Alternative Comedy Now academic conference

Alternative Comedy Now, an academic conference organised by the University of Kent and Brunel University, will run on the 2nd and 3rd May 2019 at the University of Kent's Canterbury campus.

Organised by the Popular & Comic Performance Research Centre (PCP) and the Centre for Comedy Studies Research (CCSR), the two-day conference will be the first major academic look at the British Alternative Comedy scene.

The organisers explain: "The early summer of 1979 saw the beginning of the alternative comedy movement. Precipitated by the opening of the Comedy Store in Soho on 19 May and the formation of the group Alternative Cabaret a few weeks later, alternative comedy would go on to revolutionise the style, subject matter and politics of British stand-up. The new comedians turned established joke structures inside out, rejected sexist and racist gags and became part of the left-wing anti-Thatcher culture. Moreover, the current UK comedy industry grew out of the 1980s alternative comedy scene."

They add: "Alternative Comedy Now will be the first major academic look at this crucial cultural movement, forty years on from its inception. In addition to academic papers from a truly international range of speakers representing a range of academic disciplines (including theatre, media, philosophy, anthropology, and cultural studies), we will also have workshops and other contributions from performers."

They keynote speakers will be Sophie Quirk, whose latest book, The Politics of British Stand-Up Comedy: The New Alternative, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in December 2018; and Oliver Double, whose next book, Alternative Comedy: 1979 and the Reinvention of British Stand-Up, will be published by Bloomsbury Methuen Drama later this year.

The conference coincides with a festival of alternative comedy at the Gulbenkian, the University of Kent's arts centre. Events include some of the best-known veterans of the 1980s scene as well as some of today's best alternative comedians. A ticket for Alexei Sayle in Conversation with Dr. Oliver Double on the evening of Thursday 2nd May is provided for conference delegates.

Exhibits from The British Stand-Up Comedy Archive (BSUCA), held at the University of Kent, will also be available. The university has a collection of material relating to the early alternative comedy movement, including publicity materials, photographs, press coverage, scripts, LPs, and unpublished recordings. This material will be arranged in seven different themes: The Comedy Store; Alternative Cabaret; The Comic Strip; the spread of the circuit; the Edinburgh Fringe; the small comedy club; and politics. Together these themes will tell the story of how alternative comedy grew into a rich and vibrant scene throughout the 1980s, and sowed the seeds for today's comedy circuit.

The conference website has full details of the line-up, and further details on the events.

The conference fee of £35 includes conference attendance and refreshments, admission to the exhibition and a ticket for Alexei Sayle in Conversation with Dr Oliver Double. An optional conference dinner for delegates will be held on the evening of Thursday, 2nd May: the fee for attendance of both the conference and the dinner is £60. Book online

Any questions about the academic festival should be directed to altcomnow@kent.ac.uk