‘Put Your Hands in the Air! And Keep Them There’: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Anti-racism in Black Standup Comedy: The Case of Trevor Noah

The present article investigates the use of anti-racist humor as a form of resistance. More specifically, it looks into the workings of anti-racism to challenge the held prejudice against black people. The focus is on the linguistic aspect of anti-racist resistance. The study analyses two shows of Trevor Noah, a black standup comedian, in light of the forty-five techniques comedians use. The successful incorporation of many humor techniques in tackling and reversing the sensitive issues of racism and prejudice explains why such a comedy genre is popular among audiences. According to the findings, Noah has indeed incorporated many of those techniques to give his jokes the intended impact on the audience. These techniques, giving prominence to the jokes, can help better understand the racial stereotypes within societies marked by racism thus, leading to more efficient approaches to addressing it.