The Source of Humor in Manzai: A Relevance-Theoretic Analysis

Manzai is now known worldwide as a unique form of Japanese entertainment. It is entertaining and hilarious for anyone who listens and watches. However, what exactly is the source of this “fun” that makes manzai so entertaining? This paper uses relevance theory, a communication theory in cognitive pragmatics, to explain the source of “laughter” from the perspective of the necessary boke and tsukkomi in manzai, drawing on the concepts of implicature and higher-level explicature to propose that “laughter of relief” arises from the laughter of manzai audiences.