LAUGH FOR WHAT? : AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY OF SINGAPORE S STAND-UP COMEDY SCENE
LEKHERAJ SEKHAR
LEKHERAJ SEKHAR
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Abstract
Stand-up comedy has been historically regarded as a platform for discourse through which universally accepted social norms are regularly brought to light and challenged. In the months following the Covid-19 pandemic s unprecedented interruption on Singapore s performing arts scene, a surge of interest was observed in the local stand up comedy scene, with the emergence of new comedy clubs and a new batch of aspiring comedians taking the stage. While local open-mic comedy performances are commonly perceived to be permeable entry points to the stand-up comedy scene that encourage any member of the public to try their hand at performing with minimal barriers of entry, these performances are still observed to operate within broader social structures unique to Singapore s sociocultural context that regulate who gets to perform and what gets to be said. This ethnography ultimately seeks to illuminate the structural forces that go behind shaping the local stand-up comedy performance.
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2024-04-25
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