Ricky Gervais is turning into David Brent
The comedian is condemned for being a culture warrior. The truth is much sadder.
ByHumour
How Friends changed the way we laugh
The show shaped a global sense of humour with Matthew Perry’s Chandler, who turned sarcasm into the default mode of…
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Richard Milward: “I use humour as a coping mechanism”
Polari is the “perfect slang for a freewheeling anarchist”, says the author of the Goldsmiths-shortlisted Man-Eating Typewriter.
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The tedious world of anti-woke comedy
From Jimmy Carr to Ricky Gervais, “edgy” comics are making jokes about 9/11 and Michael Jackson in an attempt to…
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A comic story of Britain
This history of comedy contains much moralising – but the best creations transcend the monstrousness of their characters.
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The cultural divide no one wants to talk about
Liberal societies need to rediscover humour.
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How Peter Kay changed British comedy
The beloved Bolton comic, now going on tour for the first time in over a decade, became a national phenomenon…
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To dissect a good joke, do you have to kill it?
Perhaps the most futile of all questions is why some things make us laugh, which doesn’t bode well for BBC…
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Can comedy change the world?
Despots aren’t defeated by laughter, but the fundamental message of the comedian – “it doesn’t have to be this way” – threatens authority and disturbs…
How Brexit changed us: Britain has lost its sense of humour along with its self-respect
This project was supposed to restore Britain’s dignity, but instead we’re prepared to shatter the UK over sausages.
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From the NS archive: On seeming funny to other people
13 March 1937: Why we should laugh at one another.
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When did New York lose its sense of humour?
From astrology-based Tinder profiles to retail assistants masquerading as whimsical shop spirits, the city that never sleeps no longer has…
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