Inyumugh and Botwev are two legendary figures in Tiv oral history who are associated with humorous and eccentric behaviour, often leading to serious mishaps and even misfortune for themselves and others. This paper examines a selection of the stories of these two men, exploring their use as low comedy, protest, and psychological relief. The theoretical perspective taken here is Sigmund Freud’s conception of comedy as an outlet for suppressed desires within the human subconscious, an expression of thoughts and actions that are unacceptable in a normative society.

The paper reveals that while the actions of Botwev and Inyumugh are an outward display of deceit, oddity and even buffoonery, there are important moral and philosophical lessons to be learned from their deviant behaviour. The meaning of words is the key to every Botwevic encounter, while Inyumugh’s stinginess and excessive self-preservation reveal much

about why the Tiv have a disdain for extreme individualism