Special editorial

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Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 For Flo and Joan’s Lockdown Dance see https://youtu.be/0E50ZV5d5fs (Accessed 31/3/21).

2 For Munya Chawawa’s This is How We Knew It (Montell Jordan Parody) see https://youtu.be/nfUPiUiNI7w (Accessed March 31, 2021).

3 The bodies awarding National Lottery funding for Arts and Culture across the UK are as follows. In England, Arts Council England – https://www.artscouncil.org.uk. In Scotland, Creative Scotland – https://www.creativescotland.com (which does formally recognise comedy as an artform for both individuals and organisations as part of eligibility guidance on their website). In Wales, Cyngor Calfyddydau Cymru/Arts Council of Wales – https://arts.wales and in Northern Ireland, Arts Council of Northern Ireland – http://www.artscouncil-ni.org (all sites accessed April 6, 2021).

4 See https://livecomedyassociation.co.uk (Accessed April 6, 2021).

5 For an image of The Frog and Bucket’s audience space (when open between Lockdowns 1 and 2) see Heward (2020).

6 I am aware I have implied that Zoom is sentient in this sentence – but as someone who has been teaching online a lot this past year, I feel I have a body of anecdotal evidence to support this theory.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Ellie Tomsett

Dr Ellie Tomsett is Programme Leader for Foundation in Media at Birmingham City University. As part of her doctoral research she was researcher in residence with the UK Women in Comedy Festival in Manchester. In 2017 she co-founded Mixed Bill a comedy and gender research network and has written on feminist and post-feminist stand-up comedy, self-deprecation, and protest humour. Email: [email protected]

Eric Shouse

Dr Eric Shouse teaches communication theory and cultural studies at East Carolina University. His research draws upon cultural studies and rhetoric to better understand the role of humour in popular culture. Dr Shouse is a stand-up comic and a professional joke writer and an active member of The International Society for Humor Studies. He is currently working very hard thinking and writing about the rhetorical and performative techniques stand-up comics use to invite laughter, whereas you have squandered your valuable time and energy reading his biography. Email: [email protected]

Ignatius Chukwumah

Ignatius Chukwumah, PhD is professor of English in the Department of English and Literary Studies, Federal University Wukari, Taraba State, Nigeria. He holds a Ph.D in English (Comparative Literature) from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria. His research interests centre on Literary Theory (fashioning indigenous African interpretive codes) and the new media joke culture. His numerous articles have appeared in African Literature Today; Tydskrif vir Letterkunde; CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture; Matatu; Forum for World Literature Studies; Arcadia; Journal of Narrative Theory; and a host of other reputable learned journals. His edited volume, Joke-Performance in Africa: Mode, Media and Meaning (London: Routledge – www.routledge.com/9781138060647) appeared in 2018. He just signed contracts to deliver two other edited volumes, Shadows of Interstitial Life: Essays on African Literature in Honour of Rev. Fr. Professor Amechi N. Akwanya (Glienicke, Germany: Galda-Verlag) and Humour, Gender and the African Imaginary: Sex Jokes across Borders (London: Routledge) in 2021. Email: [email protected]

Anastasiya Fiadotava

Anastasiya Fiadotava is a PhD student at the University of Tartu, Estonia. She is currently a visiting researcher at the Centre for Comedy Studies Research at Brunel University London. Email: [email protected]

Cale Bain

Cale Bain is a PhD candidate and academic at the University of Technology Sydney, studying the confluence of comedy and news, among other media studies projects. He is also the General Manager and founding Artistic Director of Improv Theatre Sydney, a live comedy school and venue. Email: [email protected]