ON CAMEO MANIFESTATION IN AMERICAN SITUATIONAL COMEDIES AND SKETCH COMEDIES

ON CAMEO MANIFESTATION IN AMERICAN SITUATIONAL COMEDIES AND SKETCH COMEDIES

Author:  А.I. Bochkarev 1, N.Е. Makarova 2

Affiliation:  1 Novosibirsk State Technical University, 2 Novosibirsk State Technical University

Abstract:  The article explores the manifestation of cameo in humorous discourse. A comprehensive axiological approach is employed to study this phenomenon. The data analyzed in this paper comprises recordings and scripts of more than 300 episodes of different sitcoms and 100 episodes of sketch comedy. In humorous discourse cameo can function as one of the mechanisms to obtain humor. So, the very appearance of a celebrity in an episode can evoke a humorous effect. As a mechanism to obtain humor, cameo represents an example of referential non-verbal humor. Additionally, cameo’s appearance enhances humorous potential of the situations by facilitating such essential conditions for obtaining humorous effects as suddenness, novelty and joy. The authors have identified three main types of cameos in humorous discourse: celebrities under their real names, celebrities as characters of the comedy and celebrities as their famous characters from other works. It is an allusion that is considered to be the key language humor mechanism when cameos are performing, while it can be supported by antithesis, contrast, litotes, and hyperboles. The analysis shows that cameos receive mostly positive non-verbal emotion tracks and positive verbal reaction from characters of the work.

Keywords:  cameo, axiological approach, humorous discourse, emotion track, celebrities, allusions.

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For citation:  Bochkarev, А. I., & Makarova, N. Е. (2024). On cameo manifestation in American situational comedies and sketch comedies. Voprosy Kognitivnoy Lingvistiki, 3, 78-86 (In Russ.).

Pages:  78-86