Abstract
The freedom to experiment is vital to many comedians. Clubs like the Alternative Comedy Memorial Society (ACMS) exist to offer comedians the opportunity to play with form and revel in the ambition of their artistic extension. Such clubs appear to be considered as the home of ‘the alternative’ by contemporary comedians who often see these environments as the plucky underdog in comparison to the highly commercialised, industrially produced mainstream. Yet recognition that experimental clubs hold a higher cultural status has led to accusations of snobbery and classism. This chapter explores comedians’ own perspectives on the production of alternative comedy and the role of big business in fragmenting comedy ‘markets’.
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Notes
- 1.
An open letter to the American actor Bill Murray explains that the venue is named in honour of the first Earl of Dysart, William Murray, lest there should be any confusion around permissions to use the name.
- 2.
Angel Comedy, Stuart Goldsmith Hell Week.
- 3.
ACMS (live performance), November 2016.
- 4.
There will later be some debate about whether Nadia Kamil is also on the purged list, with Tuck insisting that she is.
- 5.
Dubus, Hamlet (predictive text update) (emphasis original).
- 6.
Roberts, Personal interview.
- 7.
Coltrane, Personal interview (emphasis original).
- 8.
Dubus, Personal interview.
- 9.
Morton, Personal interview.
- 10.
Dubus, Personal interview.
- 11.
Dubus, Personal interview.
- 12.
Coltrane, Personal interview.
- 13.
Friedman, Comedy and Distinction, 169.
- 14.
Roberts, Personal interview.
- 15.
Roberts, Personal interview.
- 16.
Roberts, Personal interview.
- 17.
Roberts, Personal interview.
- 18.
Roberts, Personal interview (emphasis original).
- 19.
Wringham, ‘Cluub Zarathustra’.
- 20.
Roberts, Personal interview.
- 21.
Coltrane, Personal interview.
- 22.
Coltrane, Personal interview.
- 23.
Dubus, Personal interview.
- 24.
Roberts, Personal interview.
- 25.
Roberts, Personal interview.
- 26.
Dubus, Personal interview.
- 27.
Cook, Ha Bloody Ha, 215.
- 28.
Allen, Attitude, 95.
- 29.
Cook, The Comedy Store, 26.
- 30.
Wilmut and Rosengard, Didn’t You Kill My Mother-in-Law?, 6.
- 31.
Double, Stand-up!, 182.
- 32.
Wilmut and Rosengard, Didn’t You Kill My Mother-in-Law?, 10.
- 33.
Carr and Greeves, The Naked Jape, 115.
- 34.
Carr and Greeves, The Naked Jape, 115.
- 35.
Allen, Personal interview.
- 36.
Allen, Personal interview.
- 37.
Allen, Personal interview.
- 38.
Goldsmith, ‘Aisling Bea’.
- 39.
For a more fulsome account of this club, see Quirk, ‘What’s Special about Stand-up Comedy?’.
- 40.
Coltrane, Lolitics.
- 41.
Tingle, ‘EXCLUSIVE’.
- 42.
Coltrane, Personal interview.
- 43.
Long, Personal interview.
- 44.
Long, Personal interview.
- 45.
Allen, Personal interview.
- 46.
Allen, Personal interview.
- 47.
Law, Personal interview.
- 48.
Roberts, Personal interview.
- 49.
Kettle, ‘From boom to bust’. Jongleurs would go on to face a series of financial difficulties in the 2010s, and ultimately close all of its doors in October 2017.
- 50.
Kettle, ‘From boom to bust’.
- 51.
See, for example, Lee, How I Escaped My Certain Fate, 36; Chow, ‘Situations, Happenings, Gatherings, Laughter’.
- 52.
Kettle, ‘From boom to bust’.
- 53.
Kettle, ‘From boom to bust’.
- 54.
Kettle, ‘From boom to bust’.
- 55.
Stagg, ‘Save us from left-wing comedy snobs – and especially Stewart Lee’.
- 56.
Thomas, Linda Smith Lecture.
- 57.
Dubus, Personal interview.
- 58.
Friedman, Comedy and Distinction, Chap. 7.
- 59.
Friedman, Comedy and Distinction, 6.
- 60.
Friedman, Comedy and Distinction, 165 (emphasis original).
- 61.
Coltrane, Lolitics (emphasis original).
- 62.
Coltrane, Lolitics.
- 63.
Friedman, Comedy and Distinction, 168.
- 64.
Friedman, Comedy and Distinction, 117.
- 65.
Friedman, Comedy and Distinction, 168–9.
- 66.
Jamieson, ‘Crisis Comedy’.
- 67.
Roberts, Personal interview.
- 68.
Coltrane, Personal interview.
- 69.
Morton, Personal interview.
- 70.
Roberts, Personal interview.
- 71.
Allen, Personal interview.
- 72.
Allen, Personal interview.
- 73.
Roberts, Personal interview.
- 74.
Law, Personal interview.
- 75.
Law, Personal interview.
- 76.
Long, Personal interview.
- 77.
Kettle, ‘From boom to bust’.
- 78.
Friedman, Comedy and Distinction.
- 79.
Goldsmith, ‘Thom Tuck’.
- 80.
Goldsmith, ‘Thom Tuck’.
- 81.
Coltrane, Personal interview.
- 82.
Dubus, Personal interview.
- 83.
Morton, Personal interview.
- 84.
Morton, Personal interview.
- 85.
Allen, Personal interview.
- 86.
Allen, Personal interview.
- 87.
Allen, Personal interview.
- 88.
Coltrane, Personal interview.
- 89.
See, for example, Double, Getting the Joke, 57; Chow, ‘Situations, Happenings, Gatherings, Laughter’; Jonze, ‘Laugh? I Nearly DIY’d’.
- 90.
Long, Personal interview.
- 91.
Long, Personal interview.
- 92.
Friedman, Comedy and Distinction, 159 (emphasis original).
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Quirk, S. (2018). Experimentation: Class, Controversy, and an Artistic Lifeline. In: The Politics of British Stand-up Comedy. Palgrave Studies in Comedy. Palgrave Pivot, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01105-5_4
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