Humour and teasing in gay Taiwanese men’s mediatised interaction on an LGBTQ-oriented YouTube entertainment variety show

Abstract

This study illustrates and discusses how young gay Taiwanese men interact with straight and nonstraight people through humour and teasing on an LGBTQ-oriented YouTube entertainment variety show in Taiwan. The analytical framework of the study is informed by multimodal discourse analysis and interactional sociolinguistics. Four strategies used to create humour are identified: performing wúlítóu ‘nonsense’, using quadrisyllabic (non)formulaic expressions, using gender subversion and using indirect insults (towards close female friends). The analysis suggests that all four strategies rely on indexical disjuncture and are used by young gay Taiwanese men not only to create humour, but also as a means of voicing themselves through online media in an environment where they still face many obstacles. The study argues that, as a discursive strategy, indexical disjuncture is at the very heart of Taiwanese camp.