Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

Verbal Humor Found On The Interview

PROPOSAL

Submitted as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the Bachelor Degree of

English Education

Composed By:

Pijai Hatama

321418126

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF LETTERS AND CULTURE

GORONTALO STATE UNIVERSITY

2022
Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

The first chapter provides the introduction to the study. It presents the research background,

research problems, problem limitation, research objectives, research benefits, and the definition

of terms. In the research background, the researcher elaborates the reasons for selecting the

chosen topic. The research problems present the research questions. The research objectives

explain the aim of the research concerning the research problem. The Research benefits describe

the advantages of conducting this research. The definition of terms elaborates the key terms used

in the research.

Research Background

Human beings always communicate, either to exchange information or to maintain a social

relationship. Raskin (1985) introduces two modes of communication: bonafide and non-bonafide

mode of communication. The former refers to referential communication. It is the type of

communication that is serious because it functions to convey information. In contrast, the latter

does not refer to exchanging information; its purpose is to elicit some laughter from the hearer.

This mode of communication refers to humor.

Humor itself is a concept that is rather hard to describe. People may laugh and get entertained on

hearing something or seeing a particular scene while others do not even smile at it. Therefore, it

is hard to categorize whether something belongs to humor or not. However, in general, Humor

refers to anything funny (Jay, 2003, p. 306). Whether intended or not intended, if something

creates amusement, smile, or even laughter, it belongs to humor.

Indeed, with that definition of humor in mind, it cannot be denied that humor still becomes one

of the complex areas to study. As suggested by Lew (1996) Humor becomes a very mysterious
Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

phenomenon as there is no exact recipe to create a funny story or a joke that elicits laughter from

the hearer (p. 5). There is no rule for one to create such an amusing story or joke that will make

anyone, without any exception, laugh or smile when hearing it.

Besides, not many people are interested in conducting studies of Humor as it is believed that the

study of humor would make it no longer funny. According to E.B. White, analyzing humor is

like dissecting a frog; only a few people are interested and the frog dies of it (as cited in Goebel,

2011, p. 1). It is to say the more one tries to explain or analyze how humor works, the less funny

the humor becomes, which makes people reluctant to do it. The popular poet W.H. Aden is also

in the same light by stating that a study of humor will kill it (as cited in Lew, 1996,p.6).

Contrary to the previous arguments, Lew (1996) argues that humor is one area that needs

extensive study as the idea of studying humor would take away the joy of humor itself is

irrational and may be harmful to potential students wanting to pursue deeper knowledge (p.6).

Thus, humor does not belong to one of those areas that have to be left alone. A further study of

analyzing humor is seriously needed.

Despite its complexity, humor plays an important part in our life. Ross (1998) points out how

humor plays a vital role in society. In the television world, many sitcoms and comedy shows are

shown. He also states that humorous books were usually on the bestseller list. Many comedians

are also well known for their comedy. In the same light is Spanakaki (2007), who states that

Humor becomes an essential part of human everyday communication as well as a vital aspect in

a huge number of literary works in general (para.1). Humor becomes the vehicle for mass

entertainment as much work of art such as movies, comics, plays, and dramas is based on humor.

In short, humor simply cannot be separated from our lives.

Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

There are many types of humor that we can find in our daily life, starting from seeing a person

fall on banana peel until the more complex ones we see within Shakespearean comedy. Shade

(1996) provides a beneficial categorization of humor into four major classes: figural, verbal,

visual, and auditory humor (p.2). Figural humor as found in comics, caricatures, movies, and so

on is the type of humor that involves the use of drawing in conveying the humor. Verbal humor

like puns, riddles, anecdotes and the like depends on the use of language to deliver the humor.

Visual humor such as clowning and impersonation uses visual cues to produce the humor.

Auditory humor which includes impressions, noises, and sounds involves the use of auditory

cues.

In today’s world, much work on entertainment is also based on humor; one of them is in the form

of a movie such as The Interview which is intended to be an action comedy adventure. The

movie sets on a host o the talk show skylark tonight, Dave Skylark. Where he interviews

celebrities about personal topic has to interview the North Korean leader to prevent kim

launching nuclear missile

The work of entertainment in the form of a humorous movie entitled The Interview belongs to

verbal humor as the spoken words, although it cannot be denied that there is also a little auditory

humor included in between. With seeing the actual setting or the characters fully dressed playing

the scene of the script, the fun atmosphere is strongly felt by the audience who is watching this

movie. The dialog done by the actors can evoke the laughter of the audience.

In the end, it is captivating to know how people laugh by hearing some utterances The study to

analyze verbal humor and its types is intriguing to be conducted as it is interesting to try to know

what makes one type of verbal humor different from other types. Furthermore, it is also
Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

captivating to try to find out how to analyze verbal humor linguistically to find out what

elements of the verbal humor.

This research is aimed to deeply analyze the verbal humor within The Interview. It aims at

observing the verbal humor found within the object. It is to categorize them into some types and

then analyze them linguistically

Research Problems

The focus of this research is which types of verbal Humor are found in the The Interview?

Problem Limitation

The study focuses on the verbal humor found in The Interview is chosen among any other movie

under the consideration that the characteristics of the characters in the story are not too dominant

as they are still developing and, thus, the analysis of the language of humor will be more

feasible.

The study is limited to investigating how the verbal humor found in The Interview is categorized

into several types verbal humor. In answering the research question, the researcher will use the

whole transcript of The Interview and analysis by collecting a sample of verbal humor for every

type.

Research Objectives

The objective of this research is to find out which types of verbal humor are found in The

Interview.
Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

Research Benefits

The researcher hopes that this study will:

1. Provide readers with some valuable information about verbal humor in everyday

conversation.

Conducting this research, the researcher hopes to be able to provide valuable information about

verbal humor to the readers. The valuable information is in the form of knowledge about types of

verbal humor and the elements that constitute verbal humor. The researcher hopes that the

readers, after reading this research, will be able to broaden their understanding of verbal humor

for the sake of knowledge

2. Help readers to appreciate humor more.

The researcher hopes that the reader, after reading this study, would understand that humor is a

complex phenomenon that needs to be appreciated more as it is not easy to be funny. Other than

just simply enjoying humor, the researcher hopes that the reader would comprehend the

complexity and the effort comedians put behind what is considered as funny. By doing so, the

researcher hopes that the readers would see humor differently and be grateful for its existence.

3. Motivate more researchers to conduct a study of humor, as the topic is still uncommon.

As mentioned in the background, not many people are interested in conducting studies on humor.

The researcher hopes that by conducting this research, the interest to conduct other research on

the same topics will be increased. This research hopefully could be the trigger to motivate more

researchers to conduct more research on humor.

Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

4. Aid further studies of humor.

The researcher hopes that this research will be able to become a new aid for further researchers

researching the same topic. This research hopefully could be the basic or background for

pursuing other similar research. In the end, the researcher hopes that this study could help

broaden the knowledge concerning humor.

5. Provide teachers with valuable information about various types of humor to be practiced

in class.

Besides providing broader knowledge about verbal humor, especially its types, the researcher

hopes that this research might inspire language teachers to practice using humor in their

classrooms to make the class livelier. In addition, the researcher hopes that, after understanding

the types of humor, teachers will be wiser in using verbal humor in the classroom: which types of

humor are appropriate to be used in classrooms.

Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

CHAPTER II REVEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

There are two sections within this chapter, namely theoretical description and theoretical

framework. The theoretical description provides theories employed in supporting the study. This

study applies the theory of verbal humor and its types, Semantic, and theory of film/movie. How

those theories are applied to the study is discussed in the later section, the theoretical framework.

Theoretical Description

The theoretical description provides the theory of verbal humor and types of verbal

humor. In addition, several related studies are also reviewed in the section of review of related

studies.

Verbal Humor and Its Types

Before going deeper to elaborate what is meant by verbal humor, it would be better to

know what word humor is really meant. Jay (2003) mentions that humor refers to anything which

is funny; either intended or not, if something succeeds in eliciting someone else‟s smiles or even

laughter, it can be included in humor (p.306). However, there are indeed many exceptions to

such a straight forward definition of humor.Ross(1998) mentions that it is fairly possible to claim

that something is funny when even no one laughs or even smiles because of it. There are also

some situations when people laugh at seeing something humorous but some others may not even

smile on it and claim that it is not funny. Furthermore, he adds that smiling and laughter do not

necessarily indicate that something is humorous; they may become an indicator of fear or

embarrassment (p.1). However, apart from these exceptions, he agrees that humor can be defined

as something that is funny, that is able to make someone smile or laugh.

Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

There are many types of humor. Shade (1996) has suggested four forms of humor, namely

figural humor, visual humor, auditory humor and verbal humor (p.2). Figural humor relies on the

use of drawing in conveying the humor. Visual humor such as clowning and impersonation uses

visual cues to produce humor. Auditory humor involves the use of auditory cues. Verbal humor,

which becomes the focus of this study, depends on the use of language to create the humor; it

uses language in its humor production.

Verbal humor is humor that relies on the use of language to create the funny effect – not pictures,

cartoons, sound, etc. According to Shade (1994), verbal humor often relies on incongruity

implemented through contradiction, understatement, exaggeration, surprise or reversal which is

carried out by language medium (p.14). Any kind of humor that is conveyed in language

medium, not in other medium, belongs to verbal humor.

Speaking about types of humor, there are also many subtypes of it. Shade (1996) suggests many

subtypes of humor of the forms of humor previously mentioned. For verbal humor, which

becomes the main study for this research, he divides it into 12 types of humor. Following are the

quick elaboration for each type.

a. Pun

Pun uses the humorous use of words. It is the form of humor that relies on a play

of word to suggest a different meaning and application. Sometimes pun uses words that

have same – or similar sound – but have different meaning. The following is the example

of pun

Arthur: Oh, who's that guy? Um, oh, grey haired, did that game show, "Can I

have a P, please, Bob?"

Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

In the example, Arthur tried to guess the complete name of the presenter of the

game show, Bob Holness, by imitating the phrase that might appear in the game show,

“Can I have a P, please, Bob?” This question was ambiguous as the letter “P” had the

same pronunciation as the word “pee” which created a humorous situation

b. Riddle

Riddle is usually presented in the form of question and answer format. It is presented in

the form of a puzzling fact. Riddles are used to mislead trick and amuse the listener. The

following example from cabin pressure

Martin: Why would he want a storage heater in Abu Dhabi?

Douglas: Well, there is a lot of heat to store

Martin asked Douglas about the importance of having a storage heater in Abu Dhabi, a

city that has hot temperature. Instead of answering the question with a proper answer on the

actual function of a storage heater and its importance in Abu Dhabi, Douglas gave an

amusing answer by saying that there was a lot heat to store. This unexpected answer

triggered laughter of the audience.

c. Joke

Joke refers to anything that is said to provoke laughter which involves any or all of the

following: multiple meaning of words, idiom and metaphors; ambiguity; incongruity; sudden

change of perspective (Shade, 1994, p.3). If it is noticed deeper, there are several different

types of jokes:
Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

1. Phonological Joke, a joke that is based on the phonological structure of words. It

means that the sound of the word used takes the responsibly of the humor production.

2. Lexical Joke, a joke which based on multiple-meaning of words. The humorous effect

created by this type of joke relies on how words have multiple meaning and, thus, can

be interpreted in funny ways.

3. Surface Structure Joke, a joke that is based on the alternative grouping of words. The

way one‟s grouping the words used can make an ambiguity, which later will provoke

a funny effect. The physical spaces that exist between words can be blurred in order

to provide ambiguity.

4. Metalinguistic Joke, a joke that is focussed on the language form. Instead of the

language meaning, a metalinguistic joke relies on the language form used within the

joke.

An example

Douglas :Do you know, Martin, all these years and I've never been to Bristol?

Martin :We'll get ready for a treat.

Douglas :I don't know. I was rather hoping not to

break my duck

was included in deep structure joke, relied of the alternative interpretation

of the phrase “break my duck”. The phrase “break my duck” was actually an

idiom which meant “do something for the first time”. However, as Bristol was

famous for its duck, especially the food and duck feeding,the phrase became

ambiguous. It had alternative interpretation. Douglas’s saying might be

interpreted in two different ways: doing something for the first time and
Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

breaking actual ducks. These ambiguous interpretations created humorous

atmosphere.

d. Satire

Satire is a literary composition to give criticism but still meant to be humorous. It

involves both humor and criticism. LeBoeuf (2007) mentions that satires are now become

a great artistic form to give criticism to human behaviours (p.2). It uses exaggeration,

distortion, and understatement as its techniques. The example from cabin pressure

Carolyn :So listen, next Thursday, you are going to Abu Dhabi, and you are going

cheap. You will fly the most no-frills, most cost effective plane it is possible to

fly. You will make easy jet look like Air Force One. Understood?

Martin :Yes, Carolyn.

Douglas :And who are the lucky passengers on

Scrooge McDuck Air?

Carolyn, the CEO of the airline, forces Martin and Douglas to press the expense

on the next flight. She gave a little lecture to both pilots to go cheap to Abu Dhabi. Then,

Douglas gave a humorous criticism to stingy Carolyn by referring the company name as

“Scrooge McDuck Air” instead of saying its real company name, MJN Air. By

mentioning it, Douglas gave criticism on how Carolyn was very stingy just like the

character Scrooge McDuck in Donald Duck stories that was famous for his stingy

characteristic.
Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

e. Limerick

It is a five-lined nonsense verse. The writing of limerick type of Humor is, thus,

bent to rules of writing limerick: The first two lines rhyme with each other, the third and

fourth lines rhyme with each other and the fifth line rhymes with lines the first two lines

(aa,bb,a). Mullins (2010) mentions that limerick is not limited by subject matters which

allows a limitless “nonsense‟ possibility which creates humorous retort (p.14). The

following example from the opening poem of A Book of Nonsense by Edward Lear

There was an Old Man with a beard, Who said, 'It is just as I feared! Two Owls

and a Hen, Four Larks and a Wren, Have all built their nests in my beard!'

f. Parody

Parody refers to an imitation of poem, song, story or movie, where the style is the

same but the theme is different ludicrously. Cambridge for Advanced Learners

Dictionary 8thEdition describes parody as writing, music, art, speech, etc. which

intentionally copies the style of someone famous or copies a particular situation, making

the features or qualities of the original more noticeable in a way that is humorous. Here is

the Pride and Prejudice With Zombies is a parody of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.

g. Anecdote

Anecdote is an oral account of real of fictional event, usually biographical. It

involves the elaboration or embellishment of a story. It is a short funny story. The

following is an example of an anecdote

Ready, steady, stay

“In late April, the unbearable Kolkata heat had taken a toll on my brain. I was

missing office so bad that I woke up one morning, took a shower, changed into formals,
Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

wore my identity card and was ready at the breakfast table on time. It was only when

mom called me from behind – and then reacted like she saw Anabelle walking – that I

came out of my trance. Till date, this is an inside joke for the family!”

h. Farce

Farce is a form of Humor that is marked by boisterous Humor. A farce often makes fun

of a certain event. The following example from cabin pressure

Douglas: Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, First Officer Douglas Richardson

here. Just to let you know, we're making our final approach now into what I am fairly

sure is Fitton airfield…unless it's a farm… or just possibly the A45. It's not the sea,

because that's blue. I should perhaps explain that Captain Crieff and I have a sportsman-

like little bet on today about who can fly the best after drinking a litre of Vodka

through a straw. The Captain went first. You may have noticed the take off run was a

little bumpy, particularly over the golf course. Now it's me to land, just as soon as I

decide, which of these two runaways to aim for. And I'm happy to tell you that I feel

lucky. Soon behalf of all your crew today, may I just say, geronimo!

There were many funny parts found in one chuck of the monologue, all were in

italic. The Humor told the audience about how Douglas was not sure on where exactly he

had to land the plane as he was drinking Vodka before. In the end, he would rely on his

luck.

i. Irony

Irony refers to the speech in which the intended meaning is the opposite of literal

meaning. It is the contradiction between what is said and what is done, what is expected

and what happens.

Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

Arthur :I call it my orange platter.

Douglas :Really? I wonder why.

Arthur :Oh, because everything in it..

Douglas :Yes... Arthur, I can see why.

Douglas actually did not really wonder why it was called as orange platter.

Douglas‟s real intention of saying, “I wonder why” was actually to give a hint that he did

not really care and did not really want to know why. This saying, thus, became

humorous.

j. Sarcasm

Sarcasm uses taunt, scoffing jibe or veiled sneer in evoking laughter. It is

different to irony as sarcasm is sharper and may hurt other‟s feeling. Cambridge for

Advanced Learners Dictionary 3rd Edition (2008) describes sarcasm as a remark to hurt

someone’s feeling or to give criticism which carries the opposite meaning of what is said

in humorous way. The following example of sarcasm

Martin : Bob Holness. It was Bob Holness.

Arthur :That's it! Oh. Well, does he count anyway?

Douglas :Does Bob Holness count in our list of

people called Brian? What the hell, yes, he does. Well done!

Douglas mocked Arthur’s stupidity on how he asked if Bob Holness could be

included on the list of people called Brian. Knowing it was a stupid question, Douglas

deliberately praised Arthur by saying “well done”, instead of directly mocking him, in

order to give Arthur a gibe. Although it was meant to hurt Arthur’s feeling, this sarcastic

expression was funny and might trigger laughter from the audience
Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

k. Tall Tale

Tall tale relies on the exaggeration used in telling most facts and events

surrounding the characters, setting, and plots in the story. It ranges from the absurd to

impossible. Following is the partial example of a tall tale

Martin: What else can I do?

Douglas: I suppose you could always..

Martin: I can't! I can't divert. She'll hunt me down. She'll actually hunt me down

with knives?

Douglas: Whereas if we carry on and freeze the client's cat to death…

Martin: Also knives. Big knives

Martin exaggerated on how he would be treated if he decided to divert. Because

he was really afraid, Martin exaggerated the possibility on how Carolyn would treat him.

He believed that she would hunt him down with knives, which was really unlikely to

happen. This humorous speech which contained exaggeration evoked laughter from the

hearer.

l. Wit

The success of the wit depends on the ingenuity in connecting amusingly

incongruous ideas. It is often spontaneous. It results in quick, “out of the cuff” statements

Arthur :Why does the air on the top have to keep up the air at the bottom? Why

don't they just… split up?

Douglas :For the sake of the kids?

Douglas successfully connected two different ideas which were the air in airplane

wings that had to split up and marriage. He deliberately answered Arthur’s question about
Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

why the air on the top should keep up with the air in the bottom instead of splitting up by

saying that they had to keep up because of the kid’s sake. This absurd answer created a

humorous situation

Sociopragmatic

The language use of people is influenced by some social aspects such as gender, social class,

age, certain social situations, etc. Therefore, in conducting a research on the language

phenomena, it is not only the language form and its function that need to be understood but also

the social aspects which affect the use of language.

In conversation analysis, it does need not only the knowledge to understand the meaning of the

speakers’ utterances in conversation but also the knowledge to understand the aspects that

influence the way people use a particular language style. To observe the language forms and the

meaning, pragmatics is the appropriate approach to be used, but when there are differences in

social situations, social classes as well as cultures that affect the language use of the people,

sociolinguistics must be employed too. Pragmatics as stated by Yule (1996:3) is the study of

speaker’s meaning. Meanwhile, according to Wardaugh (2006:13), sociolinguistics is a study

which concerns with analyzing the relationships between language and society to understand the

structure of language and how language functions in communication. Therefore, the combination

of pragmatics and sociolinguistics is needed in analyzing the meaning of language related to the

social context. The combination of sociolinguistics and pragmatics is called sociopragmatics.

According to Leech (1983:10), sociopragmatics is the sociological interface of pragmatics which

is based on the language used in different cultures of language communities in different social

situations, among different social classes, gender, etc. Similarly, Anna Tronsborg (1995:37-38)
Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

says that it is concerned with the analysis of significant patterns of interaction in particular social

situations and in a particular social system. It emphasizes the interactive aspect and the

acknowledgement of the social context. It means that people in their interaction use language

differently based on different social contexts and situations. They consider that some aspects

such as situation, place, with whom they talk to, and the accepted behaviors related to particular

language rules in certain community influence the way they talk to others. In short, it can be said

that sociopragmatics is the appropriate study to understand the language use based on the social

context in communication.

Reviews of Related Research

A number of studies of Humor have been conducted. This section will elaborate briefly some of

the researches that have been done prior before this study. There are two studies that will be

reviewed briefly here.

The first one is a study conducted by Magnotta and Strohl in 2011. In their paper entitled A

linguistic analysis of humor: A look at Seinfeld, they investigates Humor found in a Television

Show Seinfeld. Using the Incongruity Theory of Humor and the Interactional Sociolinguistic

Methodology of discourse analysis, they examine the incongruous elements, such as moral short-

comings, ignorance, and impersonation found within the object. In addition, they also observe

the contextualization cues used in its Humor production. This study results that the incongruities

and contextualization cues provokes Humor in the object.

The research done by Magnota and Strohl is somehow related to the study the writer is

conducting now, although not directly. A linguistic analysis of humor: A look at Seinfeld

investigates Humor based on the incongruity theory which is very similar to what is called as
Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

script opposition. Generally, incongruity theory basically explains that a Humor can be funny

because there is an incongruity created – the discrepancy between what is heard and what is

expected to be heard – within the humorous text (Shade, 1994, p.10). Similarly, script opposition

is defined as the opposition of two scripts, such as real vs.unreal.

Another study is conducted by Baskara in 2013. In his research entitled An Analysis on the

Verbal Humor and the Consistency of the Indonesian Subtitle in Ice Age 3: Dawn of the

Dinosaurs, he observes the verbal Humor found within the object and categorize them into

several categories. Furthermore, he tries to investigate how well the dialogue within the movie is

translated into Indonesian language. The study results that 57 out of 64 verbal Humors within the

object is consistently translated into Indonesian language. The research conducted by Baskara is

related to this study, especially in the first part, as he analyses and observes the verbal Humor

and categorizes them into several categories.

Theoretical Framework

In this study, the researcher aims at investigating verbal Humor found in The Interview. Related

to this matter, the researcher has formulated a research questions. The research question deals

with identifying the types of verbal Humor in The Interview

Two theories which are directly connected to the research problems have been presented in the

previous part. The first one is the theory of verbal Humor and its type. It defines what verbal

Humor is: Humor that is expressed verbally, using language as its means, and deals with the

categorization of the verbal Humor. As elaborated, verbal Humor falls into 12 different

categories: pun, riddle, joke, satire, limerick, parody, anecdote, farce, irony, sarcasm, tall tale,

and wit. The characteristic and the example of each category have been elaborated in the
Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

previous part. The next theory deals with Sociopragmatic Theory. This theory explains about

Humor that can be viewed linguistically through the meaning of the sentence and the social

context in communication.

Within the framework, the theories presented will be utilized to help the researcher to solve

research questions. The theory of verbal Humor is utilized in collecting the verbal Humor within

the Movie transcript. Using the concept of what verbal Humor is, the researcher will be able to

collect every single verbal Humor found within the object and ignoring any other forms of

Humor, if any, to be excluded from this research.

After all verbal Humor within the object collected, the researcher will utilize the theory about the

types of verbal Humor as a tool to categorize the verbal Humor found within the transcript.

Having understood each type of the verbal Humor, the researcher will categorize all verbal

Humor into 12 categories: pun, riddle, joke, satire, limerick, parody, anecdote, farce, irony,

sarcasm, tall tale, and wit. This is done in order to fully answer the research question.

Meanwhile, the Sociopragmatic theory is employed to find the verbal humor. As the verbal

humor problem deals with the uncertainty of a sentence, the sociopragmatic will be very

beneficial to help the researcher. By giving attention to every sentenses, the researcher will be

able to analyse the verbal Humor linguistically found within the object.

This entire framework is constructed within the context of movie, its types and its characteristic,

as the object of the research is movie

Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY

This chapter provides the elaboration of methodology used to collect the data for the

research. There are five sections within this chapter. They are Research Method, Research

Object, Instruments and Data Gathering, Data Analysis Technique, and Research Procedures.

The following is the elaboration of each section.

Research Method

This research is a qualitative research. The required data is gathered through document or

content analysis. Ary, Jacobs, Sorensen, and Razavieh (2010) mention that document and content

analysis is a type of qualitative technique which analyses and interprets the recorded material to

learn about human behaviour. The material for the analysis can be in the form of public records,

textbooks, letters, films, tapes, diaries, themes, reports, or other documents like webpages,

speeches, TV programs, or many others (p. 29). Like the other document or content analysis

research, this research begins with questions that can be answered by studying available

documents.

As this research aims at investigating verbal Humor on movie The Interview , the transcripts of

the movie will be the main document which is analysed within this study. Using the document or

content analysis method, the researcher studies the transcript carefully in order to find verbal

Humor within it and categorize the verbal Humor into some types. The researcher also uses

many other documents as the secondary sources such as books, journals, and articles in order to

conduct a deeper analysis.

Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

Research Object

The object of this study is The Interview is a 2014 action-adventure comedy film. The film stars

Rogen and James Franco as journalists who set up an inteview with North Korean leader Kim

Jong-un (Randall park), and are then recruited by the CIA to assassinate him. The film inspired

by a 2012 vice documentary.

Instruments and Data Gathering Technique

The main instrument used for this study is human instrument. According to Ary, Jacobs,

Sorensen, and Razavieh (2010), human instrument is believed as a flexible instrument that

becomes the primary instrument for gathering and analyzing data in qualitative studies (p.424).

In this study, the researcher plays as human instrument in data collection and analysing the data.

The role of the researcher in this study is to collect the verbal Humor within the object of the

study, identify the types of verbal Humor found, categorize them into some classes

The data for this study is gathered by employing document and artefacts data collection

technique. Ary, Jacobs, Sorensen, and Razavieh (2010) mention that researchers may employ

this document and artefacts data collection technique in order to understand phenomena under

study. The term document includes a wide range of written, physical and visual materials,

whereas artefacts refer to audio and video recordings, photographs, games, artwork, or other

items (p. 442). This research, however, will focus more on the written documents, specifically

the transcript of the movie The Interview. Employing this technique, the researcher collects the

data of verbal Humor manually from the transcript, which later, to be analysed using related

theories.
Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

Data Analysis Technique

Having decided to employ document or content analysis and chosen the research instrument and

data gathering technique, the researcher need to follow more specific steps in analysing the data.

According to GAO (1989) there are some steps that the researcher must employ in conducting

the research under document and content analysis method. They are determining what material

should be included in the analysis, selecting units of analysis, developing coding categories,

coding the material, and analysing and interpreting the result (p.9). The following paragraphs are

the elaboration of each step.

As the researcher wants to observe verbal Humor, in selecting what material that should be

included in the analysis, movie becomes the choice of the researcher. Movie fits perfectly to this

matter as the story and the Humor presented are aided by visual aid, making it easier to analyse

the language used in its Humor production. As many movie are found now and then, the

researcher thinks that it is better to focus one particular movie which is popular in this modern

era. The researcher then chooses movie The Interview

The second step to take in conducting document or content analysis is selecting units of analysis.

Among the movie of Avengers, the researcher selects the third movie of the avengers series,

Infinity war , as the unit of analysis. The researcher uses the whole movie of Ininity war to

answer research question.

The next step taken deals with developing coding categories. In this step, the researcher employs

the categorization of verbal Humor proposed by Shade (1996) to help the coding process. The

coding categories will help the researcher to categorize the findings into some categories: pun,

riddle, joke, satire, limerick, parody, anecdote, farce, irony, sarcasm, tall tale, and wit.
Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

In the coding the material step, the researcher categorizes the verbal Humor found into some

categorizations to help code the material. Using the coding categories, the researcher categorizes

verbal Humor found into some categories

Research Procedures

These are the procedures taken in this research:

1. Watching The Interview without reading the transcript.

The researcher listened to The Interview without reading the transcript. This step was done in

order to feel the humorous situation in the movie to the fullest. It was also taken to make the

researcher familiar with the situation built on the movie as well as familiarize the researcher’s

ears to the voice of the characters playing within the sitcom.

2. Watching to The Interview with the transcript.

The researcher took the second chance of listening to the recordings of the The Interview.

However, this time the researcher listened to the recording while reading the transcript of the

movie. This step was to help the researcher to really comprehend the script be ready to collect

the verbal hu mor within the movie.

3. Collecting the verbal humor found within the transcript

Using and comprehending the theory of verbal Humor, the researcher collected the verbally-

expressed Humor within the transcript of the first episode of series of The Interview. The

researcher used the whole transcript. The researcher highlighted the conversation containing any

type of verbal humor to be analysed later.

4. Classifying the verbal humor found within the movie.

Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

The verbal humor collected from the transcripts was classified using the categorization of verbal

humor proposed by Shade (1996). The verbal humor found within the transcript was classified

into 12 categories based on their form. The categorization was to be presented in the form of

table and chart.

Thus, those are the procedures taken in conducting this research. Each step of this research

procedure has its own benefit to this research. In addition, these procedures should be carried out

carefully and in order to make sure the research is conducted scientifically.

Running Head: Verbal Humor On The Interview

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