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.
Musical comedian Ashley Frieze on how the bots have helped with creativity.
08/12/2024 … Back in April, I wrote about my adventures with writing lyrics for AI to put to music and I thought it was a little period of madness that I really ought to get…
Ben Heal on a uniquely inventive stand-up format
05/12/2024 … Sean Morley, the comedy outlier and doyen of surreal comedy, is the focal point of the Sheffield comedy scene's cult Glang show.
...Or why the jokes in Shakespeare are shit, by Becky Fury
25/11/2024 … Don’t like cancel culture? Be grateful you didn’t live in Britain in the 17th Century when the Puritan-led Parliament cancelled culture entirely.
08/11/2024 … Before the alternative comedy revolution and the political satire of Peter Cook and Lenny Bruce during the 1960s counter-culture revolution, there was the French…
Ashley Frieze on the prevalent tropes in his chosen genre
24/09/2024 … ‘I’m sorry, I can’t book you, I already have a musical comedian on that night’.
16/09/2024 … Gareth Ellis, half of the notorious double act Ells and Rose and a former deputy manager of London’s Backyard Comedy Club, died in May at the age of 34.
06/09/2024 … We are where we are, Toto.
© Ila Desai/I Was There Photography You can absolutely do both, says comic Marc Burrows
27/08/2024 … The English author and satirist GK Chesterton once wrote a lengthy defence of the humour in his work, arguing that ‘funny is the opposite of not funny, and…
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