An Analysis of the Construction of Humour in Trevor Noah's Stand-Up Comedy Show

Abstract

This research analyzes Trevor Noah's stand-up comedy performance titled How the British Took Over India to examine how humour is constructed through the interaction between flouted maxims and incongruity. This research applies Grice's (1975) Cooperative Principle, particularly the concept of flouted maxims, together with Incongruity Theory. This performance was selected because the dialogue between the colonizer and colonized characters that produces a humorous effect is presented in a very interesting way by Trevor Noah. This research aims to provide a more thorough explanation of humour construction, not merely limited to identifying the types of flouted maxims, but also analyzing how flouted maxims create unexpected responses that produce incongruity and give rise to humour. This study employed a descriptive qualitative method, with data consisting of 16 dialogues transcribed from the performance video and verified through repeated observation, using audience laughter as the data indicator. The data were analyzed through three stages: contextualizing each dialogue, analyzing the flouting of maxims, and explaining the incongruity that arises between the audience's expectations and the colonized's responses. The results show that humour is not constructed solely by the presence of flouted maxims, but through a sequential pragmatic process in which flouted maxims elicit responses that deviate from the audience's expectations shaped by general understandings of colonialism, thus creating incongruity that generates the humorous effect. The analysis also shows that literal interpretation, unexpected refusal, irrelevant response, absurd reaction, and reversal of power are the foundations of Trevor Noah's humour construction. Thus, the relationship between flouted maxims and incongruity is an important foundation in the construction of humour in this stand-up comedy performance, where flouted maxims act as a pragmatic mechanism in creating incongruity.