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In:Participation in Public and Social Media Interactions
Edited by Marta Dynel and Jan Chovanec
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 256] 2015
► pp. 27–47

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Participation frameworks and participation in televised sitcom, candid camera and stand-up comedy

Published online: 12 February 2015
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https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.256.02bro
In order to reconstruct the participation frameworks of three TV comedy subgenres, this article follows the common differentiation into the fictitious characters’ communication and the discourse between a comedy’s production crew and the television audience. The TV viewer is conceptualised as the central and ratified empirical recipient. At the same time, it is argued that a fictitious overhearer’s position is created for her/him on the level of the characters’ communication, using camera position, sound and other technical means. Participation frameworks are reconstructed for sitcom, candid camera and stand-up comedy, which differ considerably from each other and are definitive for their respective sub-genre. Some manipulations of the basic constellations are also analysed, including meta-humour.
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