Case File 9: When Did Alternative Comedy Start?

The Comedy Bureau

What an exceptional episode we have for you today… in 2023 Laura Lexx appeared on Celebrity Mastermind with her specialist subject being The History of Alternative Comedy. One of the most helpful books she read was Alternative Comedy: 1979 and the Reinvention of British Stand-Up by none other than Dr Oliver Double.

Cut to 2025 and she’s just a girl sitting before a lecturer begging him to tell her everything he knows about 1979 and the pivotal moment in comedy history that lead to what we now think of as mainstream comedy.

Our sources for this episode were:

• Rough Theatre Plays (1977), Open Head Press

• Double, Oliver & Lockyer, Sharon (2022) “Alternative Comedy Now and Then”, Critical Perspectives

• And Olly’s massive brain… he didn’t pull from so many books for this one because he’s a font of knowledge but if you want further reading, the books stacked on Olly’s desk are a great place to start.

The Comedy Store is still going strong - if you want to go and see a show at this legendary London venue then seek them out: https://london.thecomedystore.co.uk/

Podcast cover art by Adam Richardson

Artwork for The Comedy Bureau is by Matthew Grant at Tiny Worlds Workshop @tinyworldsworkshop.

Our video editor and credit sequence designer is Lucas Orme.

Music was devised and performed by Olly Double.

Huge thanks to the whole team at Podspike for invaluable advice and help launching and marketing the show.

All media enquiries via Julian Hall [email protected]