Oliver Double
- Academic
Press clippings
How alternative comedy isn't what it used to be... and probably never was
An extract from Alternative Comedy Now and Then: Critical Perspectives by Oliver Double and Sharon Lockyer.
Oliver Double and Sharon Lockyer, Chortle, 10th November 2022What does 'alternative comedy' mean in 2022?
A scene that started as a counter to straight stand-up at the end of the 1970s is still hard to peg - but it's much more than just weird stuff that doesn't work on telly.
Rachael Healy, The Guardian, 29th June 2022Oliver Double seeks comics' thoughts for book
The Cambridge Companion To Stand-Up Comedy is going to feature 16 chapters written by academics from around the world. As the book's editor, he wants to make sure that comedians' own voices and opinions are represented in it.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 2nd September 2021Leicester Comedy Festival to publish All Puns Blazing joke book
Leicester Comedy Festival is publishing a celebratory book of puns. All Puns Blazing: The Best British Knockout Jokes will be published in November.
British Comedy Guide, 16th August 2021Comedy academics send letter to culture minister
Comedy academics have sent an open letter to Culture Minister Oliver Dowden arguing that comedy is an art form and should be entitled to any government bail-outs.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 17th July 2020Book review: Alternative Comedy
When I saw that Oliver Double's new book about Alternative Comedy was £75 I assumed it was a massive doorstep tome that the post person would never be able to carry. So I was surprised when (than you Bloomsbury Press Office) a relatively thin 200-ish page hardback dropped through my letterbox.
Bruce Dessau, Beyond The Joke, 20th May 2020Book review: Alternative Comedy, by Oliver Double
This fascinating, well-written and meticulously researched guide to Britain's alternative comedy revolution is probably the most accurate single retrospective of that transformative time that exists. The only problem is, it has been released as an academic title with a price tag that will put this comprehensive history out of the reach of all but the most deep-pocketed of interested fans. It costs - and this is not a misprint - £75. So much for the egalitarianism of the movement.
Steve Bennett, Chortle, 19th May 2020Alexei Sayle on the birth of alternative comedy
Forty years after the Comedy Store opened and the alternative comedy boom started, pioneer Alexei Sayle sat down at the Alternative Comedy Now conference to discuss his role in the groundbreaking movement with event co-organiser Oliver Double of the University Of Kent. Here's what he said about those early days....
Oliver Double, Chortle, 6th May 2019How comedy captured the Edinburgh Fringe: part 1
In the first of a series of articles to celebrate the Edinburgh Festival Fringe's 70th anniversary, we look back at the remarkable rise of stand-up comedy and how it came to dominate the once theatre-heavy programme.
Ben Venables, The Skinny, 9th May 2017Linda Smith cheerfully skewered the Tories
She always came across as reasonable and down-to-earth, but Linda Smith articulated her anger at injustices with vitriolic precision.
Oliver Double, The Guardian, 10th June 2015