ABSTRACT
The Urhobo people of Delta State, Nigeria have various forms and traditions of performance art. Many of these artistic forms are distinguished by their functions in the life of the people, its performance modes and the attitude of the performers to the subject matter, as well as the literary nuances that come to play during performance. This chapter focuses on the joke-performance tradition (ehwe-ej?) as a representative genre in Urhobo oral artistic production, paying particular attention to its two most illustrious performers in order to unveil their humour, motivations, and the joke's aestheticism.The art of ehwe-ej? is part of the Urhobo oral tradition. When people come together to drink and make merry on occasions such as the installation of kings, conferment of chieftaincy titles, marriage ceremonies, funeral rites, and even naming ceremonies, there is one form of ehwe-ej? or another.
