Joan Capri’s monologues. Amb l’aigua al coll (1990) or the attempt to broadcast Capri’s monologues on TV

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to study the attempt made to broadcast Joan Capri’s monologues on the TV3 television programme Amb l’aigua al coll (1990), based on Capri’s monologues from the 1960s and 70s released on an album. First we analyse the motivations of the programme and the circumstances of its recording. Secondly, the satirical traits in his monologues, the nature of this satirical humour and, related to this, its role of moral censorship and its reasons are considered. Thirdly, we deal with the typified character − reflecting a psychomoral and customs- and manners-based typicality − in which the social reality is mainly represented, although in the television monologues one finds a larger number of references to the social context of the moment and the personal angle of the monologist is more emphasised. Lastly, we discuss the television format of the programme, the paralinguistic communication involved and the narrative configuration of the monologues.

KEYWORDS: monologue, satire, moral censorship, manners-based and psychomoral typification, television discourse, paralinguistic communication.