Study Reveals How Humor and Language Work Together in 7 Comedy’s YouTube Content
FORMOSA NEWS – Conversations in comedy programs are not merely designed to entertain. A 2026 study by Rena Ramadhani Barus, Prof. Dr. I Nengah Suandi, and Dr. I Komang Sugi Partawan from Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha (Undiksha), Indonesia, found that humor in the popular YouTube channel 7 Comedy, particularly in the Lapor Pak! fourth-anniversary episode, is built through complex patterns of language known as illocutionary speech acts. The findings are important because they demonstrate how digital entertainment uses language strategically to create humor, deliver messages, and maintain audience engagement. As digital media continues to dominate everyday communication, platforms such as YouTube have become more than entertainment hubs. They are spaces where language, culture, and social interaction intersect. Comedy programs, in particular, rely heavily on verbal exchanges, spontaneous reactions, satire, and wordplay to keep audiences entertained. The researchers argue that understanding how language functions in comedy can provide deeper insights into communication practices in modern digital media. While previous studies have examined speech acts in educational and social contexts, research focusing on comedy content on YouTube remains relatively limited.
YouTube Comedy as a Communication Laboratory
The study focused on the 7 Comedy YouTube channel, one of Indonesia’s most popular comedy platforms, which had nearly one million subscribers at the time of the research. Among its most successful programs is Lapor Pak!, a comedy show featuring humorous conversations, improvisation, satire, and social commentary. According to the researchers, the program provides an ideal environment for examining how speakers use language to achieve specific communicative goals while simultaneously entertaining audiences. In comedy, a statement may serve multiple purposes at once. A character may appear to provide information while actually mocking another character, issuing a command, expressing criticism, or creating a humorous misunderstanding. These hidden intentions are known in linguistics as illocutionary speech acts.
Analyzing Dialogue in a Popular Comedy Episode
The researchers used a qualitative descriptive approach to analyze conversations in the Celebrating Four Years of Lapor Pak! episode uploaded on the 7 Comedy YouTube channel. The research process involved repeatedly watching the episode, transcribing conversations, identifying speech acts, and classifying them based on established theories developed by linguist John Searle and pragmatic scholar Geoffrey Leech. The analysis focused on two key aspects:
-Types of illocutionary speech acts used by the performers.
-Functions of those speech acts within the conversation.
A total of 206 speech acts were identified and categorized into five major types.
Assertive Speech Dominates Comedy Conversations
The findings show that assertive speech acts were the most frequently used form of communication in the program. Researchers recorded 85 assertive speech acts, representing 41.26% of all identified utterances. Assertive speech acts include statements, explanations, reports, declarations, acknowledgments, and information-sharing expressions. According to the study, these forms dominate because comedy conversations often rely on providing information and building situations that later become humorous through reactions and misunderstandings. The remaining speech acts included:
-Directive speech acts: 48 instances (23.30%)
-Expressive speech acts: 43 instances (20.87%)
-Declarative speech acts: 16 instances (7.77%)
-Commissive speech acts: 14 instances (6.80%)
Directive speech acts, such as commands, requests, invitations, and suggestions, were particularly important for driving interactions between characters. Expressive speech acts appeared frequently as performers expressed emotions such as praise, criticism, gratitude, complaints, and surprise. Meanwhile, commissive speech acts, including promises and threats, appeared less frequently because they played a smaller role in constructing humorous exchanges.
Collaboration Is the Key to Successful Humor
The researchers also examined the social functions of speech acts within the program. Among 124 identified speech-act functions, the collaborative function emerged as the most dominant. The study recorded:
-Collaborative function: 51 instances (41.12%)
-Convivial function: 33 instances (26.61%)
-Competitive function: 20 instances (16.12%)
-Conflictive function: 20 instances (16.12%)
Collaborative speech functions include announcing, reporting, teaching, and declaring information. According to the researchers, these functions help maintain the continuity of conversations and allow performers to build humor collectively. Rather than relying on individual jokes, the success of Lapor Pak! often depends on how performers support one another’s dialogue. This collaborative interaction creates spontaneous responses, unexpected punchlines, and entertaining exchanges that resonate with viewers. The convivial function, which includes praising, greeting, inviting, and offering, also contributed significantly to creating a relaxed and enjoyable atmosphere.
Humor, Satire, and Social Commentary
The study found that humor in the program is not created solely through jokes. Many conversations contain indirect messages, satire, criticism, and social observations. Conflictive speech acts, including complaints, prohibitions, and mild scolding, frequently serve as comedic devices rather than genuine confrontations. These interactions create tension that is quickly transformed into humor through context and performer reactions. According to Rena Ramadhani Barus and her colleagues from Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, the meaning of an utterance is strongly influenced by context. The same sentence may function as information, criticism, or humor depending on the situation and relationship between speakers. This finding reinforces one of the central principles of pragmatics: language cannot be fully understood without considering the social context in which it is used.
Implications for Digital Communication Research
The study highlights the growing importance of analyzing language in digital entertainment. As YouTube and social media platforms increasingly shape public discourse, understanding how communication works in these environments becomes increasingly relevant. The researchers believe their findings can contribute to linguistic studies, media research, communication science, and digital culture analysis. The results also demonstrate how entertainment content can serve as valuable material for teaching pragmatics and communication strategies. Beyond academia, the research offers insights for content creators seeking to build engaging and effective communication with audiences. It shows that successful comedy depends not only on humor but also on careful language use, collaboration, and contextual understanding. As digital entertainment continues evolving, studies like this reveal that behind every joke lies a sophisticated communication process that helps audiences connect, interpret meaning, and enjoy shared experiences.
Author Profile
Rena Ramadhani Barus is a researcher from Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha (Undiksha), Bali, Indonesia, with academic interests in pragmatics, discourse analysis, language use in digital media, and communication studies.
Prof. Dr. I Nengah Suandi is a senior scholar and lecturer at Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, specializing in linguistics, pragmatics, sociolinguistics, and language education.
Dr. I Komang Sugi Partawan is an academic at Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha whose expertise includes language studies, discourse analysis, and communication research.
Research Source
Article Title: Analysis of Illocutionary Speech Acts on the 7 Comedy YouTube Channel
Authors: Rena Ramadhani Barus, I Nengah Suandi, I Komang Sugi Partawan
Affiliation: Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, Buleleng, Indonesia
Journal: International Journal of Advanced Technology and Social Sciences (IJATSS)
Volume and Issue: Vol. 4, No. 5
Year of Publication: 2026
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