Stepping into wayne’s world: Exploring postmodern comedy

Abstract

This chapter suggests a scheme for understanding modern comedy that contrasts with its postmodern counterpart. It argues that the modern process of experiencing, reading, and interpreting humour is based upon assumptions of an organised and stable work whereas the postmodern text is a far more malleable and nebulous item. The chapter shows that postmodern comedy demonstrates an awareness and encouragement of its audience’s ability to question and look afresh at performances which effectively opens out the text. The development of a relationship between texts makes it essential to view Wayne’s World, and comedy like it, as a meeting point for numerous other texts each of which carry with them varying implications and shape the way the text is understood. In the modern performance situation, the listener responds to the humorous stimuli provided by the professional performer, and the punchline joke is designed to structure response, limit deviancy and provide the appearance of a recognisable, set structure.