Engaging with female stand-up comedians in Rock & Roast 3 : Genres, Gender and Women’s humor

Abstract: This research bears the research gaps of Chinese stand-up comedy and female stand-up comedians in mind, aiming to contribute to the lesser researched field of Chinese female stand-up comedy. Audience research is the bedrock of this research which sheds light on how audiences define, interpret and evaluate the genre of stand-up comedy and female stand-up comedy. To narrow the topic down, Rock & Roast 3 as one of the most popular “grassroots” stand-up comedy talent shows in China is a case in point that displays the burgeoning female stand-up comedians in China. In this regard, gender is foregrounded as the research focuses on female stand-up comedians. Gender as such is studied concerning humor, genre and modes of engagement which are potent to provide a holistic picture of the situation of female stand-up comedians within the stand-up comedy industry and comedy industry at large. Based on the research aims, the research questions are crafted to unveil, firstly, the empowerment of stand-up comedy as a new and western-imported genre; and secondly, how audiences engage with female stand-up comedians in Rock & Roast 3; then thirdly, the obstacles, limitations, and potential of women’s humor. Accordingly, this research employs semi-structured and in-depth interviews as the qualitative method to probe the reflections of audiences who cognitively and emotionally engage with female stand-up comedians. Further, audiences’ interpretations are transcribed into NVivo to generate thematic and analytical codes that correspond to research questions. This research argues the genre of stand-up comedy empowers female comedians in terms of the power of discourse, which is not only downgraded in crosstalk and sketch comedy as traditional genres of Chinese comedy but also restrained in gender segregation that is influenced by Confucian ideologies. Moreover, this research shows audiences cognitively and emotionally engage with female stand-up comedians, prominently through emotional identification and critical reflection. In addition, female audiences are prone to identify with the marginalized gender identity of female comedians. Last but not the least, it further attempts to approach women’s humor and feminist humor in the Chinese context, putting forward the women’s humor is dramatically restrained with regard to topics, aggressive humor and media censorship.