Watters 1
LAC 1000C
5 December 2014
Ethnography of Communication Project
Introduction
The following paper is an ethnography of communication. Now what exactly does that
mean? Well an ethnography of communication is a sort of observational experiment that focuses
on a speech community in order to examine the patterns of communication that exists within it,
the way systems of communicative events are organized and the ways in which these interact
with all other cultural systems. The aim of this study has two aspects. One aspect is to explore
communicative behavior in specific contexts by describing how communication takes place in a
given cultural setting. Second, it attempts to understand how the communication that takes place
in this specific context functions. The person conducting this study asks questions like “How is it
possible to communicate?”, “What knowledge do speakers need in order to be competent
participants in the speech event?”, and “How do people in the community learn to communicate
in that setting?” Now how does one conduct an ethnography of communication? Well arguably
the best methodology in order to conduct a study like this is participant observation. The best
way to learn how a speech community communicates with each other is simply to listen and see
how the participants within that speech community communicate with each other. With this
simple method the person conducting the study can gain first-hand experience with its subjects of
observation and soak in every single one of the many aspects that make up communication. With
any other methodology you rob yourself of certain information that can only be observed in
person.
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So now that we know what an ethnography of communication entails, what speech event will I
be observing for my own ethnography of communication? The speech event that I chose to
observe is a stand-up comedy show. This type of performance has been around for almost three
centuries and has solidified itself as one of the most cherished art forms in this day and age. My
research question is concerned with what a comedian has to do in order to get the audience to
participate in their performance.
What stand-up typically entails is the performer regaling the crows with life stories and
observations that are meant to make an audience of multiple people laugh. Stand-up comedy is
such an interesting speech event to me because it is completely dependent upon communication,
which is between the audience and the performer. In order for the performance to work the
comedian treats the crowd as one person in a way, talking directly to them as a whole and
treating them as that whole in their mindset. This is done so that each audience member feels
they are having a personal connection with the audience and thus are compelled to listen. As a
result of this amalgamating a large group of people into one entity, stand-up comedy, if done
right, is kind of like a conversation with only two people, the comedian and the crows as a
whole. And it’s this “conversation” where the beauty of stand-up comedy exists. The comedian
and the crowd form a sort of symbiotic relationship where the comedian feeds their speech into
the crowd in order to elicit a positive reaction. Once the crowd gives that positive reaction to the
comedian, they then take it and use it to increase their confidence and thus improve the
performance. This improved performance then elicits an even more positive response, feeding
back into the performer’s confidence and improving the show once again. So within a stand-up
comedy show audience and performer are constantly feeding each other responses and improving
the overall “conversation”. In stand-up a connection is made between possibly hundreds of
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people and one single person with only one side actually saying anything. And it’s for this reason
that I chose a stand-up comedy show as my speech event.
Scene
The specific show that I chose to observe was one put on by the comedian Tig Notaro for the
New York Comedy Festival. During this speech event I certainly felt the connection that I
described earlier, but the main reason I chose this specific show was that Tig utilized the unique
technique of audience participation in her performance. Over the course of the show Tig was able
to get the whole audience to perform specific tasks like start clapping in unison and then
immediately stop a couple seconds later, sing the song “Yellow Submarine” by the Beatles, and
give a three minute long standing ovation. Tig’s ability to do this fascinated me because it not
only demonstrated that she was able to make a connection with the whole audience, but it was
one that was so strong that she was able to get them to perform these embarrassing tasks. This
ability is quite rare among all stand-up comedians and you will not see it done in many other
shows. The audience could have simply chosen not to participate, but they didn’t for some
reason. Seeing this speech event I became curious and wanted to find out more about what Tig
did in order to make this possible. So through this ethnography of communication I hope to
answer the question, what does a stand-up comedian have to do in order to get an audience to
participate in their performance?
The setting, or situation, of this speech event was the Town Hall Theater which is located
at 123 West 43rd Street in New York City, New York. The building was opened in 1921 and has
pretty much maintained the same style of architecture from that time period. The theatre has a
stylish brick outside with understated and fancy facades. It is located right near Broadway which
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means there is a lot of foot traffic in front of the building. The inside of the theater is split into
two sections, the lobby and the actual theater. The lobby is quite small compared to other lobbies
that I have been in as there is very little room to move around or stand with the number of people
that come in through the entrance. The lobby is so small in fact you can see the actual theater
from outside the entrance. On either side of the lobby are two flights of stairs that lead up to the
balcony area inside the actual theater. Now the actual theater is a modestly large room with a
very tall ceiling. The room is so large that it is able to house nearly 1,500 red upholstered seats.
As I mentioned before the theater does have a balcony as well as a main floor area that is
separated by three aisles and go back several rows. In front of the theater is a stage that is pretty
much the width of the theater and all of the seats are facing it in a curved configuration to allow a
clear sight line for those who are sitting on the sides of the theater. The only thing on the stage
was a single microphone with a stand, and a couple of banners hang up on the back wall that
indicated this event was a part of the New York Comedy Festival. The theater is outfitted with a
speaker system hooked up to the microphone that’s on stage, allowing for the whole audience to
hear what the performer is saying. Overall, you can see that the Town Hall is a pretty great venue
for a performer as it is aesthetically beautiful, quite large, and in the middle of Manhattan. It is
safe to say that a performer has to be pretty impressive in order to be allowed to perform there.
The date of the speech event was November 6, 2014 at around 8:00 PM. The people in the
audience came to this speech event in order to hear Tig Notaro’s stand-up comedy act in order to
laugh, be entertained, and enjoy themselves for about an hour. Tig Notaro came to this speech
event in order to make the audience laugh and entertain them for about an hour. This was an
informal event where all attention was paid to Tig and no one was allowed to talk unless asked to
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by her. This was evidenced by the relaxed dress and speech of participants and the commonly
held assumption by all audience members no to speak during a show.
Participants
The participants in this speech event were 1,500 people who were either fans of Tig Notaro
or of just comedy as a whole, Tig Notaro, who was the comedian, and the Town Hall Theater
staff.
The role the audience plays is to quietly listen to Tig as she tells her jokes and laugh when they
think they are funny. This laughter feeds into Tig’s performance and makes it better, more
confident, and funnier. The audience is also expected to do what Tig asks if she chooses to do so.
This is done to move the show forward and make it funnier. The audience members should not
