Comedy in the era of a pandemic: a content analysis of COVID-19 comedy skits

Abstract

In a critical health situation, humour in the form of comedy is still prevalent in the public domain as a stimulus to induce mirthfulness in an audience. Even though humour is found to have a positive relationship with health and it could be a tool for effective communication during critical health situations,  studies on the content and strategies used in comedy skits during the corona virus invasion are limited, if not non-existent. In this study, the researchers analysed ten comedy skits of “The Winlos” and “Mark Angel Comedy” to ascertain the content and the rhetorical strategies used in the comedy skits. Using the Burkean Dramatic Criticism approach and the theory of humour as analytical frameworks, the study revealed that the content of comedy skits on the corona virus pandemic covered the nature of the virus, the preventive measures and government interventions. Moreover, the study revealed that the comedians in the selected comedy skits used rhetorical devices such as simile, irony, slang, rhetorical questions and paralinguistic devices to achieve comic effects. Based on the informative nature of the comedy skits on the pandemic, the researchers recommend incorporation of comedy skits in the risk communication plan when dealing with a pandemic.