April 12, 2007 — Stand-up comedy routines, which often only involve a lone comedian on a stage with a microphone, appear to be simple performances, but a new study reveals many acts follow a complex formula strengthened by multiple linguistic techniques.
If done incorrectly or with malice, such routines can lead to serious problems, as recently illustrated by comics Don Imus and Michael Richards. The techniques, however, also help to explain the success of entertainers like Robin Williams, Richard Pryor, Dave Chappelle and Eddie Izzard, two of whose routines were analyzed for the study.
"He is a very complicated performer," author Douglas Glick said of Eddie Izzard, "especially when you see how many pages it took me to describe analytically what (is for Izzard) 2-3 minutes of material at the most."
The study has been accepted for publication in the journal Language & Communication.
Glick, an assistant professor of anthropology at Binghamton University in New York, explained that many modern stand-up routines follow three steps. The first Glick describes as "foregrounding," which is coming up with a concept or situation that is unexpected.
During the second step, the comic "sets up a comparison that sets up the joke."
The third "pay off" step occurs when the comic leads the audience to "discover something else about the context of the performance — either in the performance, as for Izzard, or from our general cultural knowledge — that makes the comparison between what we expected, and what happened, funny."
Throughout the steps, the comic may also use techniques such as chronotopes, which can include creating imaginary people that speak in real time, but yet are meant to exist in a different time and space.
"Poetic parallelisms" are another technique. They refer to when a comic "does the same thing again and again" with, in some instances, slight variations or different levels of extremity. "It is a method for creating meaning for the audience," Glick said.
To illustrate the formula, he described two Izzard routines. During the first, Izzard speaks in his own British voice and says, "We stole countries with the cunning use of flags. We just sailed around the world and stuck a flag in them."
He then personifies Britain as a spoiled child who speaks to the Indians. A Cockney-speaking character personifies the Indians. This section correlates with Glick’s first step.
Izzard then develops a conversation between the spoiled child and the Cockney, comprising the second step.
