Humour and politics. A discursive approach to humour

Abstract

Power has always been a desirable target for humour. It seems politicians are easy to make fun of. In fact, humour and politics are interrelated from times immemorial and they are a favoured field of research in the Human and Social Sciences. The aim of this study is to show the potential of a discursive-enunciative category, the point of view (POV (Rabatel, 2003, 2009, 2019), in analysing nonsense humour. From among the existing theories, we have opted for Charaudeau's proposal (2006, 2011, 2013) of a communication theory of humour because it provides a comprehensive analysis of verbal humour at all linguistic levels. The analysis data consist of journalistic humorous columns by Ricardo Araújo Pereira, published in Visão, a Portuguese weekly magazine. Given the widespread acceptance of Ricardo Araújo Pereira’s humour in Portuguese society, it can be considered the paradigm of a modern form of humour in Portugal, which has been clearly influenced by the English comedy troupe, Monty Python.