Exploring Indian stand-up comedy through the lens of ideology, identity and gender: a discourse analysis

Abstract Despite being a diverse, vibrant and multifaceted phenomenon, relatively little academic attention has been paid in analysing Indian stand-up comedy. This paper attempts to address this imbalance by offering pathways in the analysis of stand-up comedy. Employing examples from the performances of the comedians and adopting discourse analysis methodology, this paper focuses on the issues like language ideology, identity and gender embeddedness in Indian Stand-up comedy. We have argued that the comedy employs several performative techniques such as linguistic code switching and calculative pauses to create humor. Through our work, we have demonstrated how ideology and identity constructions are simultaneously reinforced and subverted within the same comic moment. Finally, the extracted portion of recorded performances shows that the whole event unfolds as an informal, naturally developing encounter between audience and comedian.