From Alfonso the Wise’s bawdy songs of slander to Ronald Reagan’s sunny smile, politics and humor have gone hand-in-hand for centuries. But no one seems to be laughing anymore.
Stand-up comedians die two to three years younger than comedic and dramatic actors. And the funnier they are judged to be, the greater their risk of dying.
Jason Watkins and Jane Horrocks, as Gavin and Julie in Trollied, elevate anxiety to an art-form.
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For the comic protagonist, the literary critic Northrop Frye once observed, life is something you get through. While tragic characters die in plangent splendour, and Marvel superheroes vanquish tech-spangled…
President Barack Obama laughs during comedian Larry Wilmore’s routine at the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner.
Yuri Gripas/Reuters
When comedian Larry Wilmore called President Obama ‘my n-gga’ during the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner, what was he really saying?
One of Victoria Wood’s recurring themes was television, something that until recently, held the nation together. As such, she is the consummate English comic.
Laughter doesn’t actually cure anything – it’s used as an addition to standard health care, not a replacement.
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We start laughing at around 3 months of age. Women laugh more than men, but blokes tell more jokes. As the Melbourne International Comedy Festival begins, here’s the latest on mirth.
The cast of the film ‘Spotlight’ reacts after they won the Oscar for Best Picture at the 88th Academy Awards.
Mario Anzuoni/Reuters
The Trevor Noah phenomenon speaks to an influential comedic revolution that is happening in South Africa. Its comics operate in an increasingly complex, high-risk and conflict-intense society.
New adult Ladybird books on The Hipster and The Husband fall flat.
Magda Szubanski in one of her most famous roles - Sharon Strzelecki - in Kath and Kim, with actors Gina Riley, Peter Rowsthorn, Glenn Robbins and Jane Turner.
Paul Jeffers/AAP
Magda Szubanski’s engaging debut memoir, Reckoning, is an exercise in precisely that: reconciling the past. It is also a celebration of the life and career of one of our greatest comedians.
Why isn’t there a Late Show with Ellen Degeneres?
Lucas Jackson/Reuters
This year’s Melbourne Fringe Festival program features an array of performances by artists with disabilities. Their work tells its audience what the mainstream looks like from the margins.
Positive stories about the mainstreaming of female comedians could become a smokescreen for an industry getting ever less diverse across a number of areas.
Stewart’s final message to viewers – “the best defense against bullshit is vigilance. If you smell something, say something” – were true to his unique brand of political satire.
In Australia, from its beginnings, humour and irony have been small weapons in the armoury of the oppressed, the outcast, or those simply fed up with cultural uniformity.