This study will argue that the distinct social and political changes which have occurred in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland during the last twenty years have altered the choice and treatment of the targets of comedy in different ways for writers from either side of the border. Though this work builds upon classic studies of Irish literary comedy such as Vivian Mercier's The Irish Comic Tradition (1962), there is little current criticism on the use of comedy in the contemporary novel from either Northern Ireland or the Republic of Ireland. Past work, such as that by Mercier and also David Krause's The Profane Book of Irish Comedy (1982), has tended to concentrate solely on literature from the Republic of Ireland, linking it to ancient Gaelic traditions. Though the importance of such traditions should be acknowledged, this study endeavours to push beyond them, considering the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland in relation to each other and also as part of an increasingly globalised economic and cultural milieu. This thesis begins with a consideration of camivalesque comedy demonstrating how the use of carnival imagery reflects changing attitudes to social and political structures. It continues with an examination of the appearance in literature of the often unheard comic voices of 'everyday' groups in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Finally, it will consider how increasingly globalised economic and cultural dynamics have affected both areas, and how comedy sets up an interrogation of the status of the individual in this new environment. This thesis moves towards an evaluation of comedy as a way for writers to examine issues which are inherently unstable in a rapidly changing political and social world.