HUMOUR AND IDEOLOGICAL REPRESENTATION IN SELECTED COMEDY SKITS OF LAYI WASABI

Abstract

This study examines humour and ideological representation in selected comedy skits of Nigerian content creator Layi Wasabi, investigating how he employs humour to construct, reinforce and challenge ideological positions in contemporary Nigerian society. The study integrates Attardo's General Theory of Verbal Humour (GTVH) and Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) to examine the relationship between humour generation and ideological meanings. Data comprise 21 purposively selected skits from Layi Wasabi's official YouTube channel, from which representative excerpts were analysed. Findings reveal that Layi Wasabi's humour interrogates educational ideologies, class and economic aspirations, corruption and institutional failure, power relations and social inequalities, and religious ideologies and moral contradictions. Humour is generated through script oppositions, logical mechanisms, irony, exaggeration and linguistic creativity, while CDA demonstrates that these humorous representations function as forms of social commentary that critique societal contradictions and negotiate dominant ideological positions. The study concludes that digital comedy skits extend beyond entertainment to become significant discursive spaces for representing and challenging contemporary Nigerian social realities.