Chortle's Opinions section is an arena for fans to share their views on any aspect of comedy.
We invite general comment pieces about particular aspects of the comedy scene (although reviews of individual shows or performers tend not to be suited to this section except in very rare circumstances). Contributions should be at least 500 words in length, in a similar tone to something you might read in a broadsheet newspaper, and emailed to steve@chortle.co.uk
We reserve the right to edit pieces – although we will be careful not to change the meaning of anything – or not to use them at all. By submitting an article you grant Chortle indefinite licence to use it freely; though you retain the copyright on it to use it elsewhere.
By the duo's biographer, Jem Roberts
27/12/2018 … Sunday January 13, at 9pm, marks the 30th anniversary to the minute of the very first broadcast of series one, episode one of A Bit of Fry & Laurie To…
© Alina Kisina An apology from Konstantin Kisin
22/12/2018 … It’s been a sobering week.
Andy Shaw sticks up for the stand-ups who refuse to play by the rules
19/12/2018 … Why would a comic refuse to sign an agreement not to make racist, homophobic and sexist jokes? Surely, it can only be because they want licence to punch down…
Steve Bennett on the Konstantin Kisin case
14/12/2018 … The ‘safe space’ conditions that comedian Konstantin Kisin was asked to sign before doing a university gig this week was a little bit silly: certainly…
Comedy writer Dave Cohen on his new 'how to' book
27/11/2018 … I’ve got a book coming out tomorrow.
Richard Jay has some tips for comedians
19/11/2018 … I gig a bit and I always try to be ‘professional; as well as funny – I research where I’m going, when I’m meant to be there, how…
Says comic Chris McGlade, who went to Grenfell on the day of the tragedy
12/11/2018 … I wish I had a pound for every time that I had heard a really bad taste joke after disasters or terrible crimes.
Kurupt FM's Chabuddy G shares post-apocalyptic tips in this extract from his new book
07/11/2018 … Picture the scene: It's 2018.
...asks Stephen Frost, who is doing just that
31/10/2018 … As comic and improviser Stephen Frost prepares to appear in the sci-fi musical Fanatical in London, he reflects on the tradition linking comedy and musicals that…
Dave Cohen sums up the pros and cons for comedians
23/10/2018 … If you’re a comedian, you’ve had a full two months to recover from the Edinburgh Festival, which means it’s time you started thinking about whether…
Nick Butler on his research into the stand-up circuit
17/10/2018 … In the popular imagination, comedians live extreme and volatile lives.
Ashley Frieze offers a glossary for today's comedy circuit
01/10/2018 … For us comedians, getting gigs is become ever-more competitive, as we fight to get bookings with fees that haven't increased in the last ten years.
28/09/2018 … Above my mantlepiece hangs a frame containing the Holy Quadrality Of Double Acts: Cook & Moore, Morecambe & Wise, Reeves & Mortimer, and Fry & Laurie.
Tiernan Douieb explains how it worked for him
21/09/2018 … My name is Tiernan Douieb and I’m a comedian, podcaster (isn’t everyone now?), as of recently a father and a very experienced motorway service station…
Tiernan Douieb explains how it worked for him
21/09/2018 … My name is Tiernan Douieb and I’m a comedian, podcaster (isn’t everyone now?), as of recently a father and a very experienced motorway service station…
Ant Dewson is feeling like a teenager again
16/09/2018 … Recently I’ve discovered what it’s like to be a stressed teenager in 2018.
Comedian Steve Day considers the end of another festival
27/08/2018 … This year's Edinburgh Fringe has been the best I've ever had.
Sid Singh on Nanette’s true impact on comedy
22/08/2018 … With the insane pace at which news is consumed and then flies past us these days, you can be forgiven for forgetting this, but thousands of years ago back in June,…
Cerys Nelmes on the strains of the Edinburgh Fringe
21/08/2018 … ‘How can somewhere so busy feel so lonely?’ This was my first observation after attending my first ever Edinburgh in 2011.
Tony Kinsella's personal top ten
20/08/2018 … After Dave named their Top 10 Jokes of the Edinburgh Fringe this morning, Tony Kinsella comes up with an alternative list.
© Rebecca Need-Menear Jake Howie on his comedy roots
19/08/2018 … It’s time for me to finally admit it, I never really found Jerry Seinfeld that funny.
...at least when it comes to the Fringe, says Brennan Reece
18/08/2018 … You probably are reading this because you saw the title and thought, who is this little cocky so and so, professing he can do anything.
Laurence Clark on how the festival got child-friendly
17/08/2018 … When I first started doing the Fringe it was not a particularly child-friendly environment.
Steffan Alun has some tips for fellow comedians
15/08/2018 … Halfway though the Fringe, and we’re seeing some incredible shows in enormous rooms, filled to the brim with excited festival-goers.
It shows the glory of an unregulated free market, says Dominic Frisby
11/08/2018 … When the Olympics or the World Cup is on telly, the whole world – or a large part of it – is watching.
Mat Ricardo hits back at the Peep Show star's attack on street performers
10/08/2018 … David Mitchell, in his groundbreaking ‘rich white guy finds things to whinge about to a deadline’ column in The Observer last weekend, spaffed out 1,000…
Indian comedian Anuvab Pal on his first trip to Edinburgh
09/08/2018 … This is my first time in Edinburgh.
'We are honest with each other in a way that non-siblings would never dare to be', say Flo and Joan
08/08/2018 … The question we get asked the most is ‘Are you real sisters? Are you really sisters? I don’t believe you.
That's Wife Of A Comic, as Jemma Bennett explains...
07/08/2018 … I have arrived in Edinburgh with my husband, two young kids and a suitcase of dreams.
© G Whitmore 06/08/2018 … August 24, 2014.
Edinburgh Comedy Awards director Nica Burns addresses the industry
05/08/2018 … Edinburgh Comedy Awards director Nica Burns has today paid tribute to Sean Hughes, and likened the new generation of socially ‘woke’ comedians to the…
That's the secret to Edinburgh Fringe success, says Dave Cohen
05/08/2018 … It feels strange to use a word like ‘writing’ when discussing stand-up comedy.
By 'professional pisshead' Issy Wroe Wright of Sh!t-Faced Showtime
04/08/2018 … It goes without saying that the Edinburgh Fringe and drinking go hand in hand.
Paul Sinha hits back at Kate Copstick
31/07/2018 … I have always been cheerfully aware that overall, I have had the luck of the draw with Edinburgh reviewers.
...and which shows to see at Edinburgh
30/07/2018 … ⬛ BY GEORGIA TASDA As RuPaul Charles’s global drag empire continues its unstoppable expansion and tightens its stranglehold on queer culture,…
Comedian Sooz Kempner has been wading through the programme
29/07/2018 … The Big Fat Comedy Yum Yum Brunch Hour (10.
Jon Rolph and Claire Nosworthy say no thanks to the comps.
28/07/2018 … Is comedy an industry? Sure it is.
NextUp's Sarah Henley is optimistic...
26/07/2018 … Despite the massive popularity of comedy there are still challenges in the industry today.
Richard Jay wants expenses at least
26/07/2018 … I looked on Facebook for gigs to apply for today.
© Steve Ullathorne An appraisal of Stewart Lee's Content Provider stand-up special
23/07/2018 … Stewart Lee had promised to write an article for Chortle about the imminent airing of his stand-up special on BBC Two.
Says Dutch comic Micky Overman
20/07/2018 … My cousin showed me my first American stand-up special when I was 22.
So says veteran writer Nick Hildred
18/07/2018 … ‘Comedy is so hard’, ‘Making comedy is difficult’, ‘Comedy’s the hardest thing to get right’: this is the sort of thing…
Douglas Walker wants comics to abandon the disclaimer
12/07/2018 … At one time or another we have all made a joke that upset someone.
What COULD Mat Ricardo be talking about?
02/07/2018 … A long time ago, I got myself booked to perform at a trade show.
30/06/2018 … Edinburgh: Go Big! Go Bold! Go Bankrupt! How to RAISE Money for the Fringe Edinburgh is almost here.
© Steve Ullathorne 29/06/2018 … If there’s one thing you’ll hear everyone at the Fringe complaining about (apart from the price of beer and that review they totally didn’t deserve) is just…
Adam Rowe wants more regional voices on TV, too
25/06/2018 … Last week, the BBC’s comedy chief Shane Allen said that the times where our genre has been dominated by ‘white Oxbridge men’ is over.
A few simple steps could make comedians safer at night, suggests Meryl O'Rourke
18/06/2018 … The horrific killing of young Australian stand-up Eurydice Dixon walking home after a gig in Melbourne last week has highlighted the vulnerable position many comedians…
...and we should be more like entrepreneurs, says Dave Cohen
17/06/2018 … This weekend, comedy writer Dave Cohen gave the keynote speech at the Craft of Comedy festival in Llandudno.
Sian Davies wants more equity at the Fringe
14/06/2018 … There has been plenty of discussion about the lack of working-class comedians at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Swedish comedian Olaf Falafel gives the English some pointers
14/06/2018 … When it comes to football there are two things England do better than the rest of the world.
Kerry Ipema considers the legacy of Sex And The City
06/06/2018 … To mark 20 years to the day since the very first episode of Sex And The City aired on HBO, performer Kerry Ipema considers the legacy of the groundbreaking comedy.
But it'll take more than that to keep Mat Ricardo from the job
04/06/2018 … I have, on the left side of my bottom lip, as it touches my teeth, a little bump.
Comic William Bradbury wonders if he shouldn't be doing other things...
07/05/2018 … Before stand-up, I wanted to be a writer.
Where DID that come from? Mat Ricardo investigates
27/04/2018 … A couple of weeks ago, I was on holiday (I had a delightful time, thank you for asking), and, one afternoon, probably after multiple negronis, one of us, for god…
Lee Kyle on his jealously of the middle-class safety net, and how he's trying to redress the balance
05/04/2018 … Every year, when I turn up at the Edinburgh Fringe, I see massive posters for shows by comedians that I, nor anyone else I encounter, has ever done a gig with, or…
Mat Ricardo hopes there can be variety without nudity
03/04/2018 … Occasionally, when I'm talking to a new person, and we're talking about what we do, and where we work, and I mention in passing that one of the many places…
Watchdog to combat sick jokes online
01/04/2018 … • This was an April Fool's joke – at least for now – which we ran on the appropriate day.
Stand-up Sonia Aste offers a guide for rookies
13/03/2018 … I visit a lot of green rooms doing stand-up.
Entertainment writer Graham McCann pays tribute to Ken Dodd
12/03/2018 … Today was the first time in my life that Ken Dodd made me cry instead of smile.
06/03/2018 … Look at the comedy listings across London and indeed any major city and you will find a very healthy explosion of deliberate anti-comedy.
Mat Ricardo gives a progress report on his challenge to master new skills
05/03/2018 … As regular readers might know, I'm currently in the middle of developing my new one-man show, the concept of which is as follows: I released, onto the supermation…
Luke Mcgibbon on the terrible open-mic comedians convinced of their competence...
26/02/2018 … A friend of mine once said: ‘You know who is a true friend in comedy? Someone who, after a gig in which you did badly, doesn’t say anything, can’t…
© Steve Best Comedy promoter Alfie Noakes on the backlash he's facing
23/02/2018 … It has been an illuminating two weeks since I wrote an article for Chortle entitled Comedians Should Tackle Feminist Radicals .
Kate Fox exposes a geographical bias in the comedy world
15/02/2018 … Sometimes, when you want to research something, the best thing you can do is count, add things up.
© BBC/Ben Blackall Daniel R. Smith on the League Of Gentlemen and 'generation snowflake'
14/02/2018 … Jokes tend to have a short shelf life.
07/02/2018 … Yesterday – not the year 12BC – Alfie Noakes, who promotes the We Are Funny Project open mic nights, wrote an article on this website headlined…
..and yes, I know I'll face flak for suggesting it says Alfie Noakes
06/02/2018 … Just before Christmas I had the pleasure to go and see one of my all-time favourite performers, Mark Thomas.
Mat Ricardo on why anonymous insults say more about the poster than him
02/02/2018 … I was once a guest on Jonathan Ross's chat show.
Amazon Jackson doesn't think so
09/01/2018 … This was the initial knee-jerk reaction from one comedy buddy when I first announced my intention to ‘come out’ as an intersex person during my set at…
Mat Ricardo thinks he could, and should, be a little more inclusive
03/01/2018 … Recently-ish, I posed a question on social media.
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