Comedy in Crisis 2022 Conference report

By Ellie Tomsett on February 10th, 2022


 

On Friday 14th and Saturday 15th January BCU hosted Mixed Bill’s Comedy in Crisis Conference online. The event brought together comedy scholars, practitioners and industry professionals to discuss and explore how comedy and humour respond to times of crisis. Our keynote speaker Dr Helen Davies (University of Wolverhampton) contextualised the humour around pandemic ‘covidiocy’ in relation to the history of ableism and humour. Conference speakers covered comedy and political crises (Brexit, the crises of the British Monarchy, migrant humour and conflict / post-conflict humour in contemporary art), mental health crises (post-natal depression, anxiety) and online comedy cultures (from audience, practitioner and researcher perspectives). The first day concluded with an Industry focused panel, co-organised with BCU’s Sir Lenny Henry Centre for Media Diversity and chaired by Marcus Ryder MBE, which engaged with the topic of ‘UK comedy and the diversity crisis’.

Several of the panels  (including the keynote and industry panels) were recorded and can be accessed along with the full programme, abstracts and biographies via the Mixed Bill website – here.

You can find out more about Mixed Bill: Comedy and Gender Research Network here.