Laughing about a health risk? Alcohol in comedy series and its connection to humor
- Author(s)
- Mira Mayrhofer, Jörg Matthes
- Abstract
We investigated the connection of alcohol and humor in comedy series. To reach this goal, we first conducted a quantitative content analysis of 20 episodes each of the 10 most popular U.S. comedy series. We recorded all references to alcohol, we then focused on the type of alcohol-related behavior depicted, its consequences, and the corresponding character. Furthermore, we coded whether alcohol was connected to humor. A quarter of all scenes were alcohol related. The clear majority of alcohol references in comedy series were prominent, and nearly a fifth of them were directly related to humor. Relation to humor was mostly the case for negative aspects of alcohol consumption, such as excessive consumption or negative consequences. In addition to this quantitative analysis, we qualitatively analyzed all scenes linking alcohol and humor, leading to a framework for types of alcohol-related humor. We observed that alcohol is often linked to stereotypes and sexual allusions. Also, humor is portrayed as a typical reaction to references and portrayals of any negative consequences of drinking. In the majority of shows, one character was explicitly presented as an excessive drinker over several episodes. We conclude that comedy series may trivialize negative aspects of alcohol consumption and encourage the image of a “fun” heavy drinker personality.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Communication
- Journal
- Psychology of Popular Media
- Volume
- 10
- Pages
- 59-73
- No. of pages
- 15
- ISSN
- 2689-6567
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1037/ppm0000267
- Publication date
- 2020
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 508007 Communication science, 508014 Journalism
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Cultural Studies, Communication, Psychology (miscellaneous), Applied Psychology
- Sustainable Development Goals
- SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/2c152e27-9031-401d-b599-2871bf278020