Name : Fadly Dzil Ikram

NPM : A1B014060

Class :B

A Rhetorical Analysis on Jim Jeffreis Stand Up Comedy Show

 Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1.Background of The Study

Humor can serve functions psychologically and socially. According to Melinda in

Health Benefits of Humor and Laughter (2013), psychologically, humor helps people to stay

emotionally healthy because it has power of changing moods by taking out of depression.

Socially, humor strengthens relationship by triggering positive feelings because when people

share humor, a positive bond is created (Ziv, 1986:176).

There are four definitions of humor. Hay suggests that humor is anything the speakers

intend to be funny (2000: 715). Dineh Davis (2008:238) defines humor as any sudden episode

of joy associated with a new discovery that is self-rated as funny. Veatch (1998:164) adds that

humor is an emotional pain that does not hurt. Similar to Veatch, Krorenberger in Davis states

that humor simultaneously hurts and heals.

The most common parameter of humor is laughter because humor is directly related to

laughter. However, humor does not always result in laughter and laughter is not always an

outcome of humor (Attardo, 1994:117). Moreover, the absence of laughter is actually one of

several possible reactions to humor and it does not necessarily mean failure to understand the

humorous import of the utterance.

Comedy is designed to make people laugh. Comedians borned to make comedy.

(Greene, 2012). Nowadays, stand up comedy become most favourite comedy shows. The

Comic or standup comic is not about simply convincing an audience that you are funny,

although that is neccessary; it is also teaching the audience that there is a different way to think

about it. (Sankey, 1998).

 The researcher would like choose one stand up comedy that really famous. In this case

the object of this study of Jim Jefferies on his documentarys show in tittle Freedumb. Jim

Jefferies....(who is he?)

jelaskan, bahwa belum ada penelitian mengenai rhetorical analysis about stand up

comedy. Amati previous study!

There is a corelation between rhetoric and stand comedy. The comic uses a rhetorical

style in order to attract people attention to get laugh, to make people enjoy with his

performance. Rhetorical structure is kind of technique to structurize the language in written or

spoken for achieving effective on communication by using language as medium. By using

rhetorical structure in stand up comedy, the comic can create effecticve and efficent

communicatiob to audience, therefore the comic can drive the audiences for laughing when he

teold the jokes.

This study aimed to analyse the rhetoric structure in Stand-Up Comedy by using Labov

theories. Labov (1972) on analysing the structure generic text which contain abstract,

orientation, complication, resolution, and coda.

1.1.Previous Study

Previous study gives contribution along the process of understanding the case and leads

the researcher to find relevant theories. There are two previous study as the reading materials

before the researcher finds the relevant theories to strenghten the analysis.

The first one is Rhetoric in Comedy : How Comedians Use Persuasion and How Society

Uses Comedians by Grace F. Greene in 2012. The aims of this study is to analyze how

comedian use persuasion techniques in order to attract people attention.

 The second is Rhetorical Analysis of Donald Trumps Presidential Candidacy

Announcement Speech by Yusri (2016). This research aim to analyse the way someone

persuade other, on how audience put attention on someone speech.

1.2.Research Questions

Based on the background of the research, the research questions can be formulated as

follow :

1. Which characteristics make stand up comedy humorous?

2. What is the rhetorical structure on Jim JefferiesStand up Comedy?

1.3.Limitation of The Research

This research focus on Jim Jeffrey Stand Up Comedy in titled The Secret Happines

which will research on rhetorical structure and rhetorical devices.

1.4.Objective of The Research

The objecive of this research can be formulated as follow:

2. To find out the characteristic of jokes that expressed in Jim JefferiesStand Up Comedy.

3. To find out rhetorical structure in Jim JefferiesStand Up Comedy.

1.5.Significance of The Research

Theoretically, the findings of the research could enrich the study in linguistics,

especially in discourse analysis.

Practically, the findings may be useful for the following parties:

a. The students of English Language and Literature study program. The research is

expected to give some contributions to discourse analysis concerning on rhetorical

analysis.
 b. The other researchers, hopefully, this can be a motivation to conduct other research in

linguistics concerning humor, since this study is least conducted.

Chapter II

Literature Review

3.1. Rhetorical Analysis

Rhetoric have put attention from inclusive approach to analytic method.The focus of

rhetoricians attention is widening, however, from public to private spheres, from official to

vernacular rhetoric, from oratory to written and multimedia discourse, from the carefully

crafted to spontaneous discourse emerging from fleeting everyday rhetorical situations.

Nowadays, rhetoric is not only talking about politics, it can be anything. It is not only about

politic, but also about the rhetoric of history and the rhetoric of popular culture; not just about

the rhetoricity of formal argument but also about the rhetoricity of personal identity. To address

these new concerns and sites, we need to continue to supplement traditional modes of work

with new techniques for analyzing the language of text and talk and with ways of describing
the sociocultural and material contexts of discourse. Since at least as long ago as the

Wingspread conference in 1970, evaluations of the health of rhetoric as a discipline have

stressed the widening, deepening object of rhetorical study and the need for appropriate

methods and conceptual frameworks for exploring this object. In the proceedings of that

conference (Bitzer & Black 1971).

Some definitions of rhetorical discourse distinguish it primarily through the assumption

that it is discourse that is intended to change, and capable of changing, the situation for which

it was designed. Attempting to define and study rhetorical spaces, and the tensions between

presumed rhetorical agency and acknowledged constraints of context, has proven to be one of

contemporary rhetoricsmost productive theoretical problems (cf. Bitzer 1968; Vatz 1973).

3.2. Language and Humour

The topic of humor has been debatable for centuries. Three theories explain why people

are motivated to use humor: superiority, relief, and incongruity. Superiority theory is usually

associated with laughing at others inadequacies. By laughing at others, people realize of being

superior to someone else (Loizou, 2008:190). The idea is that superiority humor is the

realization of feeling pleasure because of other peoples suffering (Morreall, 2009:4).

The relief theory is based on the idea that humor is used to release tension. Spencer in

Martin (2010:33) argues that laughter serves for relieving excess tension in the nervous system.

According to the theory, when people laugh, people expend energy that is normally used to

keep forbidden impulses. Laughter is an expression of the relief felt when the pressure is

released.
 The last is incongruity theory. Incongruity is usually defined as a conflict between what

is expected and what actually occurs. According to Berger in Anatomy, all humor involves

some kind of a difference between what is expected and what is got. Schonpenhaur in Grotewell

(2008:191) states that incongruity is a mismatch when hearer expects to get an answer based

on the understanding of common knowledge about certain things; however, the answer is

contradictive or even out of expectation.

Three theories of humor can be applied in terms of language because language and

humor are inseparable. The best theory to explain the relation between language and humor is

incongruity theory where linguist and humor theorist have the same understanding: humor

exists when there is incongruity in language. As a conclusion, humor is created through

language incongruity. Language incongruity appears when people break cooperative

principles.

3.3. Stand Up Comedy

In this section provide a brief, initial overview of the differences between stand-up

monologue and conversational dialogue, and contrast between joke telling in stand up comedy

and conversational joke telling.

3.3.1. Difference Between Stand Up Monologue and Conversational Dialogue

According to Attardo (2001), stand up comedy is a highly artificial, scripted

genre. It represents a genre in which a single comedian comes on stage with

microphone and starts performance in front of audience. However, in the

conversation, it is rare that only one person speaks, while the others listen carefully,

and let the speaker finish without interrupting.

3.3.2. Difference between Joke Telling in Stand Up Comedy and Conversational Joke

Telling

According to Attardo and Chabanne (1992), comic monologues are often

difficult to distinguish from jokes from a textuxal point of view and sometimes

they are just a chain of punch line.

 Chapter III

Methodology

This chapter will explain the detail information about methodology used in this

research. The methodology used in this research will help the researcher to solve the research

problem.

3.1. Research Type

This research is conducted by using qualitative approach to describe the data.

Vanderstoep and Johnston (2008: 167) state that the purpose of qualitative research is more

descriptive rather than predictive. The goal is to understand in depth, the researchers

viewpoint. The researcher does not influence or interfere the data but has a role as tools that

desribe or interpret the data.

3.2. Form and Source of Data

The object of this research is Jim Jeffrey Stand Up Comedy Show. The data in this

research are in the form of utterances done by the characters. This is in line with Bungin

(2007:28) who mentions that qualitative data are in the forms of sentences, utterances, or even

short stories.

The data will taken from subtitle script that will scripted by the researcher.

3.3. Data Collecting Techniques

 The researcher conducted the following procedure on gaining the data by doing several

steps. They are :

1. Downloading the video from youtube.

2. Watching the video in order to see the phenomena constructing humour used by Comic,

and than write the subtitle script.

3. Re checking the transcript whether it is the same as what is spoken by the comic.

4. Reading the transcript many times to determine the utterances that could be taken as

data.

5. Classifying the data into data sheet.

References

Attardo, Salvatore. 1993. Violation of Conversational Maxims and Cooperation : The case of

Jokes. Journal of Pragmatics 19. 537 - 558

Berger, Arthur Asa. 1995. Blind Men and Elephants: Perspectives on Humor. New Jersey:

Transaction Publisher.

Greene.F,Grace. 2012. Rhetoric in Comedy : How Comedians Use Persuasion and How

Society Use Comedians. The Corinthian : Vol. 13, Article 11.

Grotewell, Petr G. 2008. Early Childhood Education. New York: Nova Publisher.

Hayworth, Donald. 1941. An Introduction to Public Speaking. New York: Ronald Press

Company.

Morreall, John. 2009. Comic Relief: A Comprehensive Philosophy of Humor. Oxford : Willey-

Blackwell.
Smith, Melinda. 2013. Laughter is the Best Medicine:The Health Benefits of Humor and

Laughter. Retrieved on August 19. 2013 from http://m.helpguide.org/articles/

emotional-health/humor-laughter-health