“An easy way to efficiently quit Russian.” Metalinguistic awareness and autobiographism in Eastern European stand-up during the war

Abstract

The article introduces the concept of comedy of emergency as a type of crisis comedy that responds to social disasters. The term describes the new functions of Eastern European stand-up between 2022 and 2023. As an inherently autobiographical genre based on negative memories, stand-up began to act as a therapeutic form, processing the traumatic experiences of war. In addition to direct confrontation with the realities of war, these experiences include a radical linguistic revision in the Ukrainian society. Being always important as a self-reflective procedure in stand-up, metalinguism has taken on new meaning in the context of the transition from Russian to Ukrainian, which has become the dominant theme of comedians’ performances in 2022. This deconstructive ‘work on oneself’ has been elevated to the status of a key defense technique, both physical and mental. The article also discusses related trends in expatriate Belarusian and Russian stand-up after the launch of the full-scale invasion.