How 'too soon' is now?
Andy Todd on making tasteless jokes about the news
28/07/2011 … ‘What a week!’ said my girlfriend on Saturday night, voicing the thoughts of many.
2011 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.
Thu 28 July 2011
Wed 27 July 2011
Worthy targets
Snez Naik says celebs - even McIntyre – are fair game if you've got a point
27/07/2011 … So, Stewart Lee has got himself into trouble over something he said three years ago.
Tue 26 July 2011
Distraction is the mother of invention
Keith Farnan shares his writing techniques...
26/07/2011 … Martin Amis once said that only amateurs wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work.
Fri 22 July 2011
Credit where it's due, Jim
Lloyd Mills thinks it's a crime to overlook a joke's writer
22/07/2011 … I’ve just read Jim Davidson’s latest blog on comedy and I have to take massive issue with his assertion that there is something less than noble about writing…
Thu 21 July 2011
Deconstructing the deconstructor
Dave Cohen thinks Stewart Lee is being disingenuous
21/07/2011 … I realise there is a danger, in critiquing Stewart Lee’s critique of the Daily Mail critiquing his dissing of Michael McIntyre, of ending up with a poor facsimile…
Tue 19 July 2011
Why didn't Show Me The Funny show us the funny?
John Fleming is exasperated by ITV's new show
19/07/2011 … Last week, I wrote a Correspondence piece rather piously advising comedians how to get to grips with structuring their hour-long Edinburgh Fringe shows.
Wed 13 July 2011
Comics: See the bigger picture
John Fleming offers some forestry management advice...
13/07/2011 … Around now – just three weeks before the Edinburgh Fringe starts – there is a glut of desperate stand-up comics performing Fringe preview shows in London.
Tue 12 July 2011
Is returning to a free venue a backwards step?
Paul Ricketts has a Fringe dilemma
12/07/2011 … When I started doing stand-up I asked some well- known black comics why they didn’t take a show to the Edinburgh Fringe.