RUSSELL PETERS Laughing at life, learning through laughters : a study of stand-up comedy.

came to presenting sensitive social issues – topics that were usually avoided in public spheres given their combustible nature. A nation-wide recognition for his direct approach was then earned when Sammy was trusted to head to nation- scope comics‟ association in 2012. Being at the helm of the organization meant more freedom for this public figure as audience and comics alike would now see him perform not only as a „comic‟ but more than that an „elite comic‟ in Indonesian scope. When the writer had to choose two from a handful of local comics for a deeper observation, therefore, it was easy to include the reputable Sammy who was on his „Tanpa Batas‟ road show. Having emerged as one of Indonesia‟s leading comics, it was understood that „reaching the next level‟ also meant expanding his presence to other different stages, and that was just Sammy has been doing. Later, 15- city „Tanpa Batas‟ road shows in 2014 were then arranged, starting on February 1 in Palangkaraya until his closing performance on April 26 in Jakarta. The show observed for this study was the one staged in Jakarta. Using the same approach, the writer would also discussed the settings and properties put on the Graha Bakti Budaya‟s stage. Very simila r to the settings of Pandji‟s show, Sammy also opted to present himself in the middle of a simple setup. Very simple, indeed, as there was only a small table where two bottles of mineral water were put. Apart from the simple setting, however, the writer thought it was necessary to pay attention to the label of the show, „Tanpa Batas‟ Borderless. The writer was deeply interested in the selection of the label as it suggested that Sammy‟s visits to the fifteen different towns were motivated by special missio ns. In the writer‟s interpretation, the choice of such label was to make audience realize that there were social issues begging for wider attention, as well as to show that the delivery of the topics from Sammy to his audience would not be done in a „lecture-like‟ fashion which would have sacrificed the comic-audience intimacy. Rather, the selection of the label showed promise that it would be tailored in such a manner that would allow equal interaction between the two parties, barring any differences existing between the two. The decision proved to be a good one as the writer found a fluid connection between Sammy and his audience, bridged by his witty bits. The rest was history, as Sammy successfully slotted himself into a comfort zone from which he launched his social criticisms, cleverly wrapped in his usual comical manners. Besides watching Samuel‟s performance to analyze what his goals were by delivering his lines, the writer also had the privilege of meeting him in person and asked questions about the social significance of Stand-Up Comedy. During the interview session, the writer had enough time to ask three questions. Below are the questions together with the answers and interpretations: 1. To whom are your bits aimed at? Samuel explained that although he did not have specific target audience, he put special concern to the youth of Indonesia. He said that one of his biggest missions was to make sure teenagers of around sixteen and seventeen year old were „melek politik‟ politically aware, meaning that they had the awareness of what was going on around them politically. By doing so, what he was trying to do was actually taking politic to a more popular are, realizing that youngsters of Indonesia preferred entertainment over „heavier‟ subjects such as politic. Given that goal, Samuel understood that the subject to be communicated, i.e. politic, needed to be presented in a more popular media, television. This idea was in line with Gordon‟s view on television when he stated that this was the era when television had a privilege of being labeled „the educator of society‟ 148. Having discussed that, the writer found out that Samuel had actually been trying to kill two birds with a stone by delivering his performances on television: by attempting to transmit important messages with the help of popular media, namely television. 2. Do you target people belonging to middle class society? A firm „yes‟ was the answer to this question. Later on, Samuel went on by explaining that people of middle class society were the „objects‟ of the government because they knew one thing: contented middle-class society means a safe nation. However, Samuel knew too well that the kind of „safety‟ felt here was a fake one and he felt that one of his responsibilities was to „rock the wat er‟ by attempting to make middle-class people to open their eyes and see the truth surrounding them. Again, this showed another master stroke by Samuel because as explained by Kharaz and Geerts, members of the middle- class society were the ones with the privilege of time and money, but not power, and with what they had, they had plenty of options to get themselves entertained 2. Samuel, the writer believed, has done the right thing in selecting, albeit not too specifically, middle-class society members as his main