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FINDING THE GAME: A CONVERSATION ANALYSIS OF LAUGHABLES AND PLAY FRAMES IN COMEDIC IMPROV
Abstract
This thesis uses a conversation analytic (CA) approach to analyze the function of laughter in organizing live improv performances, focusing on laughable turns. In particular the study examines the role of play frames in laughter. Play is defined by nonserious sequences signaled by metacommunication or contextualization cues. These cues act in conjunction with projectability strategies used by performers to 'find' or coconstruct the 'game of the scene,' which is defined by repetition of nonserious behavior. The study uses CA methods to analyze transcribed video tape data of performances of a local Athens improv troupe. The study concludes that audience members rely on projectable cues to sequence enmasse turntaking and performers make heavy use of metamessages to signal salient patterns to fellow performers. In conjunction, projectability and paralinguistic cues combine to describe how improvisers identify and repeat patterns to play conversational 'games.'
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This paper examines unintentional humour, as a non-bona-fide instance of communication, in the translation of shop signs in the Jordanian public commercial environment. It shows that unintentional humour not only permeates a shop sign's translated version, but is also indissolubly linked to its lingua-cultural and social context. Closer scrutiny reveals that unintentional humour, just like intentional humour, essentially emerges from script opposition and script overlap (Raskin, 1985), where the communicator unconsciously infringes one or more of the Maxims of Conversation (Grice, 1975). The analysis also indicates that, in interlingual communication, unintentional humour hinges upon the interaction between the mediated script and the receiver, apart from the producer; particularly, upon the output of the communicator's interlingual translation competence, which is extricably bound to be conducive of humour-inducing potential.
The Improv Handbook is the most comprehensive, smart, helpful and inspiring guide to improv available today. Applicable to comedians, actors, public speakers and anyone who needs to think on their toes, it features a range of games, interviews, descriptions and exercises that illuminate and illustrate the exciting world of improvised performance.
First published in 2008, this second edition features a new foreword by comedian Mike McShane, as well as new exercises on endings, managing blind offers and master–servant games, plus new and expanded interviews with Keith Johnstone, Neil Mullarkey, Jeffrey Sweet and Paul Rogan.
The Improv Handbook is a one-stop guide to the exciting world of improvisation. Whether you’re a beginner, an expert, or would just love to try it if you weren’t too scared, The Improv Handbook will guide you every step of the way.
This book presents a theory of long humorous texts based on a revision and an upgrade of the General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH), a decade after its first proposal. The theory is informed by current research in psycholinguistics and cognitive science. It is predicated on the fact that there are humorous mechanisms in long texts that have no counterpart in jokes. The book includes a number of case studies, among them Oscar Wilde's Lord Arthur Savile's Crime and Allais' story Han Rybeck. A ground-breaking discussion of the quantitative distribution of humor in select texts is presented. © 2001 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co. KG, D-10785 Berlin. All rights reserved.
This article investigates spontaneous humour-related phenomena in TV documentary, arguing that their presence helps to overcome the scripted nature of the genre. Focusing on the diegetic level of interaction between the presenter and other individuals present in the scene, the analysis traces how the interlocutors achieve mutual in-tune-ness that is necessary for setting up the play frame. It pays attention to several humour-related phenomena, including non-humorous laughter, joint joking and physical pranks. The findings indicate that while laughter can alleviate tension associated with face-threat or personal failure, other forms of humour emerge in the diegetic frame as part of the programme producers’ design to divert from the transactional mode of factual television to a more entertaining hybrid format based on a significant experiential component. As a result, TV viewers do not simply receive information but derive pleasure from the playful spontaneity performed for their benefit by the presenter and other interlocutors.