Cohesion and Coherence in Stand-Up Comedy
Looking at stand-up comedy shows with the study of cohesion devices in mind reveals a number of interesting facts. As was said before, one point of clear interest is the fact that in stand-up comedy, there is very little -at least, obvious- topic continuity. A stand-up comedy show is not supposed to be “about” one given topic or even one specific story; stand-up comedy routines are made up of a succession of unrelated anecdotes with swift and regular shifts, so that they do not have an overt coherent form. Some comedians may just keep it random, but a number of comedians do try and build something out of very unsystematic material.
A previous study of the question (Chauvin 2015) has allowed us to describe some of the devices that are found in shows. Among the techniques that can be found are:
- - Structural repetition;
- - Incremental topic shift;
- - The use of discourse markers;
- - NP-based topic introduction.
These devices may be used separately or conjointly; we will start by describing them with the help of a few examples.
Structural repetition is very close to rhetorical (vs. linguistic) anaphora, where a given word or structure is repeated at the beginning of each verse. In our case, each sequence[1] may be introduced with the same phrasing. Even though the sequences have nothing or little to do with each other, repetition creates artificial cohesion and makes the show “feel” like a whole. In Qualmpeddler (Chauvin 2015), Bill Bailey introduces three very different sequences in his way (example 1):
(1) A. So I was in China...
B. So, anyway, I was in South Africa... (repeated after a parenthesis) So I was in South Africa...
C. So I was in America, obviously...
Incremental topic shift is something that according to Conversation Analysis can be found in spontaneous conversation as well (see, for instance, the synthesis proposed by Levinson in Levinson 1983). If the way in which shifts occur is examined, the amount of topic discontinuity, which is present in stand-up comedy, can be seen to be less than assumed. In stand-up comedy too, one topic can be -sometimes loosely- connected to another, which in turn is connected to another, so that at the macro level there is a great deal of discontinuity, but at the micro level there are continuity links between topics. An example was discussed in (Chauvin 2015) from Qualmpeddler (example 2). Bill Bailey introduces himself. This leads to the mention of TV shows, which in turn brings about the mention of celebrities. This leads to politicians as celebrities, and reality-TV celebrities. This is followed by an anecdote involving a reality-TV celebrity, which (because of its content) brings in a discussion of cognitive dissonance and of the naming of body parts. If topics are examined independently, they seem entirely random, but there are local connections which account for the diversity of topics. Another example is the following excerpt from Eddie Izzard’s Circle (example 3): a mention of the Pope is followed by a discussion of the Beatles and a reflection on the British English phrase “It’s the dog’s bollocks”, then the discussion goes back to popes. This does involve digressions, but it is also the fact that the Pope at the time is called John-Paul that leads to the Beatles (John Paul George Ringo), and as he discusses the fact that it sounds “cool” he uses the phrase “the dog’s bollocks”, which he pauses to comment upon, and finally he comes back to the names of popes. It may be slightly more random, but it is still (often) locally connected. It can be noted that the presence of local links may be an aesthetic device, as it may also be used to emulate “spontaneous” speech, but, of course, it may simply also make the routine easier to memorize. Other techniques may be involved. For instance, one topic may branch off into two. One thread is followed, and then the one that was left aside is taken up again, so that the connection is not local but has to be found at a preceding node in the show: Bill Bailey does that several times in Dandelion Mind, where, for instance, he introduces the topic of doubt, which then branches off into first a sequence on science, and then another one on pictures and sculptures representing St Thomas, the doubter. When a topic is introduced, a series of possible illustrations may also be proposed: Twitter is mentioned, and then a series of anecdotes are mentioned that are related to his own account, Obama’s account, and the Queen’s account (example 4). Connections therefore can be strictly speaking local, but also start from hubs at certain moments in the show.
Discourse markers. The use of discourse markers is not specific to stand-up comedy, but they are used in ways that also contribute to the structuring of the show, whether their use is spontaneous on the comedian’s part -it just comes “naturally” since it corresponds to a common context of use in English-, or whether it is integrated into its structure -when they are gimmicks, or are parts of rehearsed introductory phrases or transitions. So seems[2] to be frequently used to resume talk on a previous topic after a digression. Right and anyway, or combinations, such as so anyway, are also found. Jo Brand, for instance (example 5), seems to use right regularly when an endpoint has been reached. Whether they are natural or used as a device, their presence signals the sequencing to the audience, and they can therefore be said to indicate topic continuity and function as sequence markers. An example of a discourse marker used as a gimmick is so...yeah in early Eddie Izzard (example 6). What was perhaps originally just an idiosyncrasy came to be a stylistic marker used by imitators[3] or even used self-referentially -i.e. it becomes typical of a comedian’s style and can come to be used against the expectation that the audience will recognize it. Like the “writing-on-hand” gesture,[4] such markers can become gimmicks an audience recognizes and therefore develop into a possible vector of bonding (see Sect. 6.3), as well as “just” being discourse markers.
NP-based topic introduction. When a topic is abruptly introduced, it can be done openly, typically by simply using a noun phrase, preceded or not by a discourse marker: And - NP! So... NP! Eddie Izzard does this very often; in Circle, he does it several times to introduce a new topic within the show (example 7):
(7) So yeah, now -The Pope. What’s going on there?
Force Majeure starts in a similar way: a first topic is openly introduced as a new topic as he pretends to be thinking about a possible way to start (example 8):
(8) So where should we start this show? Ah, yes -human sacrifice! That’s a good place to start.
These last two examples may seem to emphasize the fact that shows are basically discontinuous, but they also mean that sequences may be organized around topics, and routines organized thematically and formally. Announcing topics in this way may be abrupt, but this procedure also draws the audience’s attention to topic introduction or change, and functions as a warning. At the discourse level there may be discontinuity, but this is partly amended at the interpersonal level, as the hearer is warned that there is going to be an unexpected jump.
So all in all, in spite of its apparent randomness, stand-up comedy does make use of cohesive devices. A number of these, if not all, may not be specific to the genre, but the uniqueness of stand-up comedy may be found in the combination of such features. Now callbacks may be more specific to the genre. Their nature and role will now be examined.
- [1] We will not discuss how the notion of sequences can be applied to shows in detail here.
- [2] These remarks are provisional.
- [3] Cf. Phill Jupitus in Quadrophobia (or other shows, cf. QI, Series 10, Episode 3) who uses yeah-as well as Good thing, and True story- to imitate Eddie Izzard.
- [4] When the audience does not seem to respond to something, Izzard, speaking to himself, sayssomething along the lines of Do not ever mention that again, Never use these two together again,and pretends to write it on his hand for future reference. This has become a well-known gesture andis used across shows.
