Jokes inviting more than laughter … Joan Rivers' political-rhetorical world view

Author: DON, WAISANEN

Source: Comedy Studies, Volume 2, Number 2, 28 September 2011 , pp. 139-150(12)

Publisher: Intellect

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Abstract:

This article examines the worldview of comedian Joan Rivers. I conducted a close examination of her Live at the Apollo transcript through systematic discourse analysis. I found several distinct clusters emerging in Rivers' act, involving rhetorics of optimism, uncertainty, egocentricity and realism. In using such language, Rivers invites her audiences to ingest and adopt certain structures of thinking and choices of interpretation characterized by both positive and negative features. I conclude that these communicative themes give us reason to be ambivalent about the comedian's stand-up as a contribution to public discourse. Several implications are drawn regarding the possibilities and limitations of comedy as a pervasive mode of public communication.

Keywords: comedy; rhetoric; persona; Joan Rivers; DICTION 5.0

Document Type: Research article

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1386/cost.2.2.139_1

Affiliations: 1: Baruch College, City University of New York

Publication date: 2011-09-28

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Comedy Studies covers multiple aspects of comedy, with articles about both contemporary and historical comedy, interviews with practicing comedians and writers, reviews, letters and editorials. The journal seeks to be instrumental in creating interdisciplinary discourse about the nature and practice of comedy, providing a forum for the disparate voices of comedians, academics and writers.
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