The corrective social function of performative comedy demonstrated on two instances

Abstract

I argue that performative comedy can be used to apply the corrective social function of humour to achieve a new awareness in people regarding social issues, in this case racism. Comedians are usually marginalized in some way. Some sort of Otherness characterizes their view of the world. Standing in the margins gives comics a unique view of the world, and in particular, a special view of what made them other. Performative comedy is comedians performing their marginalization. They, by being marginalized, are socially licenced to subvert and critique social norms. When they perform these subversions for us, and make us laugh, usually at ourselves, our laughter is revelatory. What is revealed is that subverted or critiqued norm. To see this social ill through the comic's eyes is revelatory. We see with new eyes. Our laughter signals the change to new thinking, the corrected thinking. Laughter is special in that we only laugh at comedy we think is true in some sense.