Russell Brand: how the comedy industry uses humour to abuse and silence women: Over the last ten years I have been researching the barriers to women’s participation in the UK comedy circuit. During that time, it became clear to me that the live comedy industry has a particular susceptibility to fostering spaces of abuse. Recent …
Grayson Perry: exploring what it is to be human with humour, irreverence and excess: Smash Hits, the new Grayson Perry retrospective at Edinburgh’s National Galleries, spans the 40-year career of the recently knighted artist. It’s an exhibition packed with scrutiny of the entanglements of self and society, as Perry casts up snippets of the institutional …
Robbie Coltrane: a free-styling talent suffused with intelligence and humour: “I believe that men are here to grow themselves into the best good that they can be,” the iconic saxophonist John Coltrane once said. Anthony Robert McMillan chose his stage name as a homage to the jazz great and, as the actor Robbie Coltrane, went …
Humour in poetry should be taken seriously: Vectorium/Shutterstock As a child, I remember laughing out loud while reading Shel Silverstein’s poetry book A Light in the Attic (1981). I loved it so much that I started reciting the poem Skin Stealer every day, to the great annoyance of my little brother. Even now, these lines …
How joking around with your brothers and sisters shapes your sense of humour: Happy days. fizkes/Shutterstock Two siblings are playing on the living room floor. The girl, aged six, looks at her brother, and smiling, sings: “A, B, C, D, E, F – R!” Her older brother, aged seven, grins and joins in with: “H, …
South Africa in the news: Social Humour: Twitter explodes with jokes post India’s win against South Africa: I want Pakistan to win against Sri Lanka, so that we can screw them again in finals. RT if you agree.: “South Africa” – BingNews Zuma files conditional application relating to Thuli’s report: “President Jacob Zuma has today, …