Flouted Maxims in Punchline of Stand-up Comedy performance by Ronny Chieng

Abstract

This research examines the flouting of  maxims and the strategies used to create humor in the punchlines of  Ronny Chieng’s Stand-Up comedy performances. Using Grice’s (1975) Cooperative Principle which includes the maxims of Quantity, Quality, Relevance, and Manner this study explores how comedians intentionally breaks maxims to generate humor and convey deeper meanings. The data were obtained from two Netflix specials, Ronny Chieng: Asian Comedian Destroys America! and Ronny Chieng: Love to Hate It, with transcripts sourced from Scraps from the Loft. A descriptive qualitative method (Creswell, 2014) was applied to identify and categorize the utterance of maxim flouting and the strategies used in the punchlines of Stand-Up comedy performances. From 216 utterances analyzed, there is 223  types maxim flouting and 240 strategies were identified, it occurs because one utterances contained more than one type and strategy. The Maxim of Quality was most frequently flouted (162 data followed by Quantity (40 data) and Relevance (21 data) ,while the Maxim of Manner was not found. Among the strategies, hyperbole dominated (52 data), followed by metaphor (46), irony (45), sarcasm (41), overstatement (30), banter (17), and understatement (9), with tautology was not found. These findings indicate that Chieng’s humor relies heavily on flouting the Maxim of Quality through exaggeration, irony, and metaphor to express criticism and social commentary. His deliberate use of maxim flouting enhances the comedic effect and engages audiences to interpret meanings beyond the surface, showing how pragmatic strategies shape humor and communication in stand-up comedy, particularly in the context of Asian Stand-Up comedy performance.