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.
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.
Most of us are familiar with the National Lampoon films of the 70s and 80s. But this documentary offers insight into the magazine of the same name and the questionable dynamics of modern satire.
The pathway to academic success is not always about the number of papers you’ve published. Some have found that a sense of humour can be just as useful.
Opinion is rife as to what Aboriginal and Torres Islander humour is, even though Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been delivering it on a platter for centuries.
On January 11 1999, when Jon Stewart took over as host of The Daily Show from Craig Kilborn, no one could have predicted that, 16 years later, Stewart would become an icon of satire. Under Kilborn, the…
Over a decade ago I had no real interest in politics and current affairs. But all that changed when I unintentionally found myself watching The Daily Show for the very first time. The show was unlike anything…
Jon Stewart’s Tuesday night announcement that he’ll be leaving the Daily Show garnered an audible cry of disbelief from his live studio audience. Stewart himself was visibly emotional: “What is this fluid…
It should come as no surprise that comedians would feel threatened by the attack on Charlie Hebdo: the freedom to offend is the source of their livelihood, and many who have offended have been threatened…
You probably don’t tend to consider any legal issues while watching Rita Ora’s recent parody of Beyonce’s 7/11 or the Chatroulette version of Miley Cyrus’s Wrecking Ball. But there are limits to the extent…