Two Immigrant Humor Styles of Stand-up Comedy A Linguistic Perspective

Two immigrant humor styles of stand-up comedy: word-play and performing are discussed in this study with reference to related linguistic theories. By a comparative analysis of two immigrant comedians' stand-ups, we conclude that figurative language is a distinctive feature in Joe's jokes to make people laugh and the paralinguistic features are preferred by Russell. According to the global popularity of the two comedians, we tentatively conclude that a stand-up with active vocal and physical strategies is more easily identified with by audience of diversified social backgrounds, and can often get immediate feedback. Whereas, although a word-play style often leaves with deeper impression and makes one laugh longer, it's hard to be taken in by all people with different cultural backgrounds.