Cracking-open vernacular stand-up comedy : reflections on Celeste Ntuli's work on sexuality

Abstract

After 1994, the South African stand-up comedy scene was dominated, shaped and defined by men. Stand-up comedy is now expanding in its various expressions. The insurgence of ‘vernacular’ comedy and visibility of women comedians are amongst the disruptions that signal the relevance of subjectivities. The central theme of this article is the location of Celeste Ntuli and her − award-winning comedy – within an exploration of Black cultural reproduction. Ntuli presents her narrative(s) through humour while critiquing the socio-political which stereotypes woman's subjectivities. Sexual and gender stereotypes feature heavily in her work, and so the article focuses on Ntuli's subversive counternarratives performed through self-reflective anecdotes. The article will further tease out women's sexuality as a confrontation between social and cultural limits. Ntuli's autobiographical style highlights the visibility of Black womanhood through the self, which is embroiled in a thoughtful critique of social issues. In the article I demonstrate how Ntuli positions her voice by questioning the existing hierarchies of power through playful narratives in comedy − and constructing sexuality as (re) negotiation, expression and subversion.