Category: Comedy

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Caroline Aherne

Caroline Aherne: Royally Bows Out

Caroline Aherne was a character actress and comedian who made some wonderful original TV shows in the nineties. ‘Royal Family’ and ‘Mrs Merton’ were probably her most noted but she also starred in the cast of ‘The Fast show’ from 1994-1997, becoming known for the catchphrase ‘Scorchio’ delivered by her foreign weather girl character. Comedian…
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Humour At Work #5 – Office Comedy Case Study

Humour At Work #5 – Office Comedy Case Study

Southwest Airlines president & CEO, Herbert D. Kelleher was dubbed by Fortune Magazine as the ‘High Priest of Ha Ha’. His beliefs and attitude has spread right through the company; showing how Office Comedy can enhance staff-management relations, customer service and profits. Office Comedy Case Study This highly effective airline operates from Dallas, in an…
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Humour At Work #4 – Fun in the Office Practitioners

Humour At Work #4 – Fun in the Office Practitioners

US company Ben & Jerry ice cream manufacturer, have pushed fun in the office to extremes. With employees looking forward to Barry Manilow or Elvis days; on which everyone is encouraged to dress as Barry or Elvis and their music is blasted through the building. There are chocolate days giving them the chance to dip…
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Humour At Work #2 - Clowning, Teasing & Satire in the Office

Humour At Work #3 – Clowning, Teasing & Satire in the Office

Ackroyd & Thompson believed the struggle for identity, is often played out through misbehaviour and joking in the work place. They identified three types of humour in work, labelling them as Clowning, Teasing and Satire in the Office. [slideshow_deploy id=’2057′] Clowning in an Office Clowning is a form of humour in which people make fools…
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Humour At Work #2 - Workplace Comedy Research

Humour At Work #2 – Workplace Comedy Research

We have seen how satire from our favourite comedians, in a newspaper or topical TV & radio shows such as: ‘That was the week that was’, ‘Spitting Image’, ‘Now Show’ and ‘Weekending’; has a way of making us laugh, because we see an element of truth in the joke. The same happens in workplace comedy, where…
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Benefits of Comedy at work

Humour At Work #1 – 8 Benefits of Comedy in the Office

The most wasted of all days is the one which you did not laugh. In many offices, pinned on noticeboards or over people’s desks, you can often read… ‘You don’t have to be mad to work here, but it helps’. It became a rather irritating cliché, put on display in several work environments, by the…
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Parody in Advertising: 5 Creative Comedy Tips

Parody in Ads: 5 Creative Advertising Comedy Tips

Parody is a well tried and tested form of humour used in many comedy sketch shows, films and indeed advertising. It is an artistic form within its self, sometimes called a spoof and has elements similar to pastiche. Parody in Advertising Parody is ‘A literary or artistic work that imitates the characteristic style of an…
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Carla Lane

Carla Lane: Last Slice of Bread

Carla Lane, the award-winning writer of television comedy dramas including the ‘Liver Birds’ (co-creator, 1969–78), ‘Butterflies’ (1978–82) and ‘Bread’ (1986–91), has died at the age of 87. Chris Sussman Head of BBC Comedy Production said of her ‘ A different voice in comedy, like all the best writers. Much loved by so many.’ She was…
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John Cleese

BFI Preserves Valued Video Arts Comedy Training Short Films

Corporate training videos featuring comedians are to be preserved by the British Film Institute. Anyone who recalls being a delegate at a corporate conference in the late seventies or sitting in a bland training room in the eighties, will probably remember being exposed to at least one of John Cleese’s Video Arts training films. Such…
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Galton & Simpson

Galton & Simpson: Honoured by BAFTA – Finally!

On May 8th 2016, comedy writers Ray Galton and Alan Simpson were honoured with a BAFTA fellowship. The two were writing pioneers in the format of sit-com. Creating classics such as ‘Hancock’s Half Hour’ and ‘Steptoe and Son’. Alan Simpson 1929-2017 & Ray Galton 1930-2018 BAFTA The BAFTA tribute was introduced and led by Paul…
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Victoria Wood

Victoria Wood: True Talent Remembered

Victoria Wood was an excellent comedy performer and an even better writer. She showed in a man’s comedy world, true talent can rise to the top and entertain us all. Sarah Millican describing her as ‘A true comic icon’. Her death at the age of 62, says the Times, stunned her family and a “nation…
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michael mcintyre

Michael McIntyre’s Big Show

It’s good to see that Michael McIntyre’s getting back to what he does best – stand up. In his new prime Saturday night BBC TV show, his opening monologue showed what a master he is at taking a comic idea and running with it, building through comparisons and observations from one very small idea. This…
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Blackadder

Blackadder Destroyed My Life!

The sit-com ‘Blackadder’ was one of the most loved and respected comedy series in the UK. But not by the former BBC’s chief medical officer whose life was made a complete misery – thanks to Blackadder. Same name What was not known at the time by creators Rowan Atkinson and Richard Curtis but their ‘I…
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Ronnie Corbett

Ronnie Corbett: Comics Remember A Comedy Legend

Ronnie Corbett dies just weeks before he was to be knighted in the Queens’s 90th Birthday Honours list. He was given a CBE in 2012, Sir Bruce Forsyth said “It’s a very sad day, we’re all going to miss him” The Two Ronnies The much loved Actor, Comedian and broadcaster was best known for his…
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Garry Shandling

Garry Shandling: Comedy Innovation Remembered

Garry Shandling was a comedy pioneer pushing sit-com a little further in a golden period in the early nineties. He was best remembered for ‘It’s Garry Shandling’s Show’ and ‘The Larry Sanders Show’ – both of which innovated the tone and direction that sitcoms might take. Ricky Gervais said of Shandling ‘one of the most…
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Angry John Cleese Might Sue Australian Theatre Company

Angry John Cleese Might Sue Australian Theatre Company

John Cleese says he may sue an Australian theatre company for its “shameless rip-off” of Fawlty Towers. The Australian company has been running their unofficial show at the Edinburgh Fringe for the last nine years, and currently has a residency at a London hotel, where tickets cost up to £59. Another version is to open…
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Top 10 Films About Comedy

Top 10 Films About Comedy & Show Business

The below movies represent a personal choice of work (in no particular order) who have successfully communicated a realism about the comedy and show business profession. Having watched several films and stage plays on this industry. Few do the business justice. Here is my Top 10 Films about Comedy, Entertainment & Show Business. Top 10 Films…
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Comedy Playhouse

TV Review: BBC Comedy Playhouse Returns

With the BBC recently announcing remakes of classic TV comedy shows such as ‘Steptoe and Son’ and ‘Till Death Us Do Part’, ‘Are You Being Served?’, ‘Porridge’, ‘Up Pompeii’, ‘The Good Life’ and ‘Keeping Up Appearances; including the re-development of the lost ‘Hancock Half Hour’ tapes, you wonder whether some top TV executive has fallen…
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