Paper short abstract:

In my ongoing dissertation project I am investigating how Swedish stand-up comedians and their audiences both challenge and recreate cultural notions and norms. This paper will focus on how stand-up comedians reason about how to joke about various sensitive subjects.

Paper long abstract:

Stand-up comedy has become increasingly popular in Sweden in the last decades. The jokes of stand-up comedians reflect prevailing cultural notions and norms. But stand-up comedy can also be seen as a form of cultural free zone where one is allowed to express oneself in ways that are not possible in other public contexts. According to humor scholar Joanne R. Gilbert, stand-up comedy is a forum where hierarchies can be turned upside down, power relations are overthrown and social critique can be disguised as entertainment (2004: xii).

In my paper I will present my ongoing dissertation project investigating how Swedish stand-up comedians and their audiences challenge and recreate cultural notions and norms. By applying an intersectional perspective, I analyze how various power structures interacts and strengthens each other, but also are undermined, through humor. The main empirical material consists of observations at different stand-up comedy clubs, interviews with stand-up comedians and interviews with focus groups involving people who have been in the audience at stand-up comedy clubs.

The paper will focus on how stand-up comedians reason about how to joke about various sensitive subjects. How does this relate to cultural notions and norms? How do they mean that their performances are affected by their background and experiences?

REFERENCES

Gilbert, Joanne R. (2004). Performing marginality: humor, gender, and cultural critique. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State University Press.