The Politics of British Stand-up Comedy

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Sophie Quirk

   Pages 1-10

3. ‘Where Are All the Right-Wing Comedians?’

   • Sophie Quirk

   Pages 11-43

4. Political Challenges in the Millennial Era

   • Sophie Quirk

   Pages 45-74

5. Experimentation: Class, Controversy, and an Artistic Lifeline

   • Sophie Quirk

   Pages 75-101

6. Conclusion: Widening the Theoretical Basis for Assessing Stand-Up Politics

   • Sophie Quirk

   Pages 103-125

7. Back Matter

   Pages 127-131

   PDF

This Palgrave Pivot questions how a new generation of alternative stand-up comedians and the political world continue to shape and influence each other. The Alternative Comedy Movement of the late 1970s and 1980s can be described as a time of unruly experimentation and left-wing radicalism. This book examines how alternative comedians continue to celebrate these characteristics in the twenty-first century, while also moving into a distinct phase of artistic development as the political context of the 1970s and 1980s loses its immediacy. Sophie Quirk draws on original interviews with comedians including Tom Allen, Josie Long, John-Luke Roberts and Tony Law to chart how alternative comedians are shaped by, and in turn respond to, contemporary political challenges from neoliberalism to Brexit, class controversy to commercialism. She argues that many of our assumptions about comedy’s politics must be challenged and updated. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the working methods and values of today’s alternative comedians.

• Alternative Comedy
• comedian
• political
• experimental comedy
• narrative
• liberal
• radicalism
• 1970s
• 1980s
• Brexit
• class
• neoliberalism
• millenial
• Alternative Comedy Memorial Society
• Identity politics
• Postanarchism

“In lucid and jargon-free prose Quirk treats the British alternative stand-up comedy scene as both discursive community and commercial enterprise. She draws upon her interviews with stand-up notables to make two insightful arguments. First, the egalitarian experimentalism attributed to the Alternative Comedy of the 1970s and 80s is a partial narrative minimizing the presence of conservative voices. Second, in the face of new generational audiences and current political problematics, contemporary alternative comics are turning to more personal, caring and didactic forms. An engaging and suggestive read.” (Sammy Basu, Willamette University, USA)

 

• University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

  Sophie Quirk

Sophie Quirk is Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre at the University of Kent, UK, where she specialises in stand-up comedy and popular performance. She is the author of Why Stand-up Matters: How Comedians Manipulate and Influence (2015). 

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