Abstract
This chapter presents an analysis of ‘Juhani Nevalainen, musician not comedian’, as an example of alternative comedy in Finland, making use of the concepts of metacomedy and anticomedy, understood as performances that explicitly or implicitly comment on or question conventional aspects of stand-up comedy. It is argued that Nevalainen’s performance is open to different interpretations and can be seen as comedy, metacomedy or anticomedy, depending on the perspective of the spectator, as well as different framings suggested by the performance and its context. The analysis shows how these framings and perspectives are motivated by the performances and in what ways the interpretations are left for audiences to determine. Finally, what effects unconventional performances may have for comedy more broadly is considered.
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Notes
- 1.
The lyrics actually say graveyard rather than grave, presumably for poetic reasons.
- 2.
A typical line-up includes about eight comedians and one or two breaks. The producer or the MC, and these might be the same person, is usually responsible for the line-up.
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Keisalo, M. (2022). Alternative Comedy in Finland: Juhani Nevalainen, Musician Not Comedian. In: Double, O., Lockyer, S. (eds) Alternative Comedy Now and Then. Palgrave Studies in Comedy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97351-3_10
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