The Doctoral School of Business and Management of Corvinus University of Budapest cordially invites all those interested to the public defence of the thesis proposal of PhD candidate Zsófia Molnár. Title: The Liminoid-Carnivalesque Experience in the Stand-Up Comedy Show. 

Date: Thursday, 8 October 2026, 10:00 

Venue: Corvinus University of Budapest, Room E.3.311 

Format: hybrid – you are welcome to attend either in person or online 

Language: English 

Supervisors: Dr Attila Róbert Cosovan DLA, Dr Ariel Zoltán Mitev PhD 

Chair of the committee: Sándor Takács 

Opponents: Nóra Kisfürjesi (Budapest Business University), Julianna Faludi 

Secretary: Patrick Bohl 

About the research 

In an era increasingly shaped by technology, live cultural experiences have taken on renewed significance. This dissertation examines stand-up comedy shows as a consumption setting in which the experience is not simply delivered to a passive audience, but co-produced moment by moment between performer and audience — through laughter, silence, applause and interaction. 

The research asks how this experience is constructed before, during and after the show: how performer and audience jointly establish the boundaries of the event, what role audience behaviour plays in the performance, how potentially taboo material is received and legitimated in the room, and how a collective feeling emerges from shared laughter. 

The analysis brings together Victor Turner’s concept of liminality, Mikhail Bakhtin’s theory of the carnivalesque and Richard Schechner’s performance theory into a single framework. The empirical basis is a seven-month ethnographic study conducted in North America, comprising observations of 39 shows and 14 interviews with performers, organisers and audience members.