Humorous Irony in Female Stand-Up Comedy: A Sociopragmatic Analysis

Through a sociopragmatic and discursive analysis, this chapter examines the impact of humorous irony on the discursive construction of feminine gender identity in subversive stand-up comedy. Drawing on insights from previous literature on this topic, we argue that irony is a strategic tool for challenging stereotypes and expectations about feminine behavior and labels. By analyzing the FEMMES-UP corpus, which includes 15 stand-up acts from 2017 and 2018, totaling 805 minutes and 97,749 words in 504 sequences, we explore how comedians use irony to create distance from their messages and elicit humor. Data shows that the use of humorous irony in this type of discourse implies a negative evaluation of something or someone and, at the same time, promotes solidarity with the ingroup. This has been exemplified in the analysis of the humorous sequences in which we have seen that, despite the implicit criticism in irony, the audience can infer the comedian’s positive attitude and humorous intention. In sum, our study shows that female stand-ups use humorous irony to disassociate themselves from certain gender-based behavioral norms, to construct alternative identities, and to question some heteronormative norms in a creative humorous fashion.