Not only is it the last episode of series 2, but it's also our first episode in our brand new offices and to celebrate we have some guests... the two office dogs! Maki and Yuzu pop in to the office to lend their species to today's subject: comedy dogs.

Today academic Oliver Double and comedian Laura Lexx take a journey through some of the comedy dogs of past and present. From Shakespeare to Luisa Omielan… our history of dogs in comic performance features acts like Al Mardo, Mike and Bernie Winters, Piff The Magic Dragon and Julian Clary.

We will be back in the summer with series 3 of The Comedy Bureau but please don't forget us in the meantime!

Our sources for this episode were:

Shakespeare, William "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" (2004) edited by William C Carroll, The Arden Shakespeare Third Series

Clary, Julian “A Young Man’s Passage” (2006), Ebury Press

Here is a link to the clip of Luisa Omielan and Bernie: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1H8EPZEy2s/

The contemporary comedians we discuss in this episode are all very worth exploring and enjoying, regardless of whether their dogs are featured in the act.

Simon Caine's Barking Mad show is this one: https://www.facebook.com/groups/BarkingMadComedy/

The other dog friend comedians we discussed are Juliet Meyers, Louise Leigh, Rob Rouse, Jarred Christmas, Lauren Pattison. Find them and love them!

This week on the podcast they are discussing comedy specials… first having a look at the different streaming platforms and options for releasing a comedy show once the live tour is completed. Obviously the larger platforms like Netflix and Prime etc exist but they also look at the options for smaller, lesser known comedians and how each of them can be used to benefit a burgeoning career.

Then, for the bulk of this episode the experiment was looking in detail at two specific specials and having a look at comparative joke rates and techniques and ideas within the shows. We use two very different recorded shows as a jumping off point for comedy discussion.

The first show we chose is John Bishop’s Winging It, from 2018 at The London Palladium. It’s available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re8-L11b8n4

The second show we looked at is Power and Chaos, by Fern Brady from 2021, and available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fern-Brady-Power-Chaos/dp/B0CBN92JKD

We use these shows as jumping off points to evaluate the myriad choices all comedians make every time they step out on stage or in front of a camera. From the clothing they choose, the the persona they inhabit and how that develops throughout their career to the jokes they tell.

Laura mentions a restaurant called Lavash. We’re not in anyway sponsored by them, but if you do like delicious food then check them out next time you’re in Brighton.

Laura mentions her newest show Slinky has been filmed and that it “will be out by now”. It’s not available online yet because the tour was extended again but if you are in Adelaide, Melbourne, Brisbane or London you can catch it live. Go for tickets at www.lauralexx.co.uk/live and subscribe to Laura Lexx’s YouTube channel to receive the Slinky filming as soon as it is released.

Laura mentions a platform called NextUp that you may not have heard of, but if you’re interested enough in comedy to be watching The Comedy Bureau then we’re pretty sure you would LOVE the content of NextUp. Have a look at all their shows at www.nextupcomedy.com

You can watch Laura’s shows Trying and Tyrannosaurus Lexx at ITVX:

https://www.itv.com/watch/laura-lexx-trying/10a1419

https://www.itv.com/watch/laura-lexx-tyrannosauraus-lexx/10a1420

Laura mentions her other podcast, which you may not have got round to yet, but if you like giggling and sibling arguments then check out Lexx Education in your podcast app.

She also mentions Mark Simmons and Danny Ward’s excellent podcast, which is called Jokes With Mark and available wherever you podcast.

Here is some coverage of the Katherine Ryan appearance on “My Mate Bought A Toaster” Podcast where she discusses dressing feminine and glamorous to do stand up: https://www.chortle.co.uk/punching-ups/2024/04/04/55331/katherine_ryan%3A_female_comics_now_dress_more_glamorously_thanks_to_me

Comedy historian and academic Oliver Double takes us on a fascinating journey through the life of Harry Relph - better known as Little Tich. A remarkable performer who delighted crowds and was so famous that the reason we call short people "Titch" today comes from him.

We hope you've enjoyed this quest from crime scandal to Variety performance - if you have please consider leaving us a review or sharing some of our social media posts to let the wider world know what we get up to here at The Comedy Bureau.

Our sources for this episode were:

Tich, Mary and Findlater, Richard “Little Tich - Giant of the Music Hall” (1979) Elm Tree Books

Priestley, JB “Particular Pleasures” (1975) William Heinemann Ltd

Lee, Louise “Victorian Comedy and Laughter - Conviviality Jokes and Dissent” (2020) Palgrave MacMillan

Little Tich by Little Tich, by Sax Rohmer (1911)

And also in this episode, Olly mentions Martin Soan. Martin was the founder member of The Greatest Show on Legs... a very early pioneer in alternative comedy. To find out more, start here and work out: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Greatest_Show_on_Legs

Laura mentions comedian Louise Leigh - not the same as the author of the book they were discussing - but a brilliant comedian and you can check her out here: https://www.funnylouiseleigh.com/ She's Bristol based but often touring the UK and fun to follow on social media @louiseleighcomedy

See you next week!

In this first part of the story, Laura Lexx tells Oliver Double the truly spectacular story of the Tichborne Claimant. The heir to a wealthy British family disappears at sea and thus begins a multi-year legal battle as someone steps forward to claim the estate.

Laura talks us through the details of the claim, and exactly why it was so much bigger than any story that had gone before. If you thought Heard V Depp was the most sensationalised legal battle in history then you are about to have your mind blown... it's nothing compared to The Tichborne Claimant.

Next week, Olly will take over the story telling as he explains how this epic saga was not the end of the notoriety of the case but just the beginning...

Laura mentions Stitches Comedy Clubs - if you live along the south coast of the UK and want to see live comedy then check out their website for your nearest gig: https://www.stitches.fun/

The book Laura refers to throughout this episode is DEFINITELY worth reading and these are the details:

McWilliam, Rohan “The Tichborne Claimant - A Victorian Sensation” (2007) Bloomsbury Continuum

This episode is dedicated to Laura's little sister, Meg who loves True Crime. If this little detail appeals to you then why not check out Laura's other podcast Lexx Education where Meg serves up two true crimes and a lie and lets Laura and their other sibling Ron work out which one is a lie.

We focus this week on the history of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival... from it's beginnings way back in 1947 through to the explosion of stand up comedy at The Fringe in the 1980s. It's an episode in which Olly shuffles through paperwork, and we will be returning to the modern Edinburgh Fringe in a later episode.

We look through the developments, early scripts and then the Comedy Awards and how they have gone through fads and phases.

Olly mentions John Dowie in this episode - we’ve managed to secure him as a guest for an upcoming episode so watch your feed with beady eyes for us to be able to pick the brains of one of the first comedians doing stand up comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Our sources for this episode were:

Sources:

Guardian Article - https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/jun/03/edinburgh-fringe-event-organisers-capitalise-oasis-acdc-gigs-tony-lankester

Connor, John (1990) “Comics - A Decade of Comedy at The Assembly Rooms”, Papermac

1978 - The Stage - Review of Only Men Shave

Every week academic Oliver Double and comedian Laura Lexx choose a different aspect of comedy to pull apart, dissect, study and present to you. This week Oliver has chosen the subject and he has picked the art of MCing.

If you've been to see a live comedy show then you will have seen the host comedian, the MC, the compere appear at the start of the show to warm up the crowd and then introduce acts and intervals seamlessly throughout the night.

In this episode Oliver and Laura take a look at where the role of MC came from in the UK comedy scene as it developed out of Music Hall, into Variety and Working Mens Clubs and then onto the Alternative Comedy scence. They then discuss best practise, the purpose of the MC and the problems and joys that the job can bring.

We hope you love The Comedy Bureau - a true passion project brought to you by Oliver and Laura. If you like what we do please do share links or clips on social media and leave us a five star review on Apple podcasts or Spotify.

Our sources for this episode were:

Double, Oliver “Stand-Up! On Being A Comedian” (1997) Methuen Drama

Rutter, Jason “The stand-up introduction sequence. Comparing comedy comperes” Journal of Pragmatics, (2000) - ESRC Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition, University of Manchester, Tom Lupton Suite, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9QH, UK Received 29 November 1998; revised version 18 March 1999

We mention a couple of comedy insitutions in this episode that you might wish to explore in your own time...

The Bearcat at The Turk's Head in Twickenham

The Banana Cabaret at The Bedford in Balham

And comedians Will Duggan @will_dug and Roger Monkhouse, who we can't find on social media but his gig listings are available online.

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), Trapeze

Brandwood, Neil (2002) "Victoria Wood: The Biography" Virgin Books Ltd

1988 Release Brighton Dome Recording - Victoria Wood “Live”

“Lucky Bag” Recording - Edinburgh Fringe

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 @troyhawke

Tadiwe Mahlunge, who Laura mentions gigging with is on instagram under the handle @TadIsFunny

Naomi Cooper, who was at the same show as Tad and Laura is on instagram at @naysaying

Joe Foster, another Brighton comedian friend of Laura, is on instagram at @joe.foster.comedian

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 Ltd

Provine, Robert "Laughter: A Scientific Investigation" (2001) Penguin Publishing Group

Gamble, 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)

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 Ltd

Our other sources for this episode were:

Otto, Beatrice K (2007) Fools Are Everywhere, The University of Chicago Press

American Journal of Sociology (1949) The Fool As A Social Type - Orrin E Klapp - https://www.jstor.org/stable/90026123

History 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 Ltd

In 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!

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 thecomedybureauteam@gmail.com.

Wayne'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

As it is Christmas, we thought what better subject than Pantomime! Joining us for the episode, as The Comedy Bureau’s first ever guest is Ben Roddy. Ben is an acclaimed actor, who has appeared in shows like Call The Midwife and films such as Absolutely Fabulous The Movie. However he's best known for his theatre performances. The reason we so badly wanted him to be included in our festive edition is that Ben is also a brilliant panto dame. He has been the resident dame at The Marlowe Theatre’s panto since… well, watch the episode and Olly will tell you!

You can find Ben on instagram at @BenRoddyActor, and he's represented by Nancy Hudson Associates.

In this episode we discuss the history, origins and development of pantomime. We also chat about the current state of panto - how financially important it is for most theatres and how it has changed over time with cultural developments.

We are truly grateful to the team at The Special Collections archive, especially Karen Brayshaw, for retrieving so many fascinating items for us to look at.

We will be back in 2026 with Series 2 - thank you for listening or watching so far. Please do like, subscribe and give us a good rating to help us grow. We really appreciate your support.

The Dave Lee mentioned at the beginning of the episode but not elaborated on is the comedian and actor Dave Lee (MBE) who performed in pantomimes in Kent for a large stretch of his career as well as appearing on television.

Ben mentions the Dame of Elaine C Smith, and he and Karen were absolutely right - Elaine is appearing in The Little Mermaid at The King’s Theatre, Glasgow from 22nd November 2025 to 4th January 2026.

Laura briefly mentions the Alternative Comedy Memorial Society in passing, if that name tickles your fancy and you want to learn more then check them out here: https://noblefailure.org/

Here are some links to both The Stand Up Comedy Archive and the David Drummond Pantomime Collection - both housed at The University of Kent and available for viewing by the general public.

https://www.kent.ac.uk/library/special-collections/british-stand-up-comedy-archive

https://www.kent.ac.uk/library/special-collections/theatre-and-performance-collections/david-drummond-pantomime-collection

This episode was edited by Lucas Orme. The music (including festive jingle bells) was by Oliver Double.

We begin by delving into the mailbag and looking at a suggestion from stand-up comedian and Fubar Radio host Andrew White. Andrew, and many others, suggested that Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road is NOT a meta joke as proposed by Olly, but actually a joke about death... Oliver Double debunks this theory.

We then look at a question from Mrs Double concerning the theory that laughter is based on respiratory system - and if that's true then could birds be feasibly considered to laugh? Would you like an episode all about bird laugher? Let us know.

We then field subjects like the origins of The Royal Variety Performance and Why is toilet humour so funny? Each of those will probably get a full in-office episode when we finally wrest the keys back from the caretaker and have full access to the files.

For the main part of our episode, we turn our attention to none other than Mr Greg Jenner. Greg Jenner is an acclaimed author, podcaster and writer who got in touch to nominate Samuel Foote for the list of potential first ever stand up comedians. And when Greg Jenner gives you a suggestion you simply have to follow it up... so here we go!

For all things Greg Jenner, begin at his website: https://www.gregjenner.com/

If you're in the market for a new comedian and want to seek out some Andrew White, his website can be found here: https://www.standupandrew.com/

If you would like to get in touch with us about anything you have heard on the podcast you can email us thecomedybureauteam@gmail.com - we would love to hear from you.

Our sources for this episode were:

Mr Foote's Other Leg by Ian Kelly

Mr Foote's Other Leg - Wikipedia https://share.google/qCYjfHUnO9vsMbLeV

Popular Performance, edited by Adam Ainsworth, Oliver Double and Louise Peacock

Popular Performance: : Adam Ainsworth: Methuen Drama - Bloomsbury https://share.google/4S45exvbLg281gzu2

In the final episode of this series, comedian Laura Lexx and academic Oliver Double discuss the specific circumstances that led to stand up and bricks becoming linked. From basement clubs like The Hungry i to The Improv to televised stand up shows and the bricks becoming iconic – we chart the way bricks and stand up came together out of folk and into our collective memory.

This is the last in the series from The Comedy Bureau and we really hope you have enjoyed these 10 episodes all about different niche facets of comedy. If you have had a good time PLEASE let us know, and let us know if you would appreciate a second series. We are a tiny enterprise – everything you have seen and heard is entirely self-motivated and self-funded and we rely on your sharing, enthusiasm, reviews and downloads to keep going. If you can review, rate, like, subscribe and share we will be incredibly grateful.

If you have ideas for future episodes you would like to see or questions on what you’ve already seen please let us know in the comments! You can follow us on social media The.Comedy.Bureau and you can email us thecomedybureauteam@gmail.com

We hope to see you for a second series very soon. All the best, Laura and Olly x

Our sources for this episode were:

• Friedman, Budd & Whetsell, Tripp (2017), “The Improv: An Oral History of the Comedy Club that Revolutionised Stand-Up”, BenBella Books"

• Gerald Nachman, Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s (New York: Pantheon, 2003).

• Budd Friedman with Tripp Whetsell, The Improv: An Oral History of the Comedy Club that Revolutionized Stand-Up (Dallas, Texas: Benbella Books, 2017).

• Kliph Nesteroff, The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrel and the History of American Comedy (New York: Grove Press, 2015).

Podcast cover art by Adam Richardson

Artwork for The Comedy Bureau is by Matthew Grant at Tiny Worlds Workshop @tinyworldsworkshop.

Our video editor and credit sequence designer is Lucas Orme.

Music was devised and performed by Olly Double.

Huge thanks to the whole team at Podspike for invaluable advice and help launching and marketing the show.

All media enquiries via Julian Hall textualhealingpr@gmail.com

Cut to 2025 and she’s just a girl sitting before a lecturer begging him to tell her everything he knows about 1979 and the pivotal moment in comedy history that lead to what we now think of as mainstream comedy.

Our sources for this episode were:

• Rough Theatre Plays (1977), Open Head Press

• Double, Oliver & Lockyer, Sharon (2022) “Alternative Comedy Now and Then”, Critical Perspectives

• And Olly’s massive brain… he didn’t pull from so many books for this one because he’s a font of knowledge but if you want further reading, the books stacked on Olly’s desk are a great place to start.

The Comedy Store is still going strong - if you want to go and see a show at this legendary London venue then seek them out: https://london.thecomedystore.co.uk/

Podcast cover art by Adam Richardson

Artwork for The Comedy Bureau is by Matthew Grant at Tiny Worlds Workshop @tinyworldsworkshop.

Our video editor and credit sequence designer is Lucas Orme.

Music was devised and performed by Olly Double.

Huge thanks to the whole team at Podspike for invaluable advice and help launching and marketing the show.

All media enquiries via Julian Hall textualhealingpr@gmail.com

Academic Oliver Double sits down with Laura to discuss a history of censorship in stage comedy in the UK and USA. From the early years of front cloth comics and monologists, through the legal battles of Lenny Bruce, to the brilliant Billy Connolly. In this episode Laura and Oliver debate the common perception that speech has become less free and that we are far more monitored now on what we say than ever before.

Is this true? In what ways is speech in comedy monitored and censored? Crucially, is this criticism from a point of authority or the now amplified voices of the many but much less powerful general public?

Do you agree with Laura’s argument that it is not cancellation but capitalism that affects your bookings once the general public falls out with you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Our Sources for this episode are:

• Burgis, Ben (2021), “Cancelling Comedians While The World Burns, A Critique of the Contemporary Left”, Zer0 Books

• Bruce, Lenny (1975), “How To Talk Dirty and Influence People”, Harper Collins Distribution Services

• Goldman, Albert (from the journalism of Lawrence Schiller), 1974, “Ladies and Gentlemen, Lenny Bruce!!”, Random House

• Thomas, William Karl (1989), “Lenny Bruce - The Making of a Prophet”, Media Maestro

• Collins, Ronald K.L. (2002), “The Trials of Lenny Bruce”, Sourcebooks, Inc

• Lenny Bruce audio CD: Lenny Bruce, The Historic 1962 Concert When Lenny Was Busted, from Viper’s Nest

• Index on Censorship: 1 Nov 2000, Volume 29.06 Index on Censorship can be found here: https://www.indexoncensorship.org/

• Here is a link to the article about Billy Connolly from 2004: https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2004/nov/28/theatre.billyconnolly

Comedians Laura and Olly mention in this episode, just on the off chance you’ve not heard of them, are:

• Nish Kumar - @mrnishkumar

• Ross Noble - @mrrossnoble

• Sajeela Kershi - @sajeelakershi

Podcast cover art by Adam Richardson

Artwork for The Comedy Bureau is by Matthew Grant at Tiny Worlds Workshop @tinyworldsworkshop.

Our video editor and credit sequence designer is Lucas Orme.

Music was devised and performed by Olly Double.

Huge thanks to the whole team at Podspike for invaluable advice and help launching and marketing the show.

All media enquiries via Julian Hall textualhealingpr@gmail.com

This is the idea that people laugh because the stimulus made them feel better than or good in some way. They enter the chat with a brief discussion on status, particularly in double acts between a higher status straight man and a lower status funny guy.

Then we move on to the theorists and philosophers and we head right right back all the way to the words and explanations of Aristotle, Hobbes, Lorenz and Mintz as we explore the theory that laughter is inherently about superiority or aggression. Do we laugh to feel better about ourselves in comparison to others? Or, perhaps, in comparison to how we felt moments before the joke? Is all joking necessitated on a status imbalance and where does modern comedy fit in?

Laura and Olly round off this week’s chat with an analysis of Punching Up and Punching Down – a look at the importance of aiming your joke, no matter the subject, in the right direction.

We hope you have enjoyed these three episodes on joke theory, next week we will be moving on to a new subject, but nonetheless remaining very much in the weeds.

Subscribe now so you never miss an episode. See you then!

Our sources for this episode are:

• John Morreall (1987), The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor, Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

• Lorenz, Konrad (1966), “On Aggression”, Taylor & Francis Ltd

• Carroll, Noel (2014), “Humour a Very Short Introduction”, OUP Oxford

• Quirk, Sophie, (2018), “The Politics of British Stand-Up Comedy - The New Alternative”, Palgrave Studies in Comedy, Springer Nature Switzerland

• Barbara, Rashi & Chilana, Richa (2022), “Punching Up in Stand-Up Comedy - Speaking Truth to Power”, Routledge India Mintz,

• Lawrence E. (1985), “Standup Comedy as Social and Cultural Mediation”, American Quarterly"

Podcast cover art by Adam Richardson

Artwork for The Comedy Bureau is by Matthew Grant at Tiny Worlds Workshop @tinyworldsworkshop.

Our video editor and credit sequence designer is Lucas Orme.

Music was devised and performed by Olly Double.

Huge thanks to the whole team at Podspike for invaluable advice and help launching and marketing the show.

All media enquiries via Julian Hall textualhealingpr@gmail.com

podfollow.com/the-comedy-bureau

The offices have an oniony scent this week due to some delicious sandwiches (shout out to Lavash in Brighton) but that doesn’t stop Oliver Double and Laura Lexx getting nerdy. They begin with Kant, and work through several theories of the purpose and physiology of laughter. From Kant, Freud and other philosophers and psychologists right through to modern day academics. They discuss laughter as a fluid running through the body, as an oscillation of the gut and as the answer to all of our structural racism issues.

Today’s episode ends with a discussion between Laura and Olly on the nature of jokes as a tool to boost agreement or dissension in groups. Is joking used to lance complicated feelings and stop bad feelings spilling out into the world or are they in actual fact for binding people and reinforcing a world view? Do we use laughter to dispel feelings that have been building up that could otherwise come out in harmful behaviour, or is it actually the complete opposite?

The sources we used in this episode are:

• John Morreall (1987), The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor, Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

• Martin, Steve “a Comic’s Life: Born Standing Up”, (2008) Simon & Schuster Ltd

• Freud, Sigmund (1976) The Pelican Freud Library Vol 6, “Jokes and their Relation to the Unconscious”, Penguin Books Ltd

• Comedy Studies, Volume 3, Issue 1 (2012) - “Max Miller Plays With Freud’s Obstacle: Innuendo and performance technique in variety comedy” Oliver Double

• Jacobson, Howard (1997) “Seriously Funny: From The Ridiculous to the Sublime”, Penguin Books Ltd"

Podcast cover art by Adam Richardson

Artwork for The Comedy Bureau is by Matthew Grant at Tiny Worlds Workshop @tinyworldsworkshop.

Our video editor and credit sequence designer is Lucas Orme.

Music was devised and performed by Olly Double.

Huge thanks to the whole team at Podspike for invaluable advice and help launching and marketing the show.

All media enquiries via Julian Hall textualhealingpr@gmail.com

This week Laura and Olly decide to knuckle down and really focus on something that keeps rearing its head during their discussions of other aspects of comedy… comic theory. Why are things funny? What is funny? What is humour EXACTLY?

Now, it’s sort of another one of those impossible questions to answer and so Olly has the task of describing some of the popular comic theories to Laura. Even trying to describe all the theories would be a vaguely impossible task and so we have narrowed it down to just three options…

In this first episode of a three-part series on comic theory they focus in on Incongruity Theory. We’ve been kind to you in the first four episodes but this is where the show takes a hard turn down Nerd Avenue and then proceeds at a cautious 20mph all the way to Detail House.

We begin our comic theory exploration series with Koestler’s theory of bisociation and discuss how a lot of jokes revolve around using two planes of idea and then merging the two for a point of laughter. In the next two episodes in our comic theory series we will be looking at the Relief Theory and the Superiority Theory so don’t miss those coming up in the next few weeks.

In this episode our sources were:

• Koestler, Arthur (1970) “The Act of Creation”, Pan McMillan

• Morreall, John (1987), The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor, Albany, NY: SUNY Press

• Carroll, Noel (2014), “Humour a Very Short Introduction”, Oxford University Press

Comedians Laura mentioned in this show are:

Paul F Taylor - @paulyftaylor

Podcast cover art by Adam Richardson

Artwork for The Comedy Bureau is by Matthew Grant at Tiny Worlds Workshop @tinyworldsworkshop.

Our video editor and credit sequence designer is Lucas Orme.

Music was devised and performed by Olly Double.

Huge thanks to the whole team at Podspike for invaluable advice and help launching and marketing the show.

All media enquiries via Julian Hall textualhealingpr@gmail.com

This week, in their most provocatively titled episode to date Laura and Olly explore the rage-inducing issue of women in comedy. As a stand up comedian, Laura is often forced to deal with people who, for their own personal reasons, cannot find women funny. Unfortunately, Olly isn’t a therapist and so can’t fix them. Instead, what they aim to do in this episode is bust the myth that female inclusion in comedy is somehow a new thing. Olly gives Laura a brilliant rundown of the history of women in comedy from the days of Vaudeville and Variety up to the Alternative Comedy explosion of 1979.

Female involvement in comedy seems to have fluctuated over the last century and a half and Olly and Laura discuss here various explanations for how and why that happens. Olly talks Laura through the female power houses of the Variety stage including the likes of Suzette Tarry, Nelly Wallace and Marie Lloyd.

When comedy moves to Working Men’s Clubs things take a bit of a dip for female representation but Olly finds examples like Marti Caine. Names you may be more familiar with include Pauline Melville, Victoria Wood and Jenny Eclair in a rich tour of all the ways women have helped shape the British history of comedy.

Our Sources for the research for this episode were:

• Zoe Williams (2020), 'Interview: Jenny Eclair: " Menopause gave me incandescent rage. It was like a superpower"', The Guardian, 28 June https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/jun/28/jenny-eclair-menopause-gave-me-incandescent-rage-it-was-like-a-superpower

• John Fisher (1973), Funny Way to Be a Hero, London: Frederick Muller

Laura mentions Harriet Dyer in this episode, and Harriet can be found on Instagram at @harrietdyercomedy

Podcast cover art by Adam Richardson

Artwork for The Comedy Bureau is by Matthew Grant at Tiny Worlds Workshop @tinyworldsworkshop.

Our video editor and credit sequence designer is Lucas Orme.

Music was devised and performed by Olly Double.

Huge thanks to the whole team at Podspike for invaluable advice and help launching and marketing the show.

All media enquiries via Julian Hall textualhealingpr@gmail.com

Laura and Olly first met at The University of Kent where Laura studied stand up comedy under Olly’s tutelage. Now, 20 years later they are reunited to examine the gory details of the world of comedy. Even when there might not be a definitive answer.

First off Olly and Laura explore some traditional jokes to look at the ways they are structured. Then they explore intentionality to see if the real soul of a joke is in the purpose of the sentence.

In this episode they analyse jokes from the Roman period to Shakespeare to the modern day stand-up routine to see if there are any definitive rules and regulations that truly define a joke.

What is a joke?

• Geoff Rowe (2021), All Puns Blazing: The Best British Knockout Jokes, Ebury Press

• Jimmy Carr and Lucy Greeves (2006), The Naked Jape, London: Michael Joseph.

• Dan Compton (2010), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, London: Michael O'Mara Books.

• James Orchard Halliwell (1844), Tarlton's Jests and News Out of Purgatory, London: Shakespeare Society.

• Lewis and Faye Copeland (eds.) (1940), 10,000 Jokes, Toasts & Stories, Garden City, NY: Garden City Books.

• Robert Orben (1946), The Encyclopedia of Patter, New York: Louis Tannen.

• Robert Orben (1951), One-Liners, New York: D Robbins.

• Robert Orben (1951), Comedy Technique, New York: Louis Tannen.

• Robert Orben (1963), If You Have to Be a Comic, Baldwin Harbor, NY: Orben Publications.

Comedians Laura mentions in this episode:

Dinesh Nathan @dineshnathancomedian

Gary Delaney @garydelaneycomedian

Andy Askins @AndyAskins

Paul F Taylor @paulyftaylor

Podcast cover art by Adam Richardson

Artwork for The Comedy Bureau is by Matthew Grant at Tiny Worlds Workshop @tinyworldsworkshop.

Our video editor and credit sequence designer is Lucas Orme.

Music was devised and performed by Olly Double.

Huge thanks to the whole team at Podspike for invaluable advice and help launching and marketing the show.

All media enquiries via Julian Hall textualhealingpr@gmail.com

In this episode Olly and Laura are focusing on a simple question with an extremely complicated answer… what is laughter?

Laughter is such a fantastic feeling that we pay strangers to make us do it. Laughter is so intoxicating that when someone causes you to do it you like them more, if not begin to love them in some cases.

But what is it? Why do humans do it? Do we know why we like it? And, are we alone in doing it?

In this episode we explore the three leading humour theories – superiority, release and incongruity as well as discussing evolution of laughter. We then move on to dissecting some of Laura’s current stand up jokes to look at why we are laughing in each joke.

If you have any thoughts or subjects for future episodes you can email us at TheComedyBureauTeam@gmail.com

Our Sources for the research for this episode were:

• Robert Provine (2000), Laughter: A Scientific Investigation, London: Penguin.

• John Morreall (1987), The Philosophy of Laughter and Humor, Albany, NY: SUNY Press.

If you would like to watch Slinky, the show which Laura shared extracts from then you can join her mailing list here to be notified of when it’s available:

https://www.lauralexx.co.uk/mailing-list

Podcast cover art by Adam Richardson

Artwork for The Comedy Bureau is by Matthew Grant at Tiny Worlds Workshop @tinyworldsworkshop.

Our video editor and credit sequence designer is Lucas Orme.

Music was devised and performed by Olly Double.

Huge thanks to the whole team at Podspike for invaluable advice and help launching and marketing the show.

All media enquiries via Julian Hall textualhealingpr@gmail.com

Olly puts forward five candidates for first ever stand up comedian and meticulously explains why each one could be considered such. Laura then forces him to choose... which one would he pick as the first ever stand up comedian?

The Comedy Bureau is a new show dreamed up by Laura Lexx – a supreme comedy nerd with fifteen years’ experience as a stand up comedian. Her career really began at The University of Kent where a professor named Oliver Double introduced her to the world of comedy and the potential for stand-up as more than just for her entertainment. Fast forward to 2025 and the two have teamed up to explore the real intricacies of the world of comedy. From the history to the science to the sociology to the just plain interesting – The Comedy Bureau will be covering it all.

If you have any questions you think would be interesting to pose to us here at The Bureau, please don't hesitate to get in touch. You can comment on our social media pages or send us an email at TheComedyBureauTeam@gmail.com

Thanks for watching – don't forget to like, subscribe and share these episodes.

Our sources for this episode were:

• Judith Yaross Lee (2006), 'Mark Twain as a Stand-Up Comedian', The Mark Twain Annual, no. 4, pp.3-23.

• Joe Laurie Jr. (1931), 'Monologists', Variety, 29 December, p.22.

• The Stage (1904), 'Death of Dan Leno', 3 November, p.16.

• Peter Quince (1917), 'Stage Gossip', The Yorkshire Evening Post, 10 November, p.3.

• Jay Hickory Wood, 'Dan Leno' Methuen & Co (1905)

• Rafe (1954), 'The Hunger i, Frisco', Variety, 4 August, p.53.

• Mort Sahl (1958), At Sunset [LP], USA: Fantasy Records.

Laura mentions in this episode the wonderful Kate Lucas, you can check her out at www.katelucascomedy.co.uk or on social media @katelucascomedy

Follow us on instagram @The.Comedy.Bureau to see Olly's postcards in more detail.

Podcast cover art by Adam Richardson

Artwork for The Comedy Bureau is by Matthew Grant at Tiny Worlds Workshop @tinyworldsworkshop.

Our video editor and credit sequence designer is Lucas Orme.

Music was devised and performed by Olly Double.

Huge thanks to the whole team at Podspike for invaluable advice and help launching and marketing the show.

All media enquiries via Julian Hall textualhealingpr@gmail.com

The Comedy Bureau is a warm, insightful look into all facets of comedy. Covering the history and development from the days of Variety and Vaudeville performance right up to the practicalities of being a working comedian in the present day. It’s an essential show for all fans of history and comedy.

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