ChatGPT’s Not Funny
Artificial intelligence expert Mhairi Aitken on whether bots can write comedy
10/02/2023 … Can comedy be automated? That’s the question I’ve been forced to confront in the past few weeks.
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.
Fri 10 February 2023
Goodbye comedy, I won't miss all of you self-censoring wimps
Samantha Pressdee says she's leaving stand-up 'to find a husband with balls'
10/02/2023 … I’m leaving live comedy to find a husband (with balls)! As a single woman looking for love, I thought I would meet lots of sexy funny men on the live comedy…
Tue 07 February 2023
A brief history of gunge
Crackerjack biographer Alan Stafford on the comedy staple of kids' TV
07/02/2023 … In 1982 Ian and Janette Krankie defected from BBC to ITV, leaving Paul Ciani, producer of long-running teatime variety show Crackerjack, with a gap that needed filling.
Sat 28 January 2023
© Tiger Aspect/ITVX How Deep Fake Neighbour Wars is the tip of an AI iceberg
Academic Dominic Lees on the growing use of tech on screen
28/01/2023 … ITVX’s Deep Fake Neighbour Wars is the breakthrough in television’s use of artificial intelligence that experts in the cultural use of deepfakes like…
Mon 28 November 2022
The dos and don’ts of writing a comedy script
According to comedy producer and tutor Simon Nicholls
28/11/2022 … With an award-winning CV that includes Titting About with French and Saunders, Ed Reardon’s Week, Miles Jupp sitcom Party’s Over, Dave Gorman’s…
Mon 14 November 2022
My Dad Wrote A Porno: An obituary
Ian Hawkins bids farewell to the podcast phenomenon
14/11/2022 … It has been announced that the hit podcast, My Dad Wrote A Porno, would be ending.
Tue 04 October 2022
© BBC/Euston Films 'I wanted to create a loud, proud monster that didn’t compromise'
Ryan J Brown on his new BBC horror-comedy Wreck
04/10/2022 … BBC Three horror-comedy Wreck starts on BBC Three this weekend.
Mon 19 September 2022
M*A*S*H, 50 years on
The anti-war sitcom's themes are timeless, says Daryl Sparkes
19/09/2022 … MASH, stylised as M*A*S*H, is the story of a rag-tag bunch of medical misfits of the 4077th Mobile Army Surgical Hospital thrown together against the horrors of…