Strategies of Creating Humor: A Comparative Study of American and Pakistani Late-Night Talk Shows

Late-night talk shows are known for their humorous content, which satirizes political and social issues, giving viewers a respite from an overwhelming amount of news while offering valid critique. In the current study, linguistic strategies used in American and Pakistani late-night shows are analyzed to illustrate how humor is used in late-night TV shows. Berger (1976) suggests that comedians purposefully create jokes with linguistic strategies for the sole purpose of highlighting social and political issues. The present research sheds light on techniques such as analogy, irony, exaggeration, repetition, and cultural references in the monologues of Jimmy Kimmel’s Jimmy Kimmel Live (American) and Tabish Hashmi’s Hasna Mana Hai (Pakistani). While both comedians utilize similar techniques, there are significant differences in how they approach cultural and political issues. American monologues tend to focus more on misgivings of politicians, whereas Pakistani monologues address societal issues like child abuse, domestic violence, gender roles, and traffic violations. The tone of Pakistani monologues is found to be more colloquial, direct, and conversational. The study entails that certain linguistic devices not only create humor but also give a platform to minority voices, bringing to the fore problems in society that are often pushed to the background.