Flouting Grice’s Maxims in Stand-Up Comedy

This study examines how Gricean maxim flouting contributes to humor in Good Deal, a stand-up special by Jimmy O. Yang (2020). Using Grice’s (1975) Cooperative Principle and theory of maxim flouting, 135 instances of maxim violations were first analyzed, and then categorized into single and multiple maxim floutings. The findings reveal that the Maxim of Quality was the most frequently flouted (50%), primarily through exaggeration, irony, and falsehoods, while the Maxim of Relation (12%) was often violated via unexpected responses. In contrast, Maxims of Quantity (3%) and Manner (1%) were rarely flouted, suggesting Yang’s preference for overstatement and absurdity over ambiguity or omission. Additionally, multiple maxim floutings (34%), particularly combinations of Quality and Quantity or Quality and Relation, played a crucial role in humor construction, demonstrating how layered violations helped enhance comedic impact. These results align with those of previous research on stand-up comedy as a genre that subverts conversational expectations, reinforcing the role of ethnographic and cultural factors in comedic delivery. This study contributes to pragmatics and humor research by illustrating how linguistic manipulation in stand-up comedy can trigger audience laughter. Future research can expand this research line by comparing maxim flouting patterns across different stand-up comedians and cultural contexts.

Art · Comedy · Cooperative principle · Grice · Linguistics · Literature · Politeness · Politeness maxims · Pragmatics · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies · Law in Society and Culture · Philosophy · Translation Studies and Practices