The Comedy Bureau

Welcome to the latest episode of The Comedy Bureau. The Comedy Bureau is a passion project from comedian Laura Lexx and academic Oliver Double. The pair are OBSESSED with comedy and so have joined forces to make a show where comedy is taken incredibly seriously.Right from the inception of the show, they had an idea that some episodes could be about singular people and the impact they have had on the comedy world. Today's episode is the first of those style... and who better to start with than Victoria Wood?Chosen not only because of how beloved, creative and hilarious she was, we have also made her our first solo subject because of the unique way in which she entered and conquered the comedy scene. Victoria Wood didn't arrive in comedy through the usual route and so her comedy voice was as unique as her trajectory. We track her rise and rise from New Faces in 1974, to the Summer Show with Lenny Henry, to That’s Life. We discuss the line where comic songs become stand up and whether there’s a definitive answer to what is stand up comedy.Then we follow her illustrious career through Wood and Walters, Victoria Wood As Seen on TV from which we got Acorn Antiques, An Audience With Victoria Wood, into more plays and many series of stand up comedy. And of course, who could forget Dinnerladies.We end the episode discussing Oliver Double's all time favourite comic masterpiece: The Ballad of Barry and Freda.We hope you enjoy The Comedy Bureau... if you do, please consider leaving us a five star review on your podcast app or telling your friends and family all about the show. We rely on word of mouth from listeners to keep the podcast growing.Many thanks, and we'll be back with a new episode next week!Our sources for this week include:"Victoria Wood Chunky" (2023), TrapezeBrandwood, Neil (2002) "Victoria Wood: The Biography" Virgin Books Ltd1988 Release Brighton Dome Recording - Victoria Wood “Live”“Lucky Bag” Recording - Edinburgh Fringe

Hello and welcome back to The Comedy Bureau! On the podcast this week academic Oliver Double and stand-up comedian Laura Lexx have a look back at the development of comedy on television. We predominantly look at the UK comedy scene, with a brief hop across the pond to see what's going on in the United States of America.Oliver reveals to Laura that the first broadcasted Variety shows was in the 1930s… featuring sketch acts, comedians, singers, jugglers and more. Comedy was one of the very first televised items, and at the time, they simply televised a variety bill as that was the popular form of the day. This would develop over time as TV stops for the war and then reappears in the 1940s with a massive spike in TV ownership during the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.Oliver gives some fantastic examples of key moments in the history of televised comedy. The creation of ITV is particularly fascinating - Sunday night at the London Palladium was a huge hit and a massive showcase of British Comedy. Laura and Oliver analyse how different comedians responded to the novel medium.They round off the episode with a discussion on the development of broadcast comedy into specials and DVDS and streaming and reels. Laura gives insight into the pressure on comedians to meet the algorithm requirements and to produce the levels of content that the newest form of broadcasting requires.In this episode Laura mentions a few really interesting things and people from the world of comedy that you may find interesting to explore.The Lund Comedy Festival is a fantastic comedy festival in Sweden: https://lundcomedyfestival.com/Troy Hawke, you have probably heard of but on the off chance you haven't his social media handle is @troyhawkeTadiwe Mahlunge, who Laura mentions gigging with is on instagram under the handle @TadIsFunnyNaomi Cooper, who was at the same show as Tad and Laura is on instagram at @naysayingJoe Foster, another Brighton comedian friend of Laura, is on instagram at @joe.foster.comedian

Welcome back to the second episode of series two from The Comedy Bureau!In this episode we step slightly outside of our own expertise and explore some science of humour in great apes. Neither comedy academic Oliver Double, nor comedian Laura Lexx are experts in animal behaviour or apes so they are calling on as much research as they can find in this episode to explore what evidence has been presented from the science community to suggest that humour or joking is present in great apes.First, Olly talks us through the development of humour in humans as a basis for whether we can then see the same developments in apes. This invaluable research comes from the book Humour - It's Origin and Development by Paul E McGhee. Development of humour in children involves the steps of imaginations, play and incongruous use of language in riddles.We take a look at some of the evidence from the previous century presented by carers of Viki, Washoe and Koko. Koko in particular is a very famous ape you may have heard of previously.Then we move on to some later studies and end by discussing why we want to be able to simultaneously gatekeep and share humour with other species.What do you think? We absolutely love hearing from The Comedy Bureau listeners, so if you have thoughts or feedback we would LOVE to hear from you. We would also be so grateful if you would help us by leaving a glowing review of the podcast or sharing our promo videos on social media. We're a new, completely independent podcast and we really rely on you to help us spread the word about the work we're doing.In this episode Laura mentions her other podcast... don't forget to subscribe to Lexx Education to see her tackling a subject she is not interested in at all.Our sources for this episode were:McGhee, Paul E, "Humour: It’s Origin and Development" (1979) WH Freeman and Co LtdProvine, Robert "Laughter: A Scientific Investigation" (2001) Penguin Publishing GroupGamble, Jennifer “Humour in Apes” (2008) Here: Cartmill, Erica "Great Apes Joke Around Suggesting Humor Is Older Than Humans" (2024)IB Laumer, SL Winkler, F Rossano, EA Cartmill "Spontaneous playful teasing in four great ape species" (2024)

Welcome back to The Comedy Bureau! The office is now open for a fantastic second series with ten upcoming episodes all about different fascinating niche aspects of comedy.In this episode we are discussing jesters and myth busting some of the assumptions you might have about the role of jesters in medieval courts in England.In a Comedy Bureau first, Laura takes the lead on the research and tells Oliver Double all about jesters. In the process she learns what a fine art research is and how editing is key... as she hasn't finessed editing yet this is (we think) our longest episode to date. But, that's just more podcast for you.We look at the very earliest records of jesters, what they did, what they were paid and how the role developed as courts and tastes changed.Our main source for this episode was the fantastic book "Fools and Jesters at the English Court" by John Soulworth - very worth a read and incredibly easy to read too. Full details are here:Soulworth, John (1998) Fools and Jesters at the English Court, The History Press LtdOur other sources for this episode were:Otto, Beatrice K (2007) Fools Are Everywhere, The University of Chicago PressAmerican Journal of Sociology (1949) The Fool As A Social Type - Orrin E Klapp - https://www.jstor.org/stable/90026123History Extra Magazine - Karen Maitland “What Was Life Like For a Court Jester” - https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/what-was-life-like-for-a-court-jester/Douglass, Mary (1975) “Implicit meanings - essays in anthropology” University College London, Routledge & Kegan Paul LtdIn this episode Laura mentions a few comedians and things that may be of interest:Nick Page, here's Nick's website: https://nickpagecomedy.co.uk/Mr Methane, she was right, he was on BGT, his website is here: https://www.mrmethane.com/Mischief Theatre, can be found here: https://www.mischiefcomedy.com/We really hope you're glad to see us back in your feed with our comedy nerdery specialist podcast. If you are enjoying what we're putting out, please take a moment to spread the word and give us a glowing review. See you next week!

In this very special between series Working From Home episode, we welcome another guest to The Comedy Bureau. Wayne is based in LA, and is basically the Comedy Bureau’s American cousin, we think. We’re so glad to have him on the show.He started performing comedy in New York, in the 1980s before moving to LA to continue performing comedy and from there he’s gone on to do almost everything it’s possible to do in comedy. From acting, to late night shows, to improv to voice over… absolutely incredible.But the most Bureau related of all Wayne’s very noteworthy achievements, is his book - The History of StandUp from Mark Twain to Dave Chappelle.And, after our episode on the first stand-up comedian, Wayne got in touch and said would we be interested in hearing about Artemus Ward. And we are!Wayne tells us all about Artemus Ward - an American columnist who got the idea to begin performing his writing after seeing his own writing performed by someone else in a minstrel show. We explore how this contains the beginnings of comedy and who it has influenced in the modern world of comedy before branching off into more general discussions of the differences between the US and UK comedy scene.We really hope you enjoy this episode as much as we did, and remember to let us know if you have anything you want to hear us discuss. You can reach out to us at [email protected]'s book is The History of Stand Up Comedy: From Mark Twain to Dave Chappelle, and can be bought here: https://www.amazon.com/History-Stand-Up-Mark-Twain-Chappelle/dp/B08YRP1R2G/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=The other book Olly shows off in this episode is "The Victorian Clown" by Jacky Bratton and Ann Featherstone (Cambridge University Press, 2006), and can be found here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-victorian-clown/jacky-bratton/ann-featherstone/9780521816663