Big is beautiful
Matt Whiteley in defence of arena gigs
14/12/2009 … A recent article in this section argued that comedy should be kept out of big arenas, but having seen Eddie Izzard at the O2, I just can’t agree with an opinion…
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.
Mon 14 December 2009
Open spots are people too...
14/12/2009 … I have been having a lot of conversations with other comedians about open spotters: why are there so many who start bitter, why are there so many delusional ones,…
Wed 09 December 2009
The envy of the world
...so stopping knocking British comics, Anton Renwick urges
09/12/2009 … In 2008 I spent some time as a volunteer on a kibbutz in Israel where I lived and worked with people from across the world.
Tue 08 December 2009
My sworn enemy
Cath Styles on how she *should* have responded to a heckler
08/12/2009 … A strange thing happened at a gig recently.
Mon 07 December 2009
Joke theft... or just coincidence?
Simon O'Keeffe on the biggest sin in comedy
07/12/2009 … I recently saw a comic performing an open spot here in Dublin that almost exclusively comprised jokes from Mock The Week.
Value added comedy
Giacinto Palmieri on what separates good stand-up from bad
07/12/2009 … In his Correspondents column last week, stand-up Andrew Watts expressed some surprise that a routine in his Edinburgh show about Richard Dawkins's ‘weak epistemology’…
Fri 04 December 2009
Friends... or guinea pigs?
Blake Anderson on testing your new material on mates
04/12/2009 … It may be possible that in the future, technological advances will have created a machine capable of giving an objective reading of a stand-up routine.
Comedy IS art... but keep the Arts Council out of it
Andrew Watts on the 'Stockhausen Syndrome'
04/12/2009 … If you're on Facebook, you've probably received an invitation to join the group Comedy IS Art.