because the audience does not fully trust the comedian. The second is that it explains intuitions about ethically dubious humor and why certain classes of humor, especially those dealing in racialized and gendered identities, are more readily (but not necessarily) accepted from humorists of those identities.

Highlights

  • This article advances a novel way of understanding humor and stand-up comedy

  • Sometimes the comedian’s personage is a created character like with Al Murray the Pub Landlord, who was created as a satire of British conservative populism

  • Does an analysis of trust elucidate how comedy works in a social context, but it allows for a deeper understanding of the evaluation of humor

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Summary

Introduction

This article advances a novel way of understanding humor and stand-up comedy. I propose that the relationship between the comedian and her audience is understood by way of trust, where the comedian requires the trust of her audience for her humor to succeed. The various ways in which a comedian’s personage is important shows that an integral part of stand-up comedy is the relationship between the comedian and the audience. This is the ultimate domain of skill in stand-up comedy: getting the audience to trust and accept the comedian.

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Conclusion

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