There's nothing funny about weight jokes
...or other mental health issues, says Juliette Burton
16/07/2013 … I wrote a joke recently (yeah! I know! A joke!) and I wrestled with whether it was funny or not.
Latest Opinions
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.
Tue 16 July 2013
Mon 15 July 2013
Comedy's brave new world
Futurologist Marc Munro Scott gazes into his crystal ball
15/07/2013 … The year is 2167 and the stand-up comedian’s function in society is questionable.
Sun 14 July 2013
My show's not in Edinburgh... will anyone hear the laughter?
Erich McElroy on shunning Scotland for Camden
14/07/2013 … I love the Edinburgh Fringe.
Sat 13 July 2013
'Misery loves comedy'
Amnesty's Kate Allen on the marriage of humour and exposing human rights abuse
13/07/2013 … Opposites attract.
Fri 12 July 2013
Singing the praises of musical comedy
Dave Cohen says the genre's been reinvigorated
12/07/2013 … Even though I’m about as far removed from the Oscars as it is for a moderately successful British comedy writer to be, I couldn’t help but feel the slightest…
Thu 11 July 2013
Is the “Is the Sketch Show Dead?” article dead?
11/07/2013 … Back in the early Nineties, every journalist worth his (or her) salt (or pepper) was tossing off some half-thought out article, using very little actual research…
Is the sketch show dead? No, it’s better off live
Daniel Henry Kaes offers an alternative view
11/07/2013 … David Bussell’s Chortle correspondence piece yesterday contended that the sketch show is in trouble.
Wed 10 July 2013
Leave politics to the politicians
Vik Iyer thinks comics are better out of the establishment
10/07/2013 … Watching Russell Brand joust with Boris Johnson and Melanie Philips on Question Time gave the BBC’s venerated debating institution a certain, shall we say, Wrestlemania…