Nurturing affiliation: The interpersonal, multimodal work of stand-up comedians

Abstract

The process of nurturing affiliation (put simply, community building) is a significant function of language that is crucial for success in a range of occupations, including teaching, professional development presenting and stand-up comedy. Indeed, comedians themselves in interviews and podcast conversations often reference this function of their job. Despite the ubiquity of comedians in the Western media as presenters, panellists and entertainers with the potential to influence popular culture in Australia, their work is largely unexamined from the perspective of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL). This study, then, asks: How do successful stand-up comedians work to nurture a sense of community with their audiences? In answering this question (and related sub-questions), the study analyses how aspects of both language and paralanguage are used across three one-hour plus videos of live performances by Australian comedians Dave Hughes, Kitty Flanagan and Adam Hills, with a focus on identifying intermodal patternings. The methodology was multimodal discourse analysis, a form of analysis that explores the way language and other semiotic systems are used to make meaning within social contexts. Using a research process derived from this approach, a macro-analysis to gain insight to the logogenesis of the performances was undertaken, followed by a micro analysis of 22 critical incidents across the performances focussed on the role of APPRAISAL and BONDING resources in enacting tenor relationships implicated in the nurturing of affiliation. Based on this analysis, it is proposed that a sense of closeness and alignment of values (keys to affiliation) between the audience and comedian is achieved (in part) by the strategically unfolding use of semiotic ensembles that allow the comedians to distance themselves in various ways from the expression of socially risky values.