Localizing humor through parodying white voice in Hawai'i stand-up comedy

This discourse analytic study investigates the strategic use of represented talk and thought in Hawai'i stand-up comedy performances. Utilizing the methods and findings of membership categorization, and stylization, I analyze how Local comedians make discursive contrasts by deploying Pidgin (Hawai'i Creole) to voice Locals and by deploying "Haole" ('white') or racially parodied, mock English to voice non-Locals. Findings show that Local comedians and their audiences collaboratively manipulate and display their understanding of these culturally specific indexicals to co-create and localize humor. Analysis further shows that Local humor is a highly political act that is selectively designed for a particular sociolinguistic and cultural audience and sociopolitical context.