But Is It Funny?

Jamal Khadar hosts, with Suchandrika Chakarabarti and special guest Emma Sullivan. Topics include:

• Starstruck (BBC) - episode two of Rose Matafeo's sitcom
• Further reflections on the role of criticism 
• Phat Tuesdays - docuseries on the history of Guy Torry's all-black comedy night in 1990s LA 

LINKS

• New Yorker critic newsletter
• Ebert reviews of Tarkovsky's Solaris and reconsidered;  and of 2002 Soderbergh version
• George Saunders newsletter on Substack

Regular panellists Suchandrika Chakrabarti and Brian Logan are joined by special guest Emma Sullivan to discuss:

• Jimmy Carr's recent Netflix special
• Taking Comedy Seriously with Emma Sullivan
• Murderville (Netflix)

Plus: "Scotwatch" featuring tartan salopettes

LINKS

Jimmy Carr

• https://gal-dem.com/jimmy-carr-joe-rogan-netflix-spotify-hate/
• https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/jun/16/jimmy-carr-review-rose-theatre-kingston
• https://www.theawl.com/2013/07/patricia-lockwood-rape-joke/
• Weekend Update: Goober the Clown on Abortion - SNL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exSZQICbSb8

Taking Comedy Seriously

• https://humourinthearts.com/
• https://humourinthearts.com/about-me/
• https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v35/n14/jonathan-coe/sinking-giggling-into-the-sea

Murderville

• https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15264192/
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_in_Successville

Suchandrika Chakrabarti hosts, with regular panellists Brian Logan and Jamal Khadar. Topics include:

• An interview with comedian and writer Athena Kugblenu about her experience of, and views on, comedy criticism
• Comedy albums as a form, and how comedicans are trying to get more  equitable rights payments from Spotify
• Don't Look Up (Netflix) - critics hated it, one of our panellists loves it .... But is it funny?

Links

• Aziz Ansari’s Empty Authenticity - review discussed at start of episode

Athena Kugblenu

• https://twitter.com/athenakugblenu
• https://www.instagram.com/athenakugblenu/
• Athena's Cancel Culture on BBC Sounds: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000tsld
• Work In Progress at 2Northdown on 4th February:

Comedy albums & Spotify

• It's time to give a new generation of comics a crack at the Grammys 
• Spotify removes top comedians’ content in royalty payments dispute

Incidental music during interview: Lukrembo ‘Onion’ and ‘Cheese’

Jamal Khadar, Brian Logan and Suchandrika Chakrabarti discuss:

• Nish Kumar's new stand-up show and the role of political comedy in the UK
• Learning comedy as social prescription via the GP, with Angie Belcher 
• Aziz Ansari's new Netflix special

Show notes

• Satirical news podcasts 
• Social prescribing course in Bristol

Additional music: Onion and Biscuit, both by Lukrembo

Season 2 of But Is It Funny? launches with Brian Logan. Suchandrika Chakrabarti and Jamal Khadar discussing:

• Race Around Britain with Munya Chawawa on YouTube
• New Radio 4 comedy series pilot Unsafe Space
• Plans to develop a UK version of Saturday Night Live 

Plus: Suchandrika on her improv debut!

• Is Succession a sitcom?
• What limits should a comedy club put on comedian’s material? Discussing  Don't Applaud. Either Laugh or Don't. (at the Comedy Cellar) by Andrew Hankison
• What's a comedian's realtionship to criticism?

With Brian Logan, Suchandrika Chakrabarti, Jamal Khadar

LINKS

Is Succession a sitcom? 

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/11/08/is-succession-the-best-sitcom-on-television 

https://slate.com/culture/2021/10/succession-season-3-hbo-drama-sitcom.html

Succession fan videos

https://youtu.be/fXcBaYCyzL8

https://youtu.be/_b7CNBXzo54 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dw7alNjkYro

https://youtu.be/zWxr4xbL9a0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-6K2CjJ6dk 

Exec producer & playwright Lucy Prebble on how Succession's writers walk the line between tragedy and comedy 

https://open.spotify.com/episode/7LTBwLWt6563xCzvc1CVtP?si=CQUxG6tvSzG3gvNZhwAO9A&nd=1

Hosted by Suchandrika Chakrabarti

Featuring:

Sharon Lockyer

https://www.brunel.ac.uk/people/sharon-lockyer

Sophie Quirk

https://www.kent.ac.uk/arts/people/536/quirk-sophie

Anja Karlsson

https://www.gu.se/en/about/find-staff/anjafranckkarlsson

LINKS

What can comedy achieve in the context of repression and violence? Can the meme save us?

https://www.blogalstudies.com/post/what-s-so-funny-about-a-military-coup-how-generation-z-is-trolling-the-myanmar-army

What’s so funny in Afghanistan?

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0962629817304109

Smiling while being arrested

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCIasDCtm7A&ab_channel=AJ%2B

Myanmar coup: Pools and princesses as protesters go all out

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/56006324

Laughing through lockdown

https://theconversation.com/laughing-through-lockdown-why-comedy-is-important-in-times-of-crisis-160905

Sometimes a Milkshake Is Just a Milkshake

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/05/milkshake-thrown-nigel-farage-nothing-new/590317/

Laughing at power: Humor, transgression, and the politics of refusal in Palestine

https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envirc/v38y2020i3p387-404.html

Joking: uses and abuses of humour in the Election campaign

http://www.electionanalysis.uk/uk-election-analysis-2019/section-8-personality-politics-and-popular-culture/joking-uses-and-abuses-of-humour-in-the-election-campaign/

Women, comedy and power

https://getofflivecomedy.co.uk/

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/rosie-jones-question-time-trolling-ableist-abuse-bbc-b959464.html

https://www.pastemagazine.com/comedy/live-comedy/comedy-isnt-accessible-enough/

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09687599.2015.1106402

Comedy in academia

Palgrave Studies in Comedy

https://www.springer.com/series/14644

Centre for Comedy Studies Research

https://www.brunel.ac.uk/research/Networks-and-Labs/Comedy-Studies-Research

PLUS

https://guiltyfeminist.com/

https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/entertainment/deborah-frances-white-685021

With Jamal Khadar, Brian Logan and Suchandrika Chakrabarti

Revisiting comedy we used to love - with reference to shows including Sex & The City, Seinfeld, Bill Hicks

Digging deeper into the question: But Is It Funny? - do we need a better language for reviewing comedy?

Reference:

• https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2006/jul/27/comedy

Sex Unzipped on Netflix  - does it really deserve zero stars?

References

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/oct/26/sex-unzipped-review-perverse-sesame-street-is-a-tv-disgrace

https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/11/sex-love-and-goop-sex-education-netflix-sex-positivity/620588/

Shout outs

For Quantum Leopard @2Northdown @LucyMangan and the Romesh Ranganathan puppet

Plus: Zero Star Reviews, Sex Unzipped, Bean Dad, Megan Stalter… and more

With Brian Logan, Suchandrika Chakrabarti and Jamal Khadar

References: 

Stath Lets Flats & the state of the Sitcom

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2021/oct/26/the-last-laugh-is-the-television-sitcom-really-dead

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/11/08/is-succession-the-best-sitcom-on-television

https://time.com/6094071/fall-tv-network-comedies-canceled/

https://classpolish.com/

https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/tv-radio/2019/09/stath-lets-flats-channel-4-sitcom-greek-natasia-funniest-best-show-television-review

Class and Comedy

https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/oct/12/rob-beckett-you-have-to-suppress-your-working-class-rage-to-operate-in-comedy

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/may/26/standup-comedy-class-divide-coronavirus-lockdown

https://www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2021/april/funny-voice-videos

https://www.waterstones.com/book/comedy-and-distinction/sam-friedman/9781138125902

Complaints Welcome

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/complaints-welcome

https://www.instagram.com/munyachawawa

Jamal Khadar, Suchandrika Chakrabarti and special guest Abdul Tahhan consider:

Lenny Henry’s Race Through Comedy (currently re-playing on Dave) … what can we learn from stand-up history?

Moderating Content … should you change your set if a member of the Royal Family is in the audience? 

Dave Chappelle revisited … more thoughts on his latest Netflix special and reconsidering his previous work

Plus shout outs for 

• Elf Lyons
• No Direction Home from Counterpoints Arts
• Olivia Flood Wylie
• And, er, Princess Eugenie