'Punch up, punch down o! All I know is there is punch': Jokes about Africa(ns) in cross-cultural contexts

Jokes concurrently produce humour and offence owing to differences in cultural considerations of funniness and taboo. With growing audience diversity and online dissemination of live events, stand-up comics are exposed to increased scrutiny for irreverent anecdotes. Yet, 'punching up' has become an acceptable form of benign transgression. This is more so in cross-cultural contexts where differences heighten offence, because jokes do not just make us laugh but also create discomfort, especially when the joke-teller is different from us; whether it is 'up' or 'down', a punch is still a punch. Using the stand-up acts of four African diaspora comedians - Andi Osho, Dave Davis, Urzila Carlson and Trevor Noah - this essay interrogates cross-cultural joke presentation mechanics, themes and performer-audience relations to determine how and why these jokesters variously utilize punch-up jokes. Queries guiding the study include, what performance specificities do humourists enact to mitigate offence while dealing with sensitive/volatile subjects and a more diverse, political correctness-conscious audience? What is/are the relationship(s) between identity, cultural representations and jokes? In answering these questions, the emphasis is on discussing how the selected comedians craftily erect pre-determined sets of values that establish the context(s) within which the offensiveness of their 'punch(es)' is/are mitigated.

Automated summary

Jokes generate both humor and offense due to cultural differences in the perception of humor and taboo. With the increasing diversity of audiences and the online dissemination of live events, stand-up comedians face greater scrutiny for irreverent anecdotes. However, "punching up" has become an acceptable form of harmless transgression. In cross-cultural contexts, where differences amplify offense, jokes not only elicit laughter but also create discomfort.