The first issue of a new magazine about comedy, Stand & Deliver, is being crowd-funded through Kickstarter. Here BCG speaks to one of the founders, Ian Wylie, to ask why he thinks this magazine launch might succeed where others have failed...

Hi Ian. A print magazine about comedy. Are you mad?

Possibly! In the same way as they say you should never work with children or animals, we've heard plenty of times that you should never launch a magazine about comedy.

It seems to be pretty much accepted wisdom in the magazine world. Just the other day, we came across an interview with David Hepworth who has launched and edited many hugely successful magazines from Smash Hits, Just Seventeen and Q to Empire, Mojo and Heat, and yet he said that wouldn't enter even a conversation about a new comedy magazine. And then he said this, which made us laugh: "Great ideas are championed against all the odds by talented people with unshakeable self-belief... but so are the crap ones."

So what's your "great new idea"?

Well, while we've enjoyed some of the magazines about comedy that have gone before, from The Fix and Deadpan to Comedy Review and The Truth, we have yet to find one that has attempted to marry comedy with high-quality design, illustration and journalism.

We love comedy, we love good writing and journalism, we love design and we love magazines. So Stand & Deliver will be our expression of all these passions. We're setting out to create a beautifully designed, illustrated and written independent, print magazine for people who understand and enjoy comedy as an art form. We think there's a need and an appetite for grown-up conversation with the men and women of comedy about how and why they make us laugh.

Sounds great. Is 2014 a good time to be launching a magazine about comedy?

From what we see, these are exciting times for comedy. Stand-up is pushing out the boundaries and becoming ever more experimental. In small clubs up and down the country, you'll find innovative comedy every night of the week. So Stand & Deliver will explore the possibilities of print to report and explore from that cutting edge - offering our readers an intelligent, alternative view of comedy.

Can you tell us a little more about what the content we can expect?

We're going to focus on celebrating comedy by getting under its skin, through a mix of features, interviews, storytelling, photography, illustration and design. The kind of comedy we like is the stuff that doesn't just make us laugh, but engages our intelligence too.

Comedy isn't created or enjoyed in a vacuum, so we're going to try and follow the threads that link comedy to our wider culture, whether that's food, science, literature, feminism, politics, religion, whatever. And we should probably make it clear that while Stand & Deliver is a magazine about comedy, we'll definitely be leaving the comedy to the comedians.

What contributors have you signed up so far?

We've got quite a wide range of collaborators on board already, from comedians, and fans to professional journalists, photographers and illustrators. We hope Stand & Deliver will appeal to a broad audience whilst satisfying the curiosity of a niche readership that appreciates alternative comedy outside the mainstream spotlight.

The design of each issue will be inspired by a comedian and then we're going to build the content of the magazine around him or her, a bit like a comedy show. Our cover comedian will be the headline act and showcased at the end. Our interviews and profiles will perform as support acts, all compered by our team of editors. And our cover comedian will even influence design throughout the magazine, from the icons and headlines we use to the illustrations and custom typefaces.

The editorial team behind Stand & Deliver is a petty experienced bunch of writers and editors who work for, among others, the Guardian, Telegraph, Sunday Times, Financial Times and Economist. And at the same time, Stand & Deliver will be highly experimental - that just seems the right approach for a magazine about stand-up comedy.

When can we expect to see the first issue?

We're planning to print and publish just 1,000 copies of our first issue in August 2014 - all on lovely, sweet-smelling offset paper. Our early Kickstarter backers will be able to choose from a wide range of extra rewards that include first issues signed by Tony Law, Stand & Deliver tote bags and limited edition copies of our "Issue 0" poster.

Are you nervous about making it work?

Not really. We're not attempting to be the first or last word on comedy. We're not trying to steal anyone's business or slice of the comedy pie. And we know 100% that we won't be everyone's cup of tea. We just want to take our chance of creating something of which we can be proud while sharing our passion for an art form about which we care a very great deal.

Find out more about Stand & Deliver on Kickstarter

The fundraising campaign ends on the 13th June 2014, so back them before then.