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Stand-up comedy and the comedic cult of the individual: or, the humor of James Acaster

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Abstract

Stand-up comedy prioritises the individual performer. Yet its success relies upon awakening collective sentiments through laughter. For this article, the aesthetic form of stand-up becomes a site to explore the legacy of Durkheim’s ‘cult of the individual’. Durkheim recognised the significance of the ‘cult of the individual’ in modernity but was unable to locate its place within collective sentiments. The article advances the claim that sociology can locate individuality’s cult within the aesthetic affordances individuals have at their disposal in institutional settings. It is demonstrated that stand-up comedy becomes a way to achieve individuality in a society of advanced role differentiation, a plurality of lifeworld’s and beliefs and its associated tensions. Humor does not reconcile tensions; through humor these social conditions become ‘known’ to the modern subject at an intra-personal level. The article substantiates and illustrates these claims through a case-study of British comedian James Acaster. Methodologically the article makes use of literary and aesthetic theories to advance an alternative theory of modernity, one which highlights how stand-up comedy is valued for its ability to register—at a sensuous level—the meaningful organisation of social relations modern social actors live within.

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Notes

  1. To avoid confusion, the terms recognition and mis-recognition are not employed as Bourdieu uses them in his concept of mis-recognition (or méconaissance).

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to Philip Smith for his critical insights and advice on earlier drafts. Thanks to Julia Carter for her reading and criticism. Two anonymous AJCS peer-reviewers provided extensive critical insight and feedback that was extremely helpful for refining and realising the argument put forward. Thank you to Stuart Goldsmith and James Acaster for permission to reproduce extracts of their interviews, and Acaster in particular to reproduce extracts of Repertoire.

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  1. School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3NN, UK

    Daniel R. Smith

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Smith, D.R. Stand-up comedy and the comedic cult of the individual: or, the humor of James Acaster. Am J Cult Sociol 9, 70–91 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1057/s41290-019-00082-x

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