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The Politics of British Stand-up Comedy: The New Altenative

Quirk, Sophie (2018) The Politics of British Stand-up Comedy: The New Altenative. Palgrave Macmillan, 131 pp. ISBN 978-3-030-01104-8. (doi:10.1007/978-3-030-01105-5) (The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided) (KAR id:69995)

The full text of this publication is not currently available from this repository. You may be able to access a copy if URLs are provided. (Contact us about this Publication)
Official URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-01105-5

Abstract

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.

Item Type: Book
DOI/Identification number: 10.1007/978-3-030-01105-5
Subjects: H Social Sciences > HX Socialism. Communism. Utopias. Anarchism
J Political Science > JC Political theory
N Visual Arts > NX Arts in general
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Arts
Depositing User: Sophie Quirk
Date Deposited: 08 Nov 2018 15:27 UTC
Last Modified: 16 Feb 2021 13:59 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/69995 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)

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