Overview
- Argues that today’s comedy alternative demonstrates both continuity with, and significant development from, the British Alternative Comedy form that emerged in the late 1970s and 1980s
- Utilises a range of empirical analysis, drawing on original interviews with key practitioners
- Offers a concise analysis of stand-up comedy’s place within the cultural and political discourse
Part of the book series: Palgrave Studies in Comedy (PSCOM)
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Table of contents(5 chapters)
About this book
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.
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Authors and Affiliations
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University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
Sophie Quirk
About the author
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).
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Politics of British Stand-up Comedy
Book Subtitle: The New Alternative
Authors: Sophie Quirk
Series Title: Palgrave Studies in Comedy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01105-5
Publisher: Palgrave Pivot Cham
eBook Packages: Literature, Cultural and Media Studies, Literature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-01104-8Published: 22 November 2018
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-01105-5Published: 11 November 2018
Series ISSN: 2731-4332
Series E-ISSN: 2731-4340
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 131
Number of Illustrations: 3 illustrations in colour
Topics: Comedy Studies, Popular Culture , Screen Performance