Crossing borders at Comedy Café Amsterdam: Utilising humour as an intercultural and interpersonal adhesive

Abstract

This thesis is an examination of what humour is and what its effects can be within the context of a comedy club named Comedy Café Amsterdam. Focusing on stand-up comedy, this study looks at how performative humour can function as a social glue between individuals. Even though humorous remarks can be interpreted as a personal attack and have a negative effect for the individual, stand-up comedians skilfully try to manipulate audience members in order to render disparaging remarks more positively. It becomes apparent that humour production, interpretation and appreciation are rather intricate phenomena. Ethnographic research allows for a thorough examination of this interplay between ‘sender’ and ‘recipient’ and offers an insight into how communication through the means of interaction within stand-up comedy can contribute to a feeling of belonging instead of increased distance between an individual and the Other. Humour can function as an adhesive between individuals with different opinions, aggregating frames of references in the process and enhancing interpersonal and intercultural contact. The sensitivity of the comedian and the openness of the recipient bear the crucial ingredients for such a form of communication to manifest itself. It is perhaps Comedy Café Amsterdam that provides the context in which this all happens as it attempts to offer the right circumstances to make an ephemeral in-group arise.