Comic Cultures: Commerce, Aesthetics and the Politics of Stand-Up Performance in the UK 1979 to 1992
PhD Thesis
Campbell, R. 2016. Comic Cultures: Commerce, Aesthetics and the Politics of Stand-Up Performance in the UK 1979 to 1992. PhD Thesis University of East London School of Arts and Digital Industries https://doi.org/10.15123/uel.879z9
Authors | Campbell, R. |
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Type | PhD Thesis |
Abstract | This thesis represents the first Cultural Studies analysis of the 1980s entertainment form commonly known as ‘alternative comedy’, which emerged against the backdrop of social, industrial and political unrest. However, the use of the term ‘alternative comedy’ has obscured a diverse movement that contained many different strands and tendencies, which included punk poets, street performers, chansonniers and improvising double acts. This thesis goes some way to addressing the complex nature of this entertainment space by recognising the subtle but important differences between New Variety and alternative cabaret. Alternative cabaret was both a movement and an entertainment genre, while New Variety grew out of CAST’s theatre work and was constructed in opposition to Tony Allen’s and Alexei Sayle’s Alternative Cabaret performance collective. Taken together, alternative cabaret and New Variety comprise one part of the alternative space that also includes post-punk music, and were the cultural expressions of the 1980s countercultural milieu. |
Keywords | Comedy; cabaret; avant-garde; post-punk |
Year | 2016 |
Publisher | University of East London |
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.15123/uel.879z9 |
File | License File Access Level Anyone |
Publication dates | |
Oct 2016 | |
Publication process dates | |
Deposited | 06 Feb 2020 |
https://repository.uel.ac.uk/item/879z9
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