Humour, Slapsticks and Comedic Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic in Nigeria

Abstract

This article discusses humour as an aesthetic experience possessing imagination and intrinsic
value. It examines how Nigerians leveraged slapstick humour found in comedy skits, witty virtual
conversations to secure psychological relief from the insufferable experiences of Coronavirus and
several weeks of lockdown in 2020. While sketch comedians did comic improvisations sensitising
the public to the spread of the virus, some Nigerians engaged in cognitive restructuring by posting
hilarious comments on social media to probably relieve themselves of emotional crises induced by
Covid-19. Using psychoanalytic release/relief and incongruous theories of humour, the article
argues that Covid-19 provided comic irony and served as the object of comic amusement. The
irony helps to reflect on the incongruities that greeted the virus outbreak and the socio-economic
hardship the pandemic imposed on many Nigerians. Consequently, Covid-19 enhanced comedic
imagination providing a break from psychic tension, thus enabling Nigerians to deal with the
unpleasantness of having to stay off work and remain indoors for months. The comedic responses
of Nigerians to the bugbear are interpreted as coping strategies deployed to overcome stressful
conditions exacted on life in a nation that rarely pays attention to the welfare of its citizens.