Joking with social realities
A pragmatic analysis of features of humour in selected Nigerian prank comedy skits
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22096242 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Afeez Kolawole Ayinde (0009-0001-7359-6605, University of Ibadan), Adesina B Sunday (0000-0002-5317-9513, University of Ibadan) |
| Year | 2026 |
| Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 77-97 |
| Publication date | 2026-06-29 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Humour Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2307-700X • E-ISSN: 2307-700X |
| Publisher | Estonian Literary Museum Scholarly Press (PUBLISHER • EE) |
| DOI | 10.7592/ejhr.2026.14.2.1030 |
| OpenAlex | W7166536060 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 30 |
Humour studies in Nigeria have focused predominantly on stand-up comedy and situation comedy. Little attention has been devoted to humour in skit comedy, especially Nigerian prank comedy skits (NPCS). Therefore, this paper examines the construction of humour in NPCS, focusing on Zfancy (Ubani Zion Chibuike), Kun Zlim (Jimoh Wasiu Olawale), MC Makopolo (Mbam Uche Henry) and Teaser Prank (Emmanuel Okeke), with a view to determining the pragmatic features of their jokes and the societal issues foregrounded. Thus, Jacob Mey’s Pragmatic Acts Theory, in addition to Superiority Theory, was adopted for analysis. Data were collected from prank videos of the selected prank comedians on their YouTube channels. This study found that Nigerian prank comedians create humour for their audience through their targets’ reactions. Prank comedians trick their targets in their conversations to act on false belief and react in amusing ways. They deploy the pragmatic acts of threatening, requesting and implicating, in crime-related jokes; warning, in religious jokes; investigating, in linguistic/educational jokes; and inviting, in sexual jokes. The targets’ reactions to these practs create humour for the audience who are aware that the targets’ reactions are based on misconception. Noticeably, crime, religion, education and sexuality are the social themes highlighted in the jokes. The study corroborates the assertion of earlier studies that humour revolves around societal issues
Assertion · Comedy · Human sexuality · Social media · Humor Studies and Applications · Literary Theory and Cultural Hermeneutics · Swearing, Euphemism, Multilingualism
Humorous Texts
Laughter and Ridicule
Irony, Deception and Humour
Semantic Mechanisms of Humor
Pragmatic strategies in the crime narratives of accused rapists in Agodi Custodial Centre, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria
Analysis of the “Digital Prank” Phenomenon From the Psychology Perspective
‘Na Wa o for African Men’
Perception of Pranks on Social Media
The interactional context of humor in Nigerian stand-up comedy
A pragmatic analysis of humour strategies and functions in 'Jenifa's Diary' and 'Professor JohnBull
Exploration of phonological jokes in Maryam Apaokagi's selected comedy skits
Conceptualizing conversational humour as (im)politeness
The stand-up comedian as an egocentric communicator
A pragmatic reading of Ahmed Yerima's proverbs in Yemoja, Attahiru, and Dry Leaves on Ukan Trees
Playing with culture
Social Media Skits
Pragmemes (a study with reference to English and Italian)
| Highly cited | No |
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