RACIAL AND ETHNIC IDENTITY IN STAND-UP COMEDY PERFORMANCE

For years now, many have turned to humour when trying to deal with sensitive subjects which some consider almost taboo. This reach-out towards comedy depends, most of the time, on self-deprecation and exaggerated ethnic stereotypes. The 20th century represented the peak in the process of globalization, when everyone tried to fit in somewhere, to be a part of something bigger. An important branch in this process was and still is ethnicity, a topic used without shame by many stand-up comedians. America was one of the first places in which comedians ventured to employ such themes, usually accompanied by different subjects concerning Latin, Jewish, African-American and Native American humour. A good case in point is Eddie Griffin, as his stand-up comedy shows include references to "white guys", "Latin brothers" Jewish and African-Americans, simply referred to as "niggers", a taboo word with offending connotations which African-Americans usually employ about themselves, especially in humourous contexts, but which is better left out of any conversation between people of other races. The audience for these comedy shows is made up of persons with different cultural backgrounds, their reaction being a positive one throughout the comedy act; thus, intercultural dialogue is encouraged by the nature of this humour used by stand-up comedians during their performances on stage. The aims of this paper are to account for the way in which racial and ethnic identity issues are tackled in the field of humour, especially in the case of stand-up comedy, to discuss the reception of the taboo jokes and to describe how the African-American comedian approaches this type of humour during his live performance.