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PALGRAVE STUDIES IN COMEDY
Alternative Comedy
Now and Then
Critical Perspectives
Edited by Oliver Double · Sharon Lockyer
Palgrave Studies in Comedy
Series Editors
Roger Sabin
University of the Arts London
London, UK
Sharon Lockyer
Brunel University
London, UK
Comedy is part of the cultural landscape as never before, as older manifes-
tations such as performance (stand-up, plays, etc.), film and TV have been
joined by an online industry, pioneered by YouTube and social media.
This innovative new book series will help define the emerging comedy
studies field, offering fresh perspectives on the comedy studies phenome-
non, and opening up new avenues for discussion. The focus is ‘pop
cultural’, and will emphasize vaudeville, stand-up, variety, comedy film,
TV sit-coms, and digital comedy. It will welcome studies of politics,
history, aesthetics, production, distribution, and reception, as well as work
that explores international perspectives and the digital realm. Above all it
will be pioneering – there is no competition in the publishing world at this
point in time.
Oliver Double • Sharon Lockyer
Editors
Alternative Comedy
Now and Then
Critical Perspectives
Editors
Oliver Double Sharon Lockyer
School of Arts Department of Social and Political
University of Kent Sciences
Canterbury, UK Brunel University London
London, UK
ISSN 2731-4332 ISSN 2731-4340 (electronic)

Palgrave Studies in Comedy
ISBN 978-3-030-97350-6 ISBN 978-3-030-97351-3 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97351-3
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2022
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect
to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.
The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and
institutional affiliations.
Cover illustration: Earth Exchange Cabaret Poster, courtesy of Kim Wells
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Acknowledgements
The editors wish to thank Kim Wells for permission to use the Earth
Exchange poster image used on the cover illustration. We would also like
to thank everyone who helped in putting this book together, by writing
chapters, giving interviews, granting permission to use quotations, offer-
ing help and advice, and supporting the project in other ways. We are
particularly grateful to Tony Allen, Jim Barclay, Andy de la Tour, and
Pauline Melville, for allowing us to reproduce their words at the Alternative
Cabaret in conversation event; the University of Kent and Brunel
University London for financially supporting the Alternative Comedy
Now conference in May 2019, which provided the original impetus for
this book; the British Stand-Up Comedy Archive for providing access to
historical materials used in this project; Lina Aboujieb (Palgrave
Macmillan’s executive editor) for supporting the book from the outset;
and Professor Roger Sabin (co-editor of Palgrave Studies in Comedy) for
his enthusiasm and encouragement throughout the book’s completion.
v
Contents
1 A
lternative Comedy Now and Then: An Introduction 1
Oliver Double and Sharon Lockyer
2 A
lternative Comedy Timeline 23
Oliver Double
Part I Alternative Comedy Venues 35
3 T
he Meccano Club: The Business of Alternative Comedy 37
Oliver Double
4 ‘A Local Show for Local People’: Alternative Cabaret at

the Tower Arts Centre, Winchester, UK, 1981–1984 65
Richard Cuming
5 T
he Story of Cabaret A Go Go 89
Ray Campbell
Part II Performers’ Perspectives 111
6 T
rends with Benefits113
Brian Mulligan
vii
viii Contents
7 A
lternative Cabaret in Conversation137
Oliver Double, Andy de la Tour, Jim Barclay, Pauline Melville,
and Tony Allen
Part III Interpreting Alternative Comedy 163
8 P
ressing for No Change? Political Correctness, the
Defence of the ‘mainstream’ and Class in UK Newspaper
Responses to the Emergence of ‘Alternative Comedy’165
Neil Washbourne
9 T
he Dramatic Script of Alternative Comedy189
Jonjo Brady
Part IV Alternative Comedy Today 219
10 A
lternative Comedy in Finland: Juhani Nevalainen,
Musician Not Comedian221
Marianna Keisalo
11 ‘Less Dick Jokes’: Women-Only Comedy Line-Ups,

Audience Expectations and Negotiating Stereotypes239
Ellie Tomsett
12 N
ew Alternative Comedy: Productive Crises c.2005–
Present267
Sophie Quirk and Ed Wilson
Index289
Notes on Contributors
Jonjo Brady is a PhD candidate at Ulster University and University of

Kent, UK, currently working on a thesis exploring the concept(s) and
experience(s) of tiredness within contemporary capitalism. His main
research interests lie in political theory, process philosophy,
Continental philosophy, Queer/Crip theory and comedy, as well as
the philosophy and politics of post-68 Italian and French radicals.
Ray Campbell worked as a professional stand-up comedian under the
name of ‘Buddy Hell’ and has been an occasional promoter of comedy and
alternative cabaret from 1987 to the present. Campbell completed his
PhD in Cultural Studies from the University of East London, UK, in
2017, where he also lectured in media studies, psychosocial studies, and
sociology. He is Teaching Fellow in Humanities on the Integrated
Foundation Year programme at Royal Holloway and teaches stand-up
comedy at Goldsmiths College. His research interests include comedy and
the avant-garde, humour and discourse, cultures of resistance and subver-
sion, and the comedy of the African diaspora. Campbell also continues to
work as a comedian, and he programmes and comperes a monthly cabaret
club called Radical Seminar at the West London Trade Union Club
in Acton.
Richard Cuming is a senior lecturer in the Department of Performing
Arts at the University of Winchester, UK. He researches into popular,
visual, and physical performance and the synthesis between different per-
formance forms. He was a founder member of clown troupe Zippo and
ix
x NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
Co, and from 1986 ran his company fishproductions dedicated to

performance in non-theatre spaces. His PhD was titled ‘The Clown
and the Institution’, and he writes about the figure of the clown. He
is an artistic associate of Belgian puppet company Sac a Dos, a direc-
tor of Platform 4 Theatre Company, and frequently works with Fuse
Performance Company.
Oliver Double is Reader in Drama at the University of Kent, UK. Before
becoming an academic he worked as a stand-up comedian on the national
comedy circuit (‘Delightful’—The Guardian) and set up the Last Laugh,
Sheffield’s longest running comedy club. He continues to perform
occasionally, for example in his one-man shows Saint Pancreas (2006)
and Break a Leg (2015), and as compere of the Funny Rabbit Comedy
Club. He has written a number of books, chapters, and articles on
stand-up comedy and popular performance, notably Getting the Joke:
The Inner Workings of Stand-Up Comedy (2005, 2014), Britain Had
Talent: A History of Variety Theatre (2012), and Alternative Comedy:
1979 and the Reinvention of British Stand-Up (2020). He helped to
establish the British Stand-Up Comedy Archive, based at Kent’s
Templeman Library, and he presents a podcast about it, A History of
Comedy in Several Objects.
Marianna Keisalo is a grant-funded researcher and Docent in Social and
Cultural Anthropology at the University of Helsinki, Finland. Her doc-
toral work focused on ritual clowning in Northern Mexico and her post-
doctoral project looks at stand-up comedy in Finland. As part of her field
work, she started performing stand-up herself. Her research on the semi-
otics of comedic performance analyses the meanings and efficacy of com-
edy, the creative processes involved in developing and performing
stand-up, as well as the broader cultural and social contexts of comedy.
Sharon Lockyer is Reader in Sociology and Communications at Brunel
University London, UK. She is the Founding Director of the Centre for
Comedy Studies Research (CCSR)—the first, and only, international
research centre devoted to the academic study of comedy. Her research
interests include critical comedy studies, identity politics and comic media
representations, and the sociology of popular culture. She is widely
published in these areas in books, journal articles, and blogs. She is
the founding co-editor of the Palgrave Studies in Comedy book series.
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS xi
Brian Mulligan joined Skint Video in 1983 on a zero hours contract to

help out Steve Gribbin and stayed for a decade. Skint Video were founder
members of Red Wedge Comedy, Artists against Apartheid, and The Mary
Whitehouse Experience on Radio 1. In the gig economy, they toured
extensively on college/arts centre circuit slotting in club gigs some-
where, as well as being veterans/survivors of Glastonbury mud/
heatstroke and Edinburgh rain/rain. They performed over 200
shows in aid of good/lost causes. Mulligan currently produces and
performs in the cabaret troupe Newsliners and is available for bene-
fits (terms and conditions apply).
Sophie Quirk is Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre at the University
of Kent, UK, where her research focuses on the politics of stand-up com-
edy. She is the author of Why Stand-up Matters: How Comedians
Manipulate and Influence (2015) and The Politics of British Stand-up
Comedy: The New Alternative (2018).
Ellie Tomsett is Lecturer in Media and leader of the School of Media’s
Foundation Programme at Birmingham City University, UK. She com-
pleted her PhD titled ‘Reflections on UK Comedy’s Glass Ceiling:
Stand-Up Comedy and Contemporary Feminisms’ from Sheffield Hallam
University. As part of her research Tomsett was Researcher in
Residence with the Women in Comedy Festival in Manchester. In
2017 she co-founded Mixed Bill, a comedy and gender research net-
work, with colleagues and has written on feminist and post-feminist
stand-up comedy and self-deprecatory humour.
Neil Washbourne is Senior Lecturer in Media Studies at the School of
Cultural Studies and Humanities, Leeds Beckett University, UK. He has
written widely on media and politics and is increasingly interested in the
history and contemporary roles of comedy and humour. He serves on the
editorial boards of both Celebrity Studies and Media Education Research
Journal. He teaches a module ‘Comedy, Media and Diversity’. He has
written on disgust and violence in Adam Sandler comedies and on sexism
and xenophobia in the high-speed popular surrealism of Tommy Handley
and Ronald Frankau’s double acts in the 1920s–1930s. He is writing a
chapter on British stand-up for the Cambridge Companion to Stand-Up
Comedy and planning a research project on comedy and power in order to
develop and defend superiority theory as a viable mode of/for comic anal-
xii NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
ysis. His research into BBC Radio 2 during the COVID-19 pandemic
addresses the use of jokes and everyday humour in presenters’ attempts to
providing a congenial place for listeners in anxious times.
Ed Wilson recently completed his PhD from the University of Kent, UK,
on contemporary alternative comedy as a creative-critical practice. He has
worked in publishing as an editor of reference books, and as an English
and Drama teacher in a secondary school and sixth form. Wilson has per-
formed as a stand-up comedian and written about football, in print and
online, for publications such as The Guardian, FourFourTwo, and When
Saturday Comes.
List of Figures
Fig. 3.1 Meccano Club poster 1985, designed by Lucinda Denning 53

Fig. 4.1 Poster for a cabaret at the Tower Arts Centre, Winchester,
UK. (Photo courtesy of Stuart Mitchell) 66
Fig. 5.1 First CAGG poster 98
Fig. 5.2 CAGG poster showing CAGG membership card 103
Fig. 10.1 Juhani Nevalainen. (Photo by Mikko Kauppinen) 226
xiii
List of Tables
Table 5.1 The Fun Committee 90

Table 8.1 Most mentioned Alternative comedians in UK national
press 1981–1997 167
Table 11.1 Gender identity of survey respondents 251
Table 11.2 Sexuality of survey respondents 251
Table 11.3 Age of survey respondents 251
Table 11.4 Disability of survey respondents 252
Table 11.5 Ethnicity of survey respondents 252
Table 11.6 Professional area of survey respondents 253
Table 11.7 Characteristics of sampled participants for the interview
stage of audience study 253
xv
CHAPTER 1
Alternative Comedy Now and Then:

An Introduction
Oliver Double and Sharon Lockyer
Unthinkably, in the summer of 2019 alternative comedy turned 40. That

year, 19 May saw the 40th anniversary of the Comedy Store opening in
London; and on 15 August, Tony Allen staged a show at the Water Rats
pub on Gray’s Inn Road in London to celebrate the inaugural gig of the
collective he founded, Alternative Cabaret, which had taken place exactly
40 years earlier in the same venue (then called the Pindar of Wakefield).
Along with the Comic Strip—which opened in 1980—it was the Comedy
Store and Alternative Cabaret that conjured the phenomenon that became
known as alternative comedy into existence (Double 2020). It was a scene
that followed hot on the heels of punk, and had similar connotations of
youthfulness and rebellion, a seismic shift that challenged the norms that
had been holding British stand-up rigidly in place. There was something
O. Double (*)
School of Arts, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
e-mail: o.j.double@kent.ac.uk
S. Lockyer
Department of Social and Political Sciences, Brunel University London,
London, UK
e-mail: Sharon.Lockyer@brunel.ac.uk
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

Switzerland AG 2022
O. Double, S. Lockyer (eds.), Alternative Comedy Now and Then,
Palgrave Studies in Comedy,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97351-3_1
2 O. DOUBLE AND S. LOCKYER
incongruous about seeing something as radical as alternative comedy hit a

birthday with associations of middle age.
Realising that a big anniversary was on the way, the University of Kent
and Brunel University London collaborated to put together a festival, an
exhibition and an academic conference under the banner Alternative
Comedy Now for May 2019. Indeed, the conference was the starting point
for this book. However, we were not the only ones thinking back to the
alternative comedy of the 1980s. In 2019 and early 2020, two of the
names most strongly associated with alternative comedy—Ben Elton and
Alexei Sayle—embarked on major stand-up tours. In September 2019,
Elton did nine work-in-progress shows, before embarking on a 53-date
tour starting on 27 September at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin, and finish-
ing on 30 November at the Princess Theatre, Torquay. Then on 31 January
2020, Sayle started his tour with 2 nights at HOME in Manchester and
managed to get through 18 dates of a 25-date tour when the COVID-19
lockdown cut it short after a final show at the Epstein Theatre, Liverpool.
Reviews of both Elton and Sayle recalled their work in the glory days of
alternative comedy, by way of comparison with the current show. Dominic
Maxwell in The Times noted that the ‘shiny suits’ Elton had worn ‘as the
high priest of Eighties alternative comedy’ had been replaced by ‘Marks &
Spencer polo shirts’ (2019). Bruce Dessau in the Evening Standard found
Elton ‘still sharp if not quite as cutting edge as in his sparkly-suited hey-
day’ (2019). Brian Logan in The Guardian argued Elton was ‘as passion-
ate as ever, 30 years on from his Thatcher-bashing heyday’ (2019).
Similarly, Logan argued that ‘the bite of [Sayle’s] wit’ was ‘barely blunted
after 40 years deployment’ (2020), and Maxwell found Sayle’s ‘undimmed
anger’ to be ‘a joy’ (2020). Deploying similar language, the Liverpool
Echo’s Sue Lee declared that ‘At 67 [Sayle] is still fast and furious … his
bite and edge undimmed since the days when Thatcher was in power and
he was the angriest person on telly’ (2020).
If these reviews celebrate 1980s alternative comedy for being sharp,
cutting edge, passionate, Thatcher-bashing, biting, angry and edgy, it
wasn’t always seen so positively at the time. A Stage editorial from 1988,
entitled ‘An unfunny alternative’ starts by quoting an unnamed TV com-
edy writer who asked: ‘Couldn’t you write something about so-called
alternative comedy? I can’t understand its appeal and I think most of it is
dreadful. What’s more, the vast majority of those practising it don’t know
how to perform.’ The jibe that alternative comedy was ‘unfunny’ may
have been cheap, but it was also common. Charles Spencer wrote that ‘the
1 ALTERNATIVE COMEDY NOW AND THEN: AN INTRODUCTION 3
only alternative offered by much alternative comedy is that it isn’t funny’

(1986), and a performer called Peter Robinson advertised himself as ‘THE
ALTERNATIVE TO ALTERNATIVE COMEDY!—FUNNY’ (1987).
The charge of unfunniness was just one of a number of myths that
became attached to alternative comedy. Closely related was the idea that it
was humourlessly politically correct. Bob Monkhouse—a distinctly more
traditional comic—referred to alternative comedy’s non-sexist non-racist
ethos as a ‘puritan backlash’, and complained about ‘a kind of humourless-
ness … which says you can’t do racial or sexist gags’ (in Barrow 1985).
However, not all of the myths were generated by detractors from outside
the scene. Another was that alternative comedy was utterly fixated on the
then-Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. Jerry Sadowitz—a comedian
who challenged the norms of alternative comedy from within—argued
that ‘Margaret Thatcher is totally responsible for alternative comedy. …
From 1979 all you had to do was mention her, add a swear word and
you’d get a good reaction’ (in Cook 1991). Perhaps a more cutting cri-
tique was that despite its egalitarian intentions, alternative comedy was
prone to an ‘inherent elitism’ which meant that ‘the vast majority of alter-
native comics are white middle-class men’, that its venues were ‘uninvit-
ing’ to black performers and audiences, and that women ‘still get a far
rougher ride on stage’ (Cook 1994).
Whilst there is a grain of truth to most of these ideas, a closer knowl-
edge of alternative comedy—such as that articulated in the chapters that
make up this book—reveals that they tend to be misleadingly simplistic.
To provide a context for all of this, we need to briefly consider how alter-
native comedy sprang into being at the end of the 1970s, how it grew into
a distinct live performance scene in the 1980s and what happened to it
between then and now.
‘We were mixing everything up’

A whole raft of diverse influences and precedents fed into the alternative
comedy scene (Double 2020). Negatively, altcom was a reaction against
the conservatism of the kind of stand-up that was performed in working
men’s clubs and in TV showcases like Granada TV’s The Comedians, in
which the material was made up of unoriginal jokes, often with a taint of
racism, misogyny or other forms of prejudice. Positively, alternative come-
dians were inspired by American stand-up from Lenny Bruce to Richard
Pryor, the Oxbridge revue tradition that had spawned Monty Python,
punk, ranting and dub poetry, folk comedians like Billy Connolly, outlier
British comedians like Victoria Wood and John Dowie and—crucially—
alternative theatre. Most of the first alternative comedians had performed
in alternative theatre, in companies like 7:84, Belt and Braces, the Sadista
Sisters, and Threepenny Theatre. As Tony Allen pointed out in an event at
Alternative Comedy Now, there was ‘a great striving for young actors in
these theatre groups to get political subject matter across … using forms
that were familiar … with a lot of sketches and diving about and talking to
the audience’ (Please see Chap. 7: Alternative Cabaret in Conversation).
Allen went on to mention ‘another strain of theatre and entertainment
going across southern England, and across to Europe’, giving examples of
events, companies and venues which made up an anarchic, carnivalesque
brand of theatre, naming the Festival of Fools, Footsbarn, Welfare State,
the Tempodrom in Berlin and the Melkweg in Amsterdam.
Baz Kershaw has argued that the ‘apparently contradictory seeds’ of
alternative theatre were sown in the mid-1960s by two companies—the
People Show and CAST (Cartoon Archetypical Slogan Theatre) (1992,
p. 67). Whereas the People Show were artistically radical, playing with
form and creating ‘surreal visions’, CAST were politically radical, perform-
ing left-wing satire to working-class audiences. However, Kershaw goes
on to argue that while, ‘Ideologically, the two groups were chalk and
cheese … they also represent the ends of a single spectrum which spans the
variety of the later alternative theatre movement, and which unites them
despite their differences’ (1992, pp. 67–68). This was because alternative
theatre ‘often ignored the traditional critical categories, and made massive
innovative efforts to mix celebration in social criticism, to combine carni-
val and satire’ (1992, p. 68). In this way, artistic and political radicalism
went side by side in alternative theatre, which protested against ‘manifes-
tations of the status quo, whether in its suppressions of drug-induced
ecstasy, say, or in its oppressions of minority social groups’ (1992, p. 82).
There are strong parallels here with alternative comedy, with the Comic
Strip (like the People Show) representing more the artistic challenge to
the status quo, and Alternative Cabaret (like CAST) the more political
challenge—but both being part of a single spectrum combining celebra-
tion and social criticism, carnival and satire. Some recent scholarship has
challenged the idea that alternative comedy offered any kind of effective
challenge to the status quo. For example, in 2016 Gavin Schaffer argued
against its value and significance, concluding: ‘In the end, alternative com-
edy was neither a new genre nor a reliable force of opposition’ (397).
However, those who experienced altcom at the time certainly perceived

it as a significant shift in the practices and politics of live comedy. Perhaps
the best example is Lenny Henry, a comedian who had started as a teen-
ager in the 1970s and developed his act in the rough-and-tumble world of
the mainstream, performing in working men’s clubs, summer season, pan-
tomime and television. In his recent autobiography, he recalls how audi-
ence behaviour in working men’s clubs restricted the artistic choices
available to comedians: ‘You’ve got to hit them—Pif! Pif! Paf!—otherwise
they start talking or heckling, which means you need shorter jokes: set-up,
punchline, bang bang bang, one after the other’ (2019, p. 78). The restric-
tions dictated not just form, but also content:
Older comedians would tell me that no one was interested in politics or your
private life. … You never told the truth on stage; it was always a heightened
world of pretence, where nothing was real. Irish people were thick, and
black people were lascivious. … People … just practised all those tropes that
we’d come to expect in 1970s clubland. (2019, p. 178)
Moreover, Henry was aware of the restrictions placed on him as a black

comedian: ‘If you were black and on TV in the 1970s, you were expected
to tell jokes against yourself and maybe do gags about other races’ (2019,
p. 78). As a result, when he was taken to the Comic Strip as part of the
development process for a TV show, Henry was able to see how different
this was from the live comedy he had been involved with before. Having
internalised the practices of mainstream 1970s comedy, he was in a perfect
position to see that the alternative comedy he was witnessing at the Comic
Strip represented a significant challenge to the status quo:
A turf war was being fought between younger, more anarchic comics and
their more conservative predecessors. It was an important transition. The
old-school comics had been mining the same old seam—mother-in-law
jokes, stories where minorities were the butt of the joke. Alternative com-
edy … was an attempt to create humour that was more inward-looking.
Alexei Sayle … would take the piss out of the middle class and the dope-
smoking left. … People created a new language and new characters.
(2019, p. 236)
One of the reasons why alternative comedy was able to effect this
important transition and create a new language was the sheer range of
influences behind it, and the diversity of performance styles within in. The
very phrase ‘alternative comedy’ misleadingly suggests a uniformity of

approach, because today the word ‘comedy’ is often taken to be synony-
mous with ‘stand-up’. In fact, in the 1980s, the scene was often referred
to as alternative cabaret, a phrase that suggests a wider range of perfor-
mance styles.
Perhaps the best example of diversity in alternative cabaret was the cir-
cuit of venues set up by the seminal alternative theatre group CAST, even
if Roland Muldoon (who ran the circuit alongside Claire Muldoon) dis-
liked the term ‘cabaret’. As a result, CAST called their venues New Variety.
CAST New Variety shows were not entirely typical of the 1980s alternative
cabaret circuit, but they were centrally important because public funding
allowed them to establish their own circuit quickly, and thus provided acts
with a lot of comparatively well-paid work (Double 2020).
One thing that made CAST unusual was that they were particularly
committed to the idea of presenting acts that were stylistically diverse—
hence the name New Variety—and aimed to avoid bills featuring one
stand-up after another. As Roland Muldoon puts it, ‘We were mixing
everything up’ (2021). A complete set of flyers from their very first sea-
son—which ran at the Old White Horse in Brixton in London from 22
January to 16 July 1982—shows how successfully they managed this.
Only 7 of the 64 acts they booked were solo stand-ups (Dave Rappaport,
Eileen ‘Polly’ Pollock, Mark Steel, Mike Elliot, Norma Cohen, Pauline
Melville, Tony Allen). The other types of acts booked were bands (21),
poets (13), theatre or comedy groups (7), speciality acts (7), double acts
(4), solo singers (3) and African poetry and music groups (2).
Another thing that was unusual about CAST was that, in Roland
Muldoon’s words, New Variety was ‘a major combat to sexism at the
time. … And we had a policy that we would never put on a bill without a
female act in it’ (2018). Despite later acknowledging that ‘[w]e had a real
difficulty finding women, you know’ (2021), the first season at the Old
White Horse shows that they were reasonably successful in achieving a
good gender balance. The fact that three of the seven stand-ups booked
(43%) were women reveals that the idea that the vast majority of comics
being men was not always true. It is also worth noting that CAST pre-
sented an all-female bill on 21 May (Alison Fell, French & Saunders,
Pauline Melville, Amazulu1). Furthermore, women were well represented
in other categories of act. Four of the seven theatre or comedy groups
were all female (Beryl and the Perils, the Birds, Sensible Footwear, Spare
Tyre), as were two of the four double acts (French & Saunders, Maggie
Fox & Helen Lederer). Similarly, CAST were keen to book black perform-
ers. Although all of the stand-ups in this season were white, there were
black poets (e.g. Benjamin Zephaniah, Rauf Adu), black singers and musi-
cians (e.g. Deb’bora of Akimbo, Felix Cross of Felix and the Cats), and
the members of the two poetry and music groups (African Dawn, Pula
Arts Kommune). Again, this shows the more complex reality behind the
idea that the vast majority of performers were white.
As the 1980s progressed, stand-up became more established as the
dominant form within alternative cabaret, and by the early 1990s, Roland
Muldoon was lamenting this change:
My intention was to bring about a revival of variety and music hall, the true
popular entertainment. … I wanted jugglers, magicians, balancing acts, on
the bills, and in the early days we got them. But somehow comedy got the
upper hand and has now become a kind of industry standard. (in Hepple
1993, p. 11)
However, an analysis of the CAST New Variety flyer for the shows at
the Cricklewood Hotel (in London) in May and June 1987 shows that
even though straightforward stand-ups were now the largest group of
acts, they still made up only 26% of the total number. Among the 27 acts
booked there were: seven stand-ups (Bernard Padden, Hattie Hayridge,
Linda Smith, Kevin Day, Paul Merton, Julie Bailue, John Moloney); five
eccentric prop-based comics (Chris Lynam, Andrew Bailey, Kevin McAleer,
Two Fingers Cabaret, Otiz Cannelloni); four poets (Benjamin Zephaniah,
John Hegley, Little Brother, Belinda Blanchard); three bands (Tony &
Stodd, the Dinner Ladies, the Doonicans); three speciality acts (the 2
Marks, Daniel Le Bateleur, Ian Saville); two comedy groups (Spare Tyre,
Sensible Footwear); two double acts (the Vicious Boys, Skint Video); and
one singer (Hope Augustus).
‘Something other than straight stand-up’

Before it was even a decade old, the term ‘alternative comedy’ was starting
to be seen as outdated. In 1988, an article in Socialist Worker complained,
‘I don’t know why they call it ALTERNATIVE comedy any more. Our
television screens seem positively packed with some-time alternative com-
ics.’ The following year, Jo Brand told Time Out magazine, ‘I know that
the term “alternative comedy” is more or less obsolete in this country
now’ (in Hay 1989). An editorial in The Stage stated it more strongly, call-
ing the term ‘now quite obviously obsolete’ (1989).
Such opinions might have been overstated. The term continued to be
used, even if it often referred to a historic moment rather than the current
comedy scene. However, the perception that it was obsolete reflects a
sense that the radicalism implied by the word alternative had slipped away
as the circuit became more professionalised. Kevin Day acknowledged that
‘The basic level of competence has improved’ whilst complaining that ‘the
material is becoming more bland’ (in Hay 1989). Tony Allen put it more
strongly, contrasting the early scene with what it had grown into ten years
on: ‘There was once an amazing vitality to it. It was extraordinary. Now
the audience expectations have changed and it’s all about people trying to
get on telly or be like those on telly’ (in Rayner 1989, p. 19).
However, alternative comedy has steadfastly refused to die, either as a
term or in relation to the ideals it represents. Just as the UK was beginning
to see it as obsolete, America was beginning to invent its own version. In
1988, Beth Lapides started running UnCabaret at the Women’s Building
in downtown Los Angeles, later referring to it as ‘the original so-called
“alternative comedy” show’ (Lapides 2018). Lapides has staged UnCabaret
in a number of venues and continues to do so today. Other important
venues in the US alternative comedy scene include Eating It in New York,
starting at Rebar in 1994 before moving to the Luna Lounge, where it ran
for a decade; and Surf Reality, which ran in Manhattan from 1993 to
2003. American comedians associated with alternative comedy include
David Cross, Marc Maron, Bob Odenkirk, Janeane Garofalo, Aziz Ansari,
Maria Bamford, Kristen Schaal, Reggie Watts, Patton Oswalt and the
group Upright Citizen’s Brigade—which has also run comedy venues and
spawned TV shows. The Comedians of Comedy tour, in which Patton
Oswalt, Maria Bamford, Brian Posehn, Zach Galifianakis and others
toured indie rock venues, is a tangible symptom of American altcom’s suc-
cess and longevity. Starting in September 2004, the show toured for four
years, and was filmed for a documentary financed by Netflix.
Curiously, accounts of the American alternative comedy scene fail to
acknowledge the British scene that preceded it. The Encyclopedia of 20th-
Century American Humor, published in 2000, traces its origins to
New York clubs like Eating It and Surf Reality in the mid-1990s (Nilsen
and Nilsen 2000). Wayne Federman’s The History of Stand-Up identifies
shows staged in 1991 by Janeane Garofalo and others at Los Angeles’ Big
and Tall Bookstore as its birthplace, stating: ‘What Garofalo started
eventually became known as alternative comedy’ (2021, p. 98). Neither

book shows any awareness of British alternative comedy, and perhaps this
is not surprising given that when Beth Lapides started UnCabaret, she was
not aware of it herself (Lapides 2021).
That said, there are many similarities between the UK and US versions
of alternative comedy. Both have defined themselves in opposition to an
existing mainstream. The 1980s UK version opposed the kind of comedy
that Lenny Henry had experienced first-hand, particularly the prejudice
found in working men’s clubs. It was this that inspired its conscious non-
sexist non-racist stance. The US version opposed the commercial comedy
clubs, seeing them not just as ‘homophobic, racist and reactionary’ (Clark
2012, p. SM77) but also as stifling creativity. As an early article noted:
One main difference between an alternative comedy room and a traditional

comedy club is a drink minimum. This may sound flippant, but mainstream
comedy clubs are pricey affairs, full of tourists who tend to be drunk, bois-
terously insistent on getting their money’s work (usually at the rate of a
laugh a minute) and as interested in socializing with one another as in listen-
ing to the person onstage. (Strauss 1996, p. C24)
Doing away with an entry requirement that forces punters to buy drinks
makes for a more tolerant audience, freeing comedians up to explore. This
might make for a richer, more personal style of stand-up. As Marc Maron
put it, ‘I can take more risks emotionally in an alternative room’ (in Strauss
1996, p. C24). However, another aspect of American alternative comedy
is that it facilitates a move away from the form of stand-up itself. Aziz
Ansari argued: ‘The alternative rooms give you an outlet to explore some-
thing other than straight stand-up. … The nature of the venues allows you
to experiment’ (in St John 2006; H2). Andrés du Bouchet put it even
more starkly: ‘Alternative is a catchall phrase for “not stand-up”’ (in St
John 2006, p. H2).
This opposition to a form of stand-up evolved in highly commercialised
comedy clubs has also motivated a series of ventures that have risen up in
the UK—some to disappear, other continuing to thrive—since the origi-
nal alternative comedy scene of the 1980s. In July 1994, Simon Munnery
and Roger Mann set up Cluub Zarathustra (sometimes shortened to
Cluub Z) at the Market Tavern in Islington in London. It quickly spawned
a core group of performers spearheaded by Munnery, Mann and Stewart
Lee, along with actor and comedian Julian Barrett, the actors Kevin Eldon
and Sally Phillips, the musician and composer Richard Thomas, and the
mezzo-soprano Loré Lixenberg. Between 1994 and 1997, Cluub
Zarathustra was staged at a number of venues and two runs at the
Edinburgh Fringe, featuring its core members and other performers.
According to a 1997 article, Cluub Z aimed to ‘challenge the conven-
tions of straight stand-up with a host of bizarre characters and a bit of
good, old-fashioned strangeness’ (Rampton 1997). For Simon Munnery,
it was a
reaction against the constraints of the stand-up form. … If you go around

the circuit, everything has to be a microphone and someone speaking into it
for 20 minutes. It seemed that much more of a show could be done. Rushing
towards 30 punchlines a minute is the law of diminishing returns. (in
Rampton 1997)
In his highly entertaining history of Cluub Z, You Are Nothing, Robert

Wringham gives an idea of what the venture put on the stage in place of
straight stand-up: ‘prop comics, violinists, punk rockers, postmodern
interpretive dances, brightly-coloured wigs, malfunctioning homemade
contraptions, lectures, film screenings, slide shows, and melting ice’
(2012, p. 12).
Comedy critic Dominic Cavendish described an early Cluub Z show as
being ‘like a return to the early spirit of alternative comedy’ (in Wringham
2012, p. 37), and there were tangible connections with the altcom scene
of the previous decade. Firstly, it staged its first show at the Market Tavern,
which since 1988 had been the second home of Monika Bobinska’s small
alternative comedy venue, the Meccano Club. Secondly, its line-ups some-
times featured veterans of 1980s alternative comedy, like Dave Thompson
(formerly known by the stage name Igor Thompson) and—notably—the
unique Andrew Bailey, whose creative approach to performance always
defied the norms of straight stand-up.
If Cluub Z represented a return, it was also a way forward. Wringham
(2012) argues that it was part of a lineage of similar groups, venues and
individual performers offering ‘an alternative to the typical comedy of the
day’, naming Josie Long, Tim Key, Paul Foot, the sketch group Pappy’s,
and Robin Ince’s Book Club, among others. Ince staged the first Book
Club show at Lowdown at the Albany on Great Portland Street, London,
on 26 January 2005, with a line-up that included comedians Josie Long,
Sarah Kendall and Michael Legge, sketch trio The Trap and theatre group
GawkaGoGo—as well as Ince himself, reading from and analysing pas-

sages from Syd Little’s autobiography accompanied by the music of Philip
Glass.2 Ince acknowledged the early alternative comedy scene as an influ-
ence (Cavendish 2006), and the press release for the first show articulated
his hopes for the show:
The Book Club has been launched as an answer to the prayers of all come-
dians sick of playing to stag nights, drunks and imbeciles who want to be
bombarded with cock gags and kebab humour. It is also the answer to the
prayers of audiences sick of being hit below the belt with the lowest com-
mon denominator. It will create an evening where experienced comedy per-
formers can stretch themselves and provide a modern variety atmosphere
where oddball singers and strangely garbed characters nestle beside stand
ups, adding just an element of psychotic Vegas.
The Book Club continued to stage shows for several years, including
tours and appearances at the Edinburgh Fringe. By 2007, there were
enough performers and regular nights for The Guardian to identify it as
‘an emerging scene’ with Josie Long as its ‘leader’, offering a ‘refreshing
antidote to slick, male-dominated mainstream comedy’ (Jonze 2007). The
Guardian article describes Long as both a ‘DIY comedian’ and an ‘alter-
native comedian’—but still there seemed to be a certain reluctance in both
the press and the comedy circuit to describe anything happening currently
as alternative comedy. A Times article from 2012 which asked ‘what is the
new alternative?’, also stated that [n]o one, though, seems to want to call
this “alternative comedy”’, whilst acknowledging that Stewart Lee play-
fully uses the term as ‘a good way of shaking people off’ (Medd 2012).
Indeed, when Lee curated a series for Comedy Central in 2013–2014,
showcasing performers who defied the comedy mainstream, he chose to
call it The Alternative Comedy Experience.
Another venture mentioned in The Times article was the Alternative
Comedy Memorial Society, whose first gig was performed at the New Red
Lion in Islington, London on 8 March 2011. ACMS was established by
John-Luke Roberts and Thom Tuck, and (as with other ventures) the
name is a title that refers both to a series of shows they put on and to a
group of performers—which they call ‘the board’. Along with Roberts
and Tuck, current board members include Alexis Dubus, Bridget Christie,
Josie Long, Johnny and the Baptists, Joz Norris, Mawaan Rizwan and
Sophie Duker.
Roberts explains what motivated them to set up ACMS:
We set it up to answer a problem which was being able to regularly play a gig
where we could perform our material and it would work well and we could
have an audience who wanted to see the kind of thing that we wanted to be
doing. (2021)
He chose the name because ‘it seems to say, “Oh, alternative comedy
doesn’t exist any more”—which obviously isn’t true—at the same time as
putting that sort of stuff onstage’ (2021). His rationale for using the term
alternative comedy is similar to Lee’s:
I think it’s a very useful term just to let the audience know what to expect.
And just to get a certain amount of leeway. You know, it’s about managing
expectations. Precisely, the term “alternative comedy” can mean too many
things to be a very, very useful label. But as a warning to an audience, “alter-
native comedy” is actually pretty good, ‘cos if you go, “Oh, I don’t like
weird”, well you won’t come to alternative comedy. (2021)
The label alternative comedy—like the lack of a drink minimum in

American altcom venues—is a useful tool for attracting a different audi-
ence with different expectations, and thus carving out a space for explor-
ing creative possibilities. ACMS rejects the tyranny of having to achieve a
high laughs-per-minute rate, and indeed specifically celebrate the idea of
‘noble failure’. By celebrating failure—and, again, rejecting straight stand-
up—they have upturned ideas of what success might mean in comedy. As
Roberts explains, they attract audiences that have no desire to see the kind
of slick material found in more mainstream venues:
When we were saying “no straight stand-up”, what we really meant was
you’re reacting against whatever the mainstream is of the day … anything
pushing at it we would like, and also the audience would love, and … if
somebody did come along and do straight stand-up—[the audience]
wouldn’t heckle, but just go very, very quiet. (2021)
Starting around the same time as ACMS, Weirdos Comedy Club was
initially started—its founder Adam Larter explains—‘as an open mike
night for alternative comics’ but
over the years evolved more to being a comedy collective, where … we

found we could do more interesting things doing more curated or scripted
or group shows. So it went from being sort of a bunch of friends doing
alternative comedy together because they couldn’t get gigs, to being a rela-
tively successful group of people who did big, difficult, confusing
shows. (2021)
These shows reinvent popular forms like pantomime and even the ice
show, and—again—generally eschew straight stand-up. Like Lee and
Roberts, Larter uses the term alternative comedy to set expectations and
to declare difference from the mainstream:
I use it in the way that it’s just a nice shortcut—in the same way that alterna-
tive music exists. … What makes it alternative is it’s just not what you expect
by the standard comedy—as in easy to sell, commercially available comedy
that is seen on your Mock the Week or Avalon-ready TV programmes. So it’s
going to, in some way, challenge that. (2021)
In tracing this history, what becomes clear is that whereas alternative

comedy was once seen as a specific moment in British popular culture—
lasting perhaps ten years before evolving into the commercial comedy cir-
cuit which still continues today—it is now recognised as a distinct and
continuing genre, which exists on both sides of the Atlantic. This continu-
ity is recognised by performers working today as well as veterans of the
original scene.
Adam Larter says he was ‘hugely’ aware of 1980s alternative comedy
when he started Weirdos, describing it as ‘the lifeblood, really’ (2021).
Phill Jupitus—who performed in the 1980s originally as Porky the Poet
and later as a stand-up under his own name—was an early supporter of the
Alternative Comedy Memorial Society. Not only did he acknowledge,
‘This is like 30 years ago all over again’ (in Needham 2012), but also per-
formed there. Martin Soan—a regular on the 1980s circuit initially with
the Greatest Show on Legs and later with his solo act—became involved
with the altcom scene of the early 2010s, running a night called Pull The
Other One and commenting, ‘unlike the initial movement I was involved
in in the Eighties, where we all mixed in together because we haven’t
really found our craft, these lot know what they’re about much more than
we did’ (in Medd 2012, p. 5). As a way back into stand-up—he had left it
for a successful career as an author—in early 2012, Alexei Sayle staged a
series of shows at the Soho Theatre entitled Alexei Sayle Presents, comper-
ing sets from a younger generation of performers. The first show featured
Simon Munnery, Bridget Christie and Josie Long, and Sayle commented
onstage: ‘That was just like an alternative cabaret gig from 1980 … but
much funnier’ (in Maxwell 2012).3
It was probably inevitable that alternative comedy’s first flush would
either commercialise or collapse. It was an anarchic rough-and-tumble of
discovery, innovation, creativity, mischief and oppositional politics, driven
more by the whims and abilities of the performers than the rough and
ready ways that money changed hands in its slapdash commercial transac-
tions. Such a situation could only really be temporary. How long it lasted
before becoming formalised and commercialised—and thus having its
rough edges knocked off—has always been a matter of opinion. For pur-
ists, its life was ridiculously short. One of the key figures of the early scene,
Keith Allen, has argued that ‘it was over after six months’ adding ‘it was
very much like punk’ (Connor 1989, p. 16).
However, purist arguments that punk only really lasted from, say, 1976
to 1977 fly in the face of the reality of its longevity, denying the existence
of later manifestations from grunge, Nirvana and Green Day in the 1990s
to the myriad bands making music today under that name. In the same
way, the liberating spirit of early alternative comedy has never gone away
for good, springing up time and time again not only in the UK but also in
America and elsewhere. Although alternative comedy resists neat, straight-
forward definitions, its various manifestations share a clear set of recogni-
sable characteristics. They oppose the limitations of whatever form
mainstream comedy takes at the time, from the prejudice and stylistic con-
servatism of working men’s club comedy in the 1970s, to the highly com-
mercial laughs-per-minute stand-up of today. Like CAST New Variety in
the 1980s, they often prioritise an eclectic multiplicity of performance
form over straight stand-up. Importantly, they shift audience expectation
in order to carve out a space where playful experimentation is possible and
encouraged. Even using the label ‘alternative comedy’ is a strategy that
helps to achieve this—as is the way that they deprioritise commercial con-
siderations. As Sophie Quirk has argued, alternative comedy clubs ‘are
largely motivated by the aesthetic preferences of their performers and
audiences, but they are also valued because they are autonomous, rebel-
lious spaces wherein norms are intentionally flouted, and where artistic
freedom is prioritised over commercial success’ (2018, p. 123).
Outline of the Book

This book examines the context, performances and reception of alterna-
tive comedy in order to provide a holistic approach to examining the artis-
tic and socio-political impact of alternative comedy from its historical
roots through to present day performances. The book adopts a distinctive
interdisciplinary approach, synthesising theory, concepts and methodolo-
gies from comedy studies, theatre and performance, communication and
media studies, sociology, political sciences and anthropology. This
approach is taken in order to fully understand and examine the dynamics
and nuances of the alternative comedy movement which would not be
possible with a single-discipline approach. We begin with a detailed and
original Alternative Comedy Timeline (Chap. 2) which traces the develop-
ment of alternative comedy across history, from 1965. It situates alterna-
tive comedy’s roots in alternative theatre of the 1960s and 1970s, traces
its beginnings with the opening of the Comedy Store and Comic Strip and
the formation of Alternative Cabaret and its spread throughout the 1980s
and contextualises the political landscape of the 1980s. The timeline then
charts the legacy of alternative comedy from the 1990s through to 2022.
The book is then split into four separate, albeit related, parts: Part I:
“Alternative Comedy Venues”; Part II: “Performers’ Perspectives”; Part
III: “Interpreting Alternative Comedy”; and Part IV: Alternative
Comedy Today.
In Chap. 3 of Part I, Oliver Double examines the working practices of
small-scale DIY entrepreneurs who were responsible for setting up com-
edy clubs in the 1980s and facilitating growth of the alternative comedy
scene. Focussing in detail on one specific small venue—the Meccano Club
in Islington, London, set up in 1985—Double closely unpacks the club’s
character, identity, artistic ethos, atmosphere, payment policy and political
ideals. Double draws on a unique range, and combination, of original
sources from the British Stand-Up Comedy Archive (BSUCA) including
business records, posters, flyers and media coverage, and also interviews
with comedians and those involved in running the venue, including
Monika Bobinska. These are used as a lens through with to explore politi-
cal and stylistic characteristics of alternative comedy. Furthermore, they
are employed to challenge the often-cited view that, despite its left-wing
principles, alternative comedy embodied the small business ethos that
characterised Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s politics.
Double’s analysis reveals that the Meccano Club had a distinctive artistic
and political philosophy which included supporting female performers

and refuting the profit motive ethos that characterised Margaret Thatcher’s
economic policies.
Recognising that locations beyond London were pivotal to the devel-
opment of the alterative comedy scene, Chap. 4 by Richard Cuming
focuses on cabaret nights held at the Tower Arts Centre venue in
Winchester, Hampshire in South-East England in the early to mid-1980s.
Employing performance archaeology, Cuming combines a rich personal
account of his own recollections of performing at the Towers Arts Centre
as part of Zippo and Company clowns with memories of other performers,
and innovatively interweaves these with analysis of key ‘local’ acts who
performed at the Tower and the limited archival material that survived.
The chapter explores the links between the growing London alternative
comedy circuit and the Tower Arts Centre cabarets, and also assesses the
significance of Tower Arts Centre cabarets, arguing that they offered their
own distinctive character of alternative cabaret, whilst situated in a broader
local context of a burgeoning alternative performance culture. A particu-
larly vivid sense of the character and atmosphere of the Tower is provided
as Cuming treats the reader to re-enactment and deconstruction of two
poems he performed at the Tower Arts Centre—‘Blank Verse for Blank
Minds’ and ‘Life’.
Chapter 5 by Ray Campbell continues the theme of acknowledging the
importance of the provinces to the history, and development, of alterna-
tive comedy, and challenging the London-centric narrative of alternative
comedy. Campbell examines the cultural history of Cabaret A Go Go
(CAGG), an alternative cabaret club based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in
North-East England co-organised by Campbell from 1987 to 1990.
Foreground in social and cultural capital theory, Campbell brings this
lesser-known provincial alternative cabaret scene centre stage through a
detailed and personal account of CAGG’s origin (including details of
Campbell’s early forays into stand-up comedy due to his student peers see-
ing him as a ‘funny guy’), atmosphere, aesthetics, philosophy, finances and
performances. CAGG’s significance is explored through drawing out simi-
larities and differences between CAGG and other cabaret venues, includ-
ing those on the London circuit, the influence of CAST New Variety, and
impacts of early twentieth-century cabaret traditions, avant-garde and
post-punk. Campbell interweaves his personal recollections with inter-
views with those involved with CAGG and close analysis of CAGG’s pub-
licity posters, to reflect on how the ‘Fun Committee’ established
Newcastle-upon-Tyne’s first alternative cabaret club in an upstairs room of

a pub which then went onto become an important cultural player in
Tyneside.
Chapter 6 of Part II examines benefit shows (performances held for
charitable purposes for specific organisations, appeals or crises). From
1983, Brian Mulligan and Steve Gribben performed as political musical
comedy duo, Skint Video. Mulligan offers a first-hand account and per-
former’s perspective of the development, and impact, of benefit shows on
the early alternative comedy circuit. Mulligan combines detailed observa-
tions of the artistic and socio-political contexts of the 1980s and 1990s
with vivid, and entertaining, recollections of memories of specific perfor-
mances to reflect on how benefit shows were conceptualised and organ-
ised, how performers (especially Skint Video) were treated and how
benefit shows became an important part of alternative comedy. Tracing
the development of benefit shows from the Miner’s Strike of 1984–1985 in
the United Kingdom, which Mulligan describes as the ‘zenith of the ben-
efit show’, Milligan demonstrates that by the 1990s the different aspect of
the benefit circuit could be characterised by size of show and the type of
campaign supported.
Along with the Comedy Store and the Comic Strip, the group
Alternative Cabaret was one of the three crucial starting points for alterna-
tive comedy. A loose collective formed in the summer of 1979, its core
members were Tony Allen, Andy de la Tour, Pauline Melville, Jim Barclay
and Alexei Sayle (although Sayle would soon depart to join the Comic
Strip). Alternative Cabaret was crucial to the development of the new
comedy scene because, as Roger Wilmut put it, it ‘created the beginnings
of what later became a thriving circuit’ (Wilmut and Rosengard 1989,
p. 46). The second half (Chap. 7) of Part II is an edited transcript of an
event at The Gulbenkian, in Canterbury in the South-East England I early
May 2019, in which the four core members of Alternative Cabaret (Allen,
de la Tour, Melville, and Barclay) reunited in front of a live audience to
talk about their early experiences with stand-up, the formation of the
group, the kind of gigs they played, their Edinburgh Fringe show, their
album and how the group eventually disbanded, and also to answer audi-
ence questions. The ‘in conversation’ piece is contextualised by Oliver
Double, who moderated the conversation at the live event.
Part III considers the multiple ways in which alternative comedy has been
interpreted from a range of perspectives. This part opens with Chap. 8 by
Neil Washbourne, which analyses how UK national newspapers responded
to, and made sense of, the rise of alternative comedy. Combining quanti-
tative and qualitative textual analysis of newspaper coverage, Washbourne
systematically examines how mainstream press coverage contributed to
public awareness and understanding of alternative comedy. Quantitative
analysis traces the emergence of alternative comedy in newspaper cover-
age and assesses who alternative comedy was presented as being linked to.
Qualitative analysis reveals additional distinctive features that characterise
the press coverage. Three themes frame the first part of the chapter, which
include confused meaning attached to alternative comedy, claims made
about its unfunny status, and links made between alternative comedy
and political correctness. The second part of the chapter provides close
scrutiny of debates related specifically to alternative comedy and political
correctness, which is centred around four key features. These are: inter-
nal contradictions related to political correctness; post-politically correct
comedy; alternative comedy’s relationship to different social classes; and
the Daily Mail’s sustained critique of alternative comedy. Washbourne
concludes that, taken together, these themes and debates illustrate how
press coverage provided a distorted presentation of alternative comedy’s
roots, meanings and implications.
In Chap. 9 of Part III, Jonjo Brady reflects on the clichés and tropes
that are used by commentators in their interpretation and representations
of alternative comedy today. Some of these clichés and tropes frame alter-
native comedy as an outdated and unfashionable form of resistance and
one that has become domesticated, while others critique alternative come-
dians for favouring careerist philosophies rather than radical and political
ones, and charge them with not remaining ‘true to the cause’. Brady
argues these interpretations are sustained by a specific interaction with
alternative comedy, which is referred to as the politics of antagonism.
Recognising the limits to the politics of antagonism for understanding
alternative comedy in current political and cultural contexts, Brady advo-
cates a different kind of politics—a politics of affirmation. This recognises
the contingent nature of comedy and opens up the possibility of viewing
alternative comedy as having political potency, and transformative possi-
bilities, which the politics of antagonism does not permit. Brady unpacks,
and illustrates, the logic of the politics of antagonism and the politics of
affirmation through analysis of Harry Enfield’s Loadsamoney character
from the mid- to late 1980s, outlining the political potential and benefits
of interpreting Loadsamoney as a dramatic script.
Building on Part III’s focus on how alternative comedy has been inter-
preted and understood, the fourth, and final part, provides close analysis
of alternative comedy as it is currently performed. In Chap. 10 of Part IV,
Marianna Keisalo takes a semiotic anthropological approach to analysing
alternative comedy in Finland. Keisalo observes that, while there is no
clear demarcation between mainstream and alternative in contemporary
Finnish stand-up comedy, one particular performer, ‘Juhani Nevalainen,
musician not comedian’, offers an interesting break from stand-up com-
edy norms and expectations. Although guitar-playing and song-singing
Nevalainen performs at comedy clubs, he claims that he is not a comedian
and transgresses performance conventions in multiple ways. Keisalo
employs the concepts of comedy, metacomedy and anticomedy to explore
the varied and layered ways in which Nevalainen’s performance can be
interpreted by audiences and how performative and contextual dynamics
impact these interpretations. Keisalo uses analysis of Nevalainen’s perfor-
mance as a lens through which to examine comedy conventions and inven-
tions and to question the political potential of performances like Juhani
Nevalainen’s.
Continuing the focus on stand-up comedy as its currently performed,
Ellie Tomsett’s empirically based chapter (Chap. 11) explores important,
yet under-researched, additions to the UK comedy industry prevalent
since the late 1990s and early 2000s. These are women-only comedy
nights, events and organisations. Women-only spaces are examined in
terms of how they can be understood as offering alternative experiences to
mainstream (mixed-gendered) comedy spaces for both performers and
audiences. Three significant topics frame Tomsett’s discussions. These are:
the rationales for creating women-only events; how women-only spaces
are understood by women comics in terms of their relationship to main-
stream comedy spaces; and audiences’ motivations for attending women-
only comedy events and audiences’ understandings of these as alternative
comedy spaces. Tomsett draws on interdisciplinary multi-method research
conducted while she was ‘Researcher in Residence’ at the UK Women in
Comedy Festival, and innovatively combines performer and promoter
semi-structured life-world interviews, textual analysis of comedy perfor-
mances and audience surveys and interviews. Tomsett’s analysis reveals the
ways in which women-only comedy nights, events and organisations are
positively experienced as alternative by performers and audiences, and cri-
tiques how positioning these as alternative links to the industrial and social
conditions of the UK comedy circuit.
In Chap. 12 of Part IV, Sophie Quirk and Ed Wilson examine the ‘new
alternative’ in contemporary live comedy in the UK. Focussing on alterna-
tive comedy in the early 2000s to present, Quirk and Wilson reveal how
performers observe two crises that characterise the new alternative in live
comedy and focus on its artistic and political practices and structures.
Firstly, a crisis of creativity and credibility, and, secondly, a crisis of repre-
sentation and equitability. These crises are symptomatic of changes that
occurred in alternative comedy during the comedy boom which saw alter-
native comedy increase in popularity and become increasing commer-
cialised. The first crisis facilitated new alternative practices which examine
and experiment with the live comedy conventions and forms, and Quirk
and Wilson draw on comedians such as Tony Law, Stewart Lee and Josie
Long to illustrate the nature and content of these new alternative prac-
tices. The roots of the crisis of representation and equitability are vividly
illustrated through the structures, motive, practices and performances at
FOC It Up—a comedy club for femmes of colour—identities that have
been marginalised in alternative and mainstream comedy. These crises
demonstrate how alternative comedy continues to adapt and change in
order to ensure both its artistic and political longevity and continual
renewal.
Notes
1. Although the reggae band Amazulu later had a male drummer, they are
listed on the CAST New Variety flyers as ‘all female’.
2. To fully appreciate the comic potential of this idea, it is important to know
that Syd Little was the straight man in the old-fashioned comedy double act
Little and Large, and Philip Glass is a celebrated minimalist composer. In
other words, it’s a playful clash of the lowbrow and highbrow.
3. It should be acknowledged that not every 1980s alternative comedy veteran
was so positive. Tony Allen wrote a scathing review of an early ACMS show,
available here: https://www.newagenda.org/blogchkalt.html (accessed 14
July 2021).
References
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Cavendish, Dominic. 2006. Belly Laughs for Bookworms. Daily Telegraph,

January 2.
Clark, Andrew. 2012. How the Comedy Nerds Took Over. New York
Times, April 22.
Connor, John. 1989. Laughs in Store. City Limits, May 4–11.
Cook, William. 1991. No alternative now she’s gone. The Times, February 6.
Cook, William. 1994. Funny turns. The Guardian (Edinburgh section), August 13.
Dessau, Bruce. 2019. Ben Elton review: Pale, male but refusing to go stale with
impressive set of quick-fire gags. Evening Standard (Arts section), December 3.
Double, Oliver. 2020. Alternative Comedy: 1979 and the Reinvention of British
Stand-Up. London: Bloomsbury.
Hay, Malcolm. 1989. Standing Orders. Time Out, January 11–18.
Henry, Lenny. 2019. Who Am I, Again? London: Faber & Faber.
Hepple, Peter. 1993. Comedy: The Laughter Business. The Stage, September 23.
Jonze, Tim. 2007. Laugh? I nearly DIY’d. The Guardian (The Guide sec-
tion), August 4.
Kershaw, Baz. 1992. The Politics of Performance. London: Routledge.
Lapides, Beth. 2018. Beth Lapides Reveals How UnCabaret Managed To Reach
Its 25th Birthday. LA Weekly, October 19.
Lapides, Beth. 2021. Personal communication [Twitter], March 1.
Larter, Adam. 2021. Interview with Oliver Double, by Zoom, June 24.
Lee, Sue. 2020. Alexei is still as angry as he ever was. Liverpool Echo, March 13.
Logan, Brian. 2019. Ben Elton review—bracing return of a sexagenarian all at sea.
The Guardian (Stage section), October 1.
Logan, Brian. 2020. Alexei Sayle review—a blizzard of rage and gloriously biting
wit. The Guardian (Stage section), March 11.
Maxwell, Dominic. 2012. Sayle of the 21st Century. The Times (T2 section),
January 26.
Maxwell, Dominic. 2019. Ben Elton review—does anybody edit him? The Times
(T2 section), October 1.
Maxwell, Dominic. 2020. Alexei Sayle review—serrated yet genial comeback. The
Times (Times 2 section), March 11.
Medd, James. 2012. A professional, an idealist and an absurdist walk into a bar…’.
The Times (T2 section), November 23.
Muldoon, Roland. 2018. Interview with Oliver Double by phone, June 18.
Muldoon, Roland and Claire Muldoon. 2021. Interview with Oliver Double by
phone, March 10.
Needham, Alex. 2012. “Tories out” style of comedy: Anger of the Occupy and
UK Uncut movements is being reflected in theatres and by satirists. The
Guardian, January 7.
Nilsen, Don and Alleen Nilsen. 2000. Encyclopedia of 20th-Century American
Humor. Phoenix, Arizona: Oryx Press.
Quirk, Sophie. 2018. The Politics of British Stand-Up Comedy: The New Alternative.
London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Rampton, James. 1997. Comedy with James Rampton, The Independent (The Eye
section), July 26.
Rayner, Jay. 1989. Cracks in the Cabaret Clubs. The Observer (Section 5: Observer
in London), April 16.
Roberts, John-Luke. 2021. Interview with Oliver Double, by Zoom, June 30.
Schaffer, Gavin. 2016. Fighting Thatcher with Comedy: What to Do When There
Is No Alternative. Journal of British Studies 55(2): 374–397.
Socialist Worker. 1988. Jokers—a job lot? November 19.
Spencer, Charles. 1986. Rowan raises the roof. The Stage, March 13.
Stage, The. 1987. The alternative to alternative comedy! [advertisement]. April 16.
Stage, The. 1988. An unfunny alternative. March 24.
Stage, The. 1989. Comedy shouldn’t be dictated by minority rule. May 11.
St John, Warren. 2006. Seinfeld It Isn’t. New York Times, January 29.
Strauss, Neil. 1996. Take the New Comedy. Please. New York Times, May 31.
Wilmut, Roger, and Peter Rosengard. 1989. Didn’t You Kill My Mother-in-Law?:
The Story of Alternative Comedy in Britain from The Comedy Store to Saturday
Live. London: Methuen.
Wringham, Robert. 2012. You Are Nothing. Cardiff: Go Faster Stripe.
CHAPTER 2
Alternative Comedy Timeline
Oliver Double
1965 CAST (Cartoon Archetypical Slogan Theatre) started by Roland and

Claire Muldoon.
23 October The Stage reports that Don Ward has taken charge of the Gargoyle
1969 nightclub, 69 Dean Street.
August 1971 John Dowie takes his first one-man comedy show to the Edinburgh
Fringe. Dowie was an outlying pioneer, anticipating alternative comedy
by the best part of a decade.
December 1973 Rough Theatre’s first production Dwelling Unit Sweet Dwelling Unit
by Tony Allen and John Miles first performed at the British Oak,
London W11.
Winter 1974 Rough Theatre perform a 35-minute version of their play Heart of a
Patriot at the Charlie Pigdog Club, London W9, sharing a bill with Joe
Strummer’s pub rock band the 101ers. Tony Allen is a co-author and
plays Cyril Sleazby, a ‘West London layabout, with a great sense of fun
and wit’. This historic show features keys figures in punk (Strummer)
and alternative comedy (Allen) on the same bill.
(continued)
O. Double (*)
School of Arts, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK
e-mail: o.j.double@kent.ac.uk
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 23

Switzerland AG 2022
O. Double, S. Lockyer (eds.), Alternative Comedy Now and Then,
Palgrave Studies in Comedy,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97351-3_2
24 O. DOUBLE
(continued)
20 February Trevor Griffiths’ Comedians opens at Nottingham Playhouse. Later it
1975 will be seen as anticipating alternative comedy, and the members of
Alternative Cabaret will watch a recording of the TV version together
in their early days.
June-July 1976 Threepenny Theatre’s first production About Poor B.B. at the Factory,
Chippenham Mews at the Warehouse, Rotherhithe. Alexei Sayle is in
the cast.
September Threepenny Theatre present ‘a cabaret style revue’ at the Round House
1978 Downstairs, written by Bill Monks, Alexei Sayle and Cliff Cocker.
Autumn 1978 Belt and Braces Roadshow’s Red Rock Revue tours, featuring Andy de
la Tour performing about eight minutes of stand-up comedy.
2 April 1979 Tony Allen’s stand-up debut with a 17-minute set at the Oval House,
Kennington.
3 May 1979 Margaret Thatcher elected as prime minister.
19 May 1979 Comedy Store opens at the Gargoyle. The first night’s line-up includes
Arnold Brown and Lee Cornes, with Alexei Sayle as compere. Designed
as a ‘showcase for aspiring comic unknowns’, this iconic venue brings
together the likeminded acts who would pioneer alternative comedy—
including Sayle, Tony Allen, Jim Barclay, Andy de la Tour, the Outer
Limits (Peter Richardson and Nigel Planer), 20th Century Coyote (Rik
Mayall and Ade Edmondson) and Keith Allen—more by accident than
design.
June and July The group Alternative Cabaret is formed during a series of meetings,
1979 with a view to running gigs around London. Tony Allen plays a pivotal
role in setting up the group, and acts associated with it include
comedians Alexei Sayle, Andy de la Tour, Jim Barclay, Maggie Steed,
and musicians Combo Passé and Gasmask & Hopkins. Later, Pauline
Melville becomes a key member. The group’s importance is marked by
the fact that their name will come to refer to the entire scene which will
grow throughout the 1980s and beyond.
15 August 1979 Bob Flag organises Alternative Cabaret’s first gig at the Pindar of
Wakefield.
16 August 1979 First night of Alternative Cabaret’s fortnightly comedy night at the
Elgin.
1980 ‘Dedication’, a live recording of Alexei Sayle at the Comedy Store
(introduced by Tony Allen), appears on the B-side of the single ‘When
the Gold Runs Dry’ by Flak. This is the first recording of alternative
comedy released on vinyl (or any other format).
February 1980 Kim Wells starts running comedy at the Earth Exchange in Highgate, a
vegetarian restaurant. This is one of the first regular venues outside of
the Comedy Store, and many other small clubs follow through the
1980s, quickly forming a circuit.
March 1980 Richard Pryor: Live in Concert released in UK cinemas—an important
influence on many early alternative comedians.
(continued)
2 ALTERNATIVE COMEDY TIMELINE 25
(continued)
6 March 1980 First usage of ‘alternative cabaret’ as a generic term, in a Stage review of
Threepenny Theatre: ‘Alexei Sayle and Bill Monks have put together a
unique form of “alternative cabaret” for fringe venues’ (Stage 1980,
p. 13).
22 May 1980 Last night of Alternative Cabaret’s comedy club at the Elgin.
August 1980 Alexei Sayle and Tony Allen appear in Late Nite Alternative at the
Edinburgh Fringe, staged at Heriot-Watt University and promoted by
Bristol Express. One of the first stand-up shows at the Fringe, and the
first to feature first-wave alternative comedians.
18–21 and The Outer Limits plus 20th Century Coyote (with Arnold Brown) at
25–27 Pentameters.
September
1980
7 October 1980 The Comic Strip opens at the Raymond Revuebar. This seminal venue
gets massive media attention, playing a key role in popularising
alternative comedy. It has a fixed line-up (plus guest acts) of Alexei Sayle,
20th Century Coyote, the Outer Limits and Arnold Brown. Later,
French and Saunders start their career here and become core members.
9 October 1980 First usage of the term ‘alternative comedy’, in a Guardian review of
the Comic Strip, described as ‘London’s new club for alternative
comedy’ (Tickell 1980, p. 11).
14 October Boom Boom … Out Go the Lights broadcast on BBC2, the first TV
1980 showcase for the emerging alternative comedy scene, and features
Alexei Sayle, Tony Allen, Keith Allen, Rik Mayall and Nigel Planer.
January 1981 Ben Elton makes his first appearance at the Comedy Store.
5 May 1981 Second edition of Boom Boom … Out Go the Lights broadcast on BBC2,
featuring Alexei Sayle, Tony Allen, the Outer Limits, 20th Century
Coyote, Andy de la Tour and Pauline Melville.
8 May 1981 An early alternative cabaret show at the Tower Arts Centre, Winchester
compered by Desmond Fairybreath and featuring acts like Zippo and
Company. The Tower continues to run these shows until 1984.
17 May 1981 Ken Livingstone becomes Leader of the Greater London Council
(GLC), in charge of a Labour administration whose radical policies
included generous arts funding.
11 June 1981 First usage of the term ‘alternative comedian’, in a Stage article about a
show at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East, including ‘alternative
comedian Jim Barclay’ in the list of acts due to appear (Stage 1981a,
p. 3).
1 July 1981 Alternative Cabaret LP released by Original Records, featuring
recordings of Pauline Melville, Jim Barclay, Tony Allen and Andy de la
Tour.
8 August 1981 Final performance of the Comic Strip at the Raymond Revuebar.
August 1981 Alternative Cabaret appear at the Edinburgh Fringe, with Tony Allen,
Andy de la Tour, Jim Barclay, Pauline Melville and a musician called
Phil Nichol.
(continued)
26 O. DOUBLE
(continued)
September Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp established.
1981
14 September The Comic Strip perform at London’s The Venue to kick off a national
1981 tour, in which they will appear in ‘Fifteen of the country’s seediest
fleapit venues’ (Stage 1981b, p. 4).
October 1981 Comic Strip LP released by Springtime Records, with performances by
Alexei Sayle, 20th Century Coyote, the Outer Limits, French and
Saunders and Arnold Brown. A controversial release; Boots, WH Smith
and Woolworths refuse to stock it and London Transport bans an
advertising campaign for it, after initially accepting advertising on its
buses.
22 January CAST runs first New Variety night at the Old White Horse in Brixton,
1982 with a bill featuring Akimbo (‘“Blues reggae” songs of life, laughter &
struggle’), Brid Keenan (‘Irish singer’), Chip Shop Show (‘Musical
satire’) and Mr Clean (‘Jazz Funk Band’). CAST New Variety shows
favour varied bills which deprioritise straight stand-up. The three shows
listed on the first flyer feature only two stand-up comedians—Mark
Steel and Mike Elliott.
2 April–14 June Falklands War.
1982
9 May 1982 CAST New Variety opens its second venue at the Wood Green Trade
Union Centre, with a bill featuring African Dawn, Benjamin
Zephaniah, Pauline Melville and Mr Clean.
27 May 1982 Alexei Sayle’s first solo tour begins at the Theatre Royal, Bury St
Edmunds. This is the first of 48 dates.
August 1982 GLC awards a grant of £25,000 to CAST New Variety, allowing it to
expand its existing circuit.
17 September CAST New Variety starts its GLC-supported autumn season at the Old
1982 White Horse, followed by new venue the Cricklewood pub in
Cricklewood the next day, the Wood Green TU Centre the day after,
and another new venue the Bush Hotel in Shepherds Bush the
following Thursday. Running four weekly gigs that paid acts
represented a significant factor in the growth of the alternative cabaret
circuit.
18 October Alexei Sayle’s first solo album Cak! released by Springtime Records,
1982 featuring songs and stand-up routines recorded in front of a live
audience at Basing Street Studios.
November 1982 City Limits magazine adds a cabaret section to its listings.
2 November The first night schedule of Channel 4 includes the first episode of The
1982 Comic Strip Presents, a long-running series of short TV films featuring
performers from the Comic Strip. In this first episode, Peter
Richardson, Ade Edmondson, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders star
in a parody of Enid Blyton’s Famous Five series.
9 November–14 First series of The Young Ones broadcast on BBC2, with central
December 1982 characters played by Comic Strip regulars Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson,
Nigel Planer and Alexei Sayle, and based on elements of their live acts.
(continued)
(continued)
12 December Final date of Alexei Sayle’s first solo tour, at London’s Cambridge
1982 Theatre
23 December Comedy Store closes at the Gargoyle Club, Dean Street.
1982
4 February Jongleurs opens at the Cornet, Clapham.
1983
5 March 1983 Comedy Store starts running shows at the Subway Club, Leicester
Square, on Saturday nights only.
10 April 1983 Alexei Sayle starts a second solo tour at the Hexagon, Reading.
1–5 June 1983 Alexei Sayle’s tour concludes with five nights at the Albany Empire,
Deptford.
9 June 1983 Margaret Thatcher re-elected with an increased majority.
August 1983 Enterprise Allowance Scheme expanded into a national programme
following a pilot.
August 1983 Rik Mayall, Ben Elton and Andy de la Tour appear in Stand-Up
Comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe, then go on to tour the show.
September CAST receives £82,000 grant from GLC and plans to run seven
1983 venues. More funding will follow until the GLC is formally abolished in
1986.
8 January 1984 Malcolm Hardee opens the Tunnel Palladium near the Blackwall
Tunnel.
6 March 1984 Miners’ strike begins. A walkout at Cortonwood Colliery becomes an
official national strike on 12 March.
8 March 1984 Opening date of CAST New Variety’s The Live 32 Borough Touring
Show, which included 61 dates across the whole of London in March
and April.
8 May–19 June Second series of The Young Ones broadcast on BBC2.
1984
10 May 1984 Second edition of Lisa Appignanesi’s book Cabaret published, with a
new section on alternative cabaret—the first book to acknowledge the
scene.
9–25 August Brave New Comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe with Arnold Brown, Paul
1984 Martin (AKA Paul Merton), Nick Revell and Norman Lovett.
23 November–8 Rik Mayall and Ben Elton national tour, 20 dates.
December 1984
Early 1985 Meccano Club opens at the Camden Head, run by Mark Bobinski,
James Macabre and Lucinda Denning.
12 January Pilot of Saturday Live broadcast on Channel 4, a live showcase
1985 featuring acts from the alternative cabaret circuit.
11 February All-day picket by alternative cabaret performers at Neasden Power
1985 Station followed by Pit Dragon Benefit at Islington Town Hall, with
Rik Mayall, Benjamin Zephaniah, Ben Elton, Frank Chickens, Jenny
Lecoat, Pookiesnackenburger, Pauline Melville and John Dowie, in
support of the Miners’ Strike.
3 March 1985 Miners’ strike ends.
(continued)
28 O. DOUBLE
(continued)
11 May–1 June Cabaret Upstairs broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Recorded at the
1985 Hemingford Arms and showcasing acts from the alternative cabaret
circuit, including John Hegley, Jenny Eclair, Jeremy Hardy, Arthur
Smith and Jim Barclay. Three more series follow in 1986–1988.
July 1985 Comedy Store re-opens as a fully-fledged venue in the basement of the
old Subway Club, Leicester Square.
1 September Night for Nicaragua at the Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh, raising over
1985 £3000 for the Medical Aid Container to Nicaragua appeal. Bill includes
Ben Elton, Skint Video, Sensible Footwear, Pookiesnackenburger, the
Vicious Boys, Andy de la Tour and Billy Bragg.
27 October Comedy Store Players start performing weekly improvised comedy
1985 nights.
25 January–29 Series one of Saturday Live broadcast on Channel 4.
March 1986
28 February–16 Reds Laugh Louder Tour, 18-date tour for the Labour Party’s youth
March 1986 arts organisation Red Wedge features Skint Video, Mark Miwurdz,
Sensible Footwear and Craig Charles. Tour opens at the Polytechnic of
Central London and closes at Swansea Leisure Centre. More Red
Wedge comedy events follow throughout the year, including a
September gig at the Labour Party Conference.
31 March 1986 GLC formally abolished.
31 August 1986 Nicaragua Libre, at the King’s Theatre, Edinburgh, for the Nicaragua
Solidarity Campaign and Edinburgh Latin American Solidarity
Campaign. This follow-up to Night for Nicaragua includes Robbie
Coltrane, Rory Bremner, Skint Video, the Vicious Boys, Mark
Miwurdz, Andy de la Tour, Jenny Lecoat, John Dowie and Sensible
Footwear. After this, Nicaragua benefits at the end of the Edinburgh
Fringe become an annual event (although 1987’s show is a music-only
event in November).
14 Ben Elton first solo national tour, 27 dates.
November–11
December 1986
9 December CAST re-opens the Hackney Empire for an 85th birthday show.
1986
2 January 1987 First show recorded in Meccano Club bookings book kept by Monika
Bobinska, having taken over the running of the venue following Mark
Bobinski’s death in September 1986.
7 February–11 Series two of Saturday Live broadcast on Channel 4.
April 1987
May 1987 Tony Lidington’s ‘New Terms for Old Turns: the Rise of Alternative
Cabaret’ published in New Theatre Quarterly—the first academic article
to be published on the subject.
(continued)
(continued)
4–11 June 1987 Second Reds Laugh Louder Tour for Red Wedge, with eight shows
leading up to the General Election. The tour starts on 4 June at
Stockport Town Hall and finishes on 11 June at Labour Party HQ on
Walworth Road. Acts include Billy Bragg, Ben Elton, Lenny Henry,
Harry Enfield, Skint Video, Jenny Lecoat, Jeremy Hardy, the Vicious
Boys, Arnold Brown, the Joan Collins Fan Club (Julian Clary) and
Hope Augustus.
11 June 1987 Margaret Thatcher elected for third term.
4 December Cabaret-a-Go Go starts at the Broken Doll pub in Newcastle. The Fun
1987 Committee, made up of Ray Campbell, Martine d’Ellard, Clive Lyttle
and, later, Bass Jansen stages fortnightly shows there until 1990.
1988 1988 British Alternative Theatre Directory acknowledges alternative
cabaret for the first time, with an editorial on the subject by David
McGillivray and sections on ‘Cabaret Artists’ and ‘Cabaret Venues’.
Beth Lapides starts running UnCabaret at the Women’s Building,
downtown Los Angeles, describing it as ‘the original so-called
“alternative comedy” show’ (Lapides 2018).
19 February–29 Friday Night Live broadcast on Channel 4.
April 1988
May 1988 The Meccano Club moves from the Camden Head to the nearby
Market Tavern.
4 September Late Night for Nicaragua, at the Edinburgh Playhouse, with a bill
1988 including Skint Video, Jeremy Hardy, Joan Collins Fan Club and Mark
Miwurdz.
8–20 May 1989 Comedy Store celebrates its tenth birthday with the What Are We
Talking? festival, sponsored by Whitbreads brewery.
11 May 1989 First book about alternative comedy, Roger Wilmut and Peter
Rosengard’s Didn’t You Kill My Mother-in-Law?, published by
Methuen.
3 September Night for Nicaragua Part Five at the Edinburgh Playhouse, with a bill
1989 including Arnold Brown, Miles and Milner, Mark Miwurdz, Simon
Fanshawe, Jeremy Hardy, Kit Hollerbach, John Hegley and Frank
Chickens.
Summer 1990 Comedy Store launches its weekly topical comedy night, the Cutting
Edge.
2 September Night for Nicaragua VI at the Edinburgh Playhouse, with a bill including
1990 Attila the Stockbroker, Jo Brand, Steve Coogan, Jenny Eclair, Mark Hurst
(formerly Miwurdz), Henry Normal and Mark Thomas. This is the last of
the annual Nicaragua events, but more one-off shows will follow.
November 1990 Margaret Thatcher resigns as prime minister.
1991 The Upright Citizens Brigade begins in Chicago as a loose-knit group
of performers with backgrounds in improvisation and sketch comedy.
9 April 1993 John Major re-elected as Prime Minister.
November 1993 UnCabaret relaunched at music venue LunaPark in West Hollywood,
staging Sunday Night shows there for the next seven years.
(continued)
30 O. DOUBLE
(continued)
13 December Comedy Store re-opens at its current location, a purpose-built cellar
1993 venue in Oxendon Street.
1994 Eating It: The Alternative Comedy Experience starts at the Rebar in
New York.
5 July 1994 Cluub Zarathustra launched at the Market Tavern, creating a platform
for comedy that goes beyond stand-up. Established by Simon Munnery
and Roger Mann, it is developed over the next three years by Munnery,
Mann and Stewart Lee, its key performers including Kevin Eldon,
Julian Barrett, Sally Phillips, Richard Thomas and Lori Lixenberg.
1995 Eating It moves to the Luna Lounge, where it continues to run shows
for the next decade.
June 1995 The Meccano Club celebrates its tenth birthday with a series of nine
shows featuring acts like Mark Thomas, Sir Bernard Chumley, Jo
Brand, Alan Davies, Jenny Eclair, Phill Jupitus, Harry Hill and Kevin
Day.
9 August–2 Cluub Zarathustra show at the Edinburgh Fringe. Writing in The
September Independent, Ben Thompson says, ‘It makes a refreshing change to see
1995 a show that seeks to insult not its audience’s intelligence but the very
fibre of their being’ (Thompson 1995, p. 14).
8 October–4 Alexei Sayle’s first UK tour since the 1980s.
November 1995
1 December Monika Bobinska sells the Meccano Club for £1,500.
1995
1996 The core members of the Upright Citizens Brigade (Amy Poehler, Matt
Besser, Matt Walsh and Ian Roberts) move to New York, bolstering its
nascent alternative comedy scene.
1 May 1997 Tony Blair elected as Prime Minister, ending 18 years of Conservative
rule.
August 1997 Cluub Zarathustra’s second run at the Edinburgh Fringe. The group
separates later that year.
1999 The Upright Citizens Brigade establishes its first venue in a former
lap-dancing club. It will move to bigger premises in Chelsea in 2003,
eventually spawning a second New York venue and venues in LA.
10 June 2000 Final night of the Meccano Club at the Market Tavern, renamed the
Finnegan’s Wake in 1995. The club would continue in the Dove
Regent on Graham St W1.
14 September Comedy Store opens second venue in Deansgate Locks, Manchester.
2000
7 June 2001 Tony Blair re-elected as Prime Minister.
15 November William Cook’s book The Comedy Store published by Little, Brown.
2001
27 September Tony Allen’s book Attitude: Wanna Make Something Of It published by
2002 Gothic Image, containing theories of performance, a history of
alternative comedy from the perspective of one of its key figures, and
transcripts of early routines.
(continued)
(continued)
22 September The Comedians of Comedy tour starts off in Seattle. The tour features
2004 alternative comedians Patton Oswalt, Maria Bamford, Brian Posehn
and Zach Galifianakis playing in indie rock venues. The show will tour
for the next four years with a changing line-up.
26 January Robin Ince’s Book Club starts at Lowdown at the Albany. First bill
2005 includes Sarah Kendall, Noel Fielding, Josie Long and GawkaGoGo.
March 2005 Josie Long collects her Chortle Award for best newcomer with ‘Fuck
Jongleurs’ written down one arm and ‘I Love Niche Appeal’ down the
other.
5 May 2005 Tony Blair re-elected for a third term as Prime Minister.
26 August 2006 Josie Long wins Best Newcomer at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards
(then known as the If.comeddies).
October 2006 Terry Saunders and Chris Searle run the first of their Laughter in Odd
Places comedy nights in a South London Library. They will run shows
in a series of unlikely venues including a record shop, a vegan café and
Hampstead Heath.
27 June 2007 Tony Blair resigns; Gordon Brown becomes Prime Minister.
4 August 2007 The Guardian publishes an article by Tim Jonze (‘Laugh? I nearly
DIY’d’) about ‘a new breed of quipsters rescuing the comedy scene
from stale one liners’, naming Josie Long, Wil Hodgson, Isy Suttie and
Pappy’s Fun Club as some the acts in this new scene, and Laughter in
Odd Places and Robin Ince’s Book Club as some of the shows.
28 July 2008 Final Comedians of Comedy show takes place in San Diego, with
Patton Oswalt, Maria Bamford and Brian Posehn, plus various guests.
2 July 2009 The last ever Laughter in Odd Places show takes place in the Museum
of London.
2010 Adam Larter starts alternative comedy club Weirdos at a pub in Kings
Cross. They will go on to present a variety of shows including
alternative Christmas pantomimes.
6 May 2010 General Election sees no party with a majority. David Cameron goes on
to form a coalition between Conservatives and Liberal Democrats and
becomes Prime Minister.
March 2011 Alternative Comedy Memorial Society, a loose group of comedians
established by Thom Tuck and John-Luke Roberts, stages its first show.
Comedians associated with the ACMS include Bridget Christie, Alexis
Dubus, Nadia Kamil, Josie Long, Sara Pascoe and Ben Target.
29 May 2011 At Last! The 1981 Show at the Royal Festival Hall, curated by Stewart
Lee and Paul Jackson, celebrating early alternative comedy. Performers
on the bill include Alexei Sayle, Pauline Melville, Nigel Planer, Arnold
Brown, Norman Lovett, Andrew Bailey and the Greatest Show on Legs.
January and Alexei Sayle comperes four shows at the Soho Theatre, intending to
February 2012 return to stand-up.
4 October–22 Alexei Sayle’s first UK tour since the 1990s.
November 2012
5 February–23 Series one of The Alternative Comedy Experience broadcast on Comedy
April 2013 Central. Curated by Stewart Lee, it features performances by comedians
like Josie Long, Tony Law, Bridget Christie and Simon Munnery.
(continued)
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
THE ASCENT OF CLOUDY
MOUNTAIN, NEW GUINEA.
BY CAPTAIN CYPRIAN BRIDGE, R.N.
The Rev. James Chalmers—known all along the southern coast of
New Guinea, throughout the original British protectorate in fact, as
‘Ta-ma-té’—will always be held responsible for the first ascent of
Cloudy Mountain. Taking advantage of the presence of Commodore
Erskine’s squadron at South Cape, he instilled into the minds of
some of the officers a desire to get to the summit. With the
persuasive eloquence of which his many friends know him to be a
master, he expatiated on the honourable nature of the enterprise,
dwelling on the fact that no white man had as yet attempted it. It is
not wonderful that he excited considerable enthusiasm; nor is it,
perhaps, wonderful that, as the climate is a moist one and as the
warm tropical season was well advanced, some of the enthusiasm
had greatly decreased when the day for starting arrived. It was
interesting to observe how many pressing engagements happened
to prevent some of the more eager aspirants for alpine honours from
attempting Cloudy Mountain, when the expedition was definitely
determined on. One had arrears of correspondence to make up;
another had promised to join a friend in a shooting excursion; whilst
a third wisely took into consideration the fact of his being no longer
young. It would have been well for at least one of the party that
afterwards made the ascent if he also had remembered that the
middle age is not the best time of life at which to try climbing almost
precipitous elevations through trackless forests in the atmosphere of
a hothouse.
On Friday, the 21st of November, the union-jack had been hoisted,
and the British protectorate over the southern coast of New Guinea
had been proclaimed with imposing ceremonies on Stacey Island,
South Cape. Time, which is usually deficient when naval officers visit
places from which interesting excursions can be made, did not allow
of the start for the summit of the mountain being deferred till the
following day. It was compulsory to get away as soon as possible
after the ceremony. Mr Chalmers, whom no exertion can tire, made
arrangements for collecting a body of native carriers. He advised
each excursionist to take a change of clothes, a blanket, and enough
food for twenty-four hours. By about eleven a.m. there were
assembled at the village of Hanod, at the head of Bertha Lagoon, the
following: Captain C. Bridge; Lieutenants R. N. Ommanney and M.
Thomson; R. Millist, captain’s steward, of H.M.S. Espiègle;
Commander W. H. Henderson; Lieutenant T. C. Fenton; Mr
Glaysher, engineer; Mr T. W. Stirling, midshipman; four blue-jackets,
and one R.M. artilleryman of H.M.S. Nelson; Lieutenant John L.
Marx, commanding H.M.S. Swinger; Sub-lieutenant A. Pearson, of
H.M.S. Dart; and Mr Stuart of Sydney, New South Wales.
The tribes inhabiting the country about South Cape are of the dark
race, and were cannibals, until their recent renunciation of the
practice, under the influence of the missionaries. They are a much
merrier and more talkative people than the non-cannibal light-
coloured race, which dwells farther to the westward. The work of
selecting carriers proceeded with much vociferation; the carriers
themselves, their friends, and all the ladies of the village—in this part
of New Guinea the influence of woman is great—considering it
necessary to address lengthy speeches in a loud tone to the white
strangers. That not one of these understood a sentence of what was
being said to them, by no means discouraged the eloquence of the
villagers. ‘Ta-ma-té’s’ extraordinary faculty of influencing the natives
in a cheery way soon introduced order into what looked very much
like hopeless confusion. With the aid of the teacher Biga, who could
speak both the Motu and the South Cape languages, he chose a
sufficient number of carriers, appointed as guide an elderly native
who professed to have been to the top of the mountain, and set
about distributing the loads to be carried. The wages agreed upon
were a small ‘trade’ knife and three sticks of tobacco, value in all
about eightpence per man. Some biscuit and a little extra tobacco
were given afterwards, to keep up the spirits of the party during the
journey.
Though not much troubled with clothes, our new friends were, at all
events relatively to the western tribes, decently clad. The women
wear a becoming petticoat of leaves and fibre, coming down to the
knee. They often put on several of these garments one above the
other, the effect being much the same as that of a capacious
crinoline. In New Guinea, the women are tattooed from forehead to
ankles, occasionally in very elaborate patterns. The name Papua
given to New Guinea is said to mean ‘woolly-headed,’ and the
appellation has been well bestowed. The men of both races ‘tease’
their hair out into a prodigious mop. So do the girls. Married women
cut theirs short. The bushy wig which many of the natives of this
region seem to be wearing decidedly improves their appearance.
When their hair is cut short, the similarity of their features to those of
African negroes becomes more obvious. They are not tall; but they
have well-shaped limbs, and many of them are sturdy fellows. The
usual weight for a native carrier is twenty-five pounds. But, as the
number of travellers likely to ascend Cloudy Mountain had greatly
fallen off, we found ourselves with more carriers than we could
supply loads for. The result was that some at all events had very light
burdens. One man, for instance, carried an empty tin case for
specimens of plants; another, a few sheets of blotting-paper between
two thin pieces of board provided for the same purpose.
When officers land in the South Sea Islands, nicety of dress is not
much attended to. A helmet or straw-hat, a shirt, a pair of flannel
trousers, and boots or shoes more remarkable for utility than
elegance, are found quite sufficient. In a moist hot climate, the less
clothing the better; and in countries in which there are no roads, not
many paths, and where, as a rule, progress is only possible through
thick forest and over muddy ground, the fewer garments worn, the
fewer there are to be cleaned at the end of an excursion.
For the first half-hour after leaving the village on Bertha Lagoon, the
way ran across a mangrove swamp of soft mud, interspersed with
pools of black-looking water, and studded with the peculiar and
aggravating knobs that the roots of the mangrove bush delight to
form. It was worth while to note the care with which most of the
excursionists began to pick their way; some even evinced a desire
not to wet their boots. To keep the nether garments clean was clearly
in general considered an object worth trying for. But after a few rapid
and involuntary descents from slippery logs, seductively resembling
bridges, placed across the most forbidding sloughs, a determination
to push on straight and discontinue efforts to circumvent puddles,
became universally apparent. When the swamp had been left behind
some distance, our carriers, who belonged to a humorous race,
kindly informed us, through the interpreters—their faces beaming
with delight as the information was imparted—that they could have
taken us by a route which would have avoided it altogether. This
statement was proved to be true on our return, as some of the party
escaped traversing the swamp a second time by taking a path which
led to the westward of it, and others descended in canoes the lower
part of a river that discharges itself into the lagoon. When asked why
they had not let us know of the existence of a more agreeable road,
our native friends made the unanswerable reply, that none of our
party had suggested to them any wish to avoid the mangroves.
For an hour we had now to move along through a well-timbered
country, occasionally passing small cultivated patches, where yams,
bananas, and taro were grown. The path in most places was not
difficult; but it lost itself from time to time in a stream of clear water,
whose frequent rapids showed that we had begun to ascend.
Repeated wadings had at all events the advantage of removing all
traces of our passage across the swamp. The scenery was highly
picturesque, especially at some of the reaches of the little river. The
pebbly banks were crowned with a rich vegetation; the number and
variety of the trees and shrubs—amongst which the wild plantain,
palms of various kinds, and the pandanus were conspicuous—were
at least as great as in most tropical lands. Glimpses of lofty wooded
heights were frequently obtained. A few tuneful birds were heard,
and we saw some azure-hued kingfishers. But, as a rule, particularly
as the lower country was left, the music of the woods was
monopolised by screeching white cockatoos. The scene was greatly
enlivened by the number and beauty of the butterflies which flitted
amongst the bushes. One of our party had provided himself with a
net; and, though occasional bad shots at some peculiarly nimble
lepidoptera were made, his ‘bag’ turned out a very good one. On a
broad stretch of gravel and pebbles by the side of the water, towards
one o’clock, a halt was made for luncheon. The spot was fairly
shady, and the heat, considering our position, was not excessive. A
biscuit or two was handed to the carriers, and—what delighted them
still more—a few small fragments of tobacco. The New Guinea
fashion of smoking is peculiar. The pipe is a bamboo tube about two
feet long and two inches in diameter, with one end closed. Near this
end, a small hole like the mouth-hole of a flute is made, and in it a
piece of leaf, twisted into a pointed cup or ‘horn’ containing a little
tobacco, is inserted. Applying a light to the tobacco, the smoker
sucks vigorously at the open end of the tube; when this is filled with
smoke, he puts his lips to the small hole and takes several ‘draws,’
after which the tobacco has to be replenished and the pipe relighted.
Politeness flourishes throughout the south-western Pacific Isles;
even the naked cannibals of New Britain exhibit to friends that true
courtesy which consists in doing as one would be done by. The New
Guinean who lights the pipe, when he has filled it with smoke,
usually hands it to some one else to have the first whiff. On the
present occasion, the pipe was offered first to the white man, to
whom, so long as he behaves to them becomingly, Pacific Island
natives are almost invariably polite.
The lateness of our start rendered any but a short halt impossible, so
the repast was a hasty one. The increasing steepness showed that
we had begun the ascent in earnest. A path there certainly was, but,
as a rule, it was not easily discerned amid the thick growth of tropical
shrubs. As far as the density of the forest would allow us to examine
the country to any distance, we appeared to be mounting the ridge of
a spur of the main mountain mass. A deep valley lay on either hand,
at the bottom of which we could hear the rumbling of a stream. The
number of cockatoos increased as we got higher, and some were
shot for culinary purposes subsequently. We saw some handsome
pigeons, and at least one small flight of the large beaked bird called
toucan, though probably it differs from the South American bird to
which that name rightly belongs. Ignorance of ornithology made
some of us doubt if it were the hornbill or buceros, one of which we
heard afterwards overhead puffing like a locomotive, on our way
down. The profusion of ferns, palms, orchids, and flowering shrubs
was striking. The ascent was really a climb, as the hands had to be
used nearly as much as the feet. At one or two points, the face of a
steep water-worn rock had to be scaled. Frequent short halts
became absolutely necessary; and the head of our long and
straggling line of white men and carriers usually resumed the work of
ascending as the rear reached the point at which the former had
rested. When the afternoon had well advanced—the only watch in
the company having been broken at a specially stiff bit of climbing,
the exact time could not be told—we had reached a comparatively
open space, which our guide declared to be the summit. The
impossibility of this being so was demonstrated by the appearance of
the true summit, of which a temporary break in the clouds usually
hiding it, now permitted a glimpse. Our guide thereupon asserted
that it was the only summit which he knew; that no native of the
country had ever attempted to mount higher; and that, anyhow, no
path was to be found farther on. These assertions were probably
true. The correctness at least of the last was soon established
beyond the chance of doubt; subsequent progress disclosed the fact
that the path, which for the last hour had been scarcely visible by the
naked eye, ceased altogether.
When the rear of the line came up, these questions were being
debated: Should arrangements be made for camping for the night on
the spot then occupied? or should a further attempt to reach the
summit be made? Lieutenant Fenton and Mr Stirling settled the
matter as far as they were concerned by pushing on with the
determination of crowning the mountain by themselves, if no one
else cared to follow them. ‘Ta-ma-té’ reviewed the situation in a short
and fitting address, which closed with a reminder that not even a
native, it was now proved, had ever got to the top. This was enough
to prevent any flagging of the enthusiasm necessary to carry the
travellers higher. Even the oldest member of the party, who had
already begun to doubt the wisdom of joining in such an enterprise
by one who had years ago qualified as a member of the ‘senior’
United Service Club, unhesitatingly gave his vote for a continuance
of the ascent and for the conquest of the virgin height.
It had been held that the previous part of the journey had afforded
instances of some rather pretty climbing. It was child’s play to what
followed. Path there was none; the vegetation became if possible
denser; and the only practicable line of advance ran along the edge
of a ridge nearly as ‘sharp and perilous’ as the bridge leading to the
Mohammedan Paradise. This ridge was so steep that, thickly clothed
as it was with trees, shrubs, and creepers, it was frequently
impossible to advance without pulling one’s self up by one’s hands.
In selecting something to lay hold of to effect this, great care had to
be exercised. The ‘lawyer’ palm, which sends out trailing shoots
admirably adapted to the purpose of tripping up the unwary, is
studded with thorns in the very part where it is most natural for a
climber requiring its aid to seize it. In the most difficult places, there
flourished an especially exasperating variety of pandanus. This tree
has many uses, and in this instance it seemed to have been
purposely placed just where it might best help the ascending
traveller. The pyramid of stalks or aërial roots, which unite several
feet above the surface of the soil to form the trunk, always looked so
inviting to those in want of a ‘lift,’ that no experience was sufficient to
prevent repeated recourse to its assistance. Unhappily, each stalk of
a diameter convenient for grasping by the hand was studded with
sharp prickles, almost invariably hidden by a coating of deliciously
soft moss. It was not until the weight of the body was thrown on the
hand encircling one of these deceptive stalks, that the situation was
fully realised. In the absence of a path, it was of some advantage to
keep amongst the rearward members of the party. A few persons in
front quickly made a trail, which was not very often lost, particularly
when the leaders had had the forethought to break branches off
adjacent shrubs, so that the fractures served as guideposts to those
following. The great steepness of the sides of the spur on the ridge
of which was the line of advance, rendered it most desirable not to
stray from the path, as serious injury, if not complete destruction,
would in such case have been inevitable. Sometimes a climber
dislodged a stone that went crashing amongst the thick growth with
which the precipitous sides were covered, downwards for hundreds
of feet, till the noise of its fall died away in the distance.
Clouds were collecting about the mountain, and the sun was about
to set, when at length the whole party stood upon the summit. There
was a comparatively level space, perhaps thirty feet square, thickly
overgrown with trees and shrubs. The moist heat on the way up had
been great enough to render every one’s clothes dripping wet, even
had not occasional thick mists drenched our scanty garments. It was
so late, that no time was to be lost in making arrangements for
spending the night on the top of the mountain. Tomahawks were
brought into requisition, and several trees were felled and laid one
on another along two sides of a small square, thus forming a low
wall, under shelter of which a bivouac might be formed. Many
showers had fallen on the higher parts of the mountain during the
day, and so general was the humidity that it was difficult to light a
fire. When this was at length accomplished, a meal was prepared,
and soon despatched. The kindling of a fire incited the native carriers
to do the same on every available spot, amongst others at a point
dead to windward of the bivouac, to the grievous annoyance of the
travellers’ eyes, till a more suitable place was substituted.
With leaves and twigs plentifully strewed under the lee of the felled
logs, the white men had managed to get themselves ‘littered down’
for the night. The small rain which had been falling nearly ever since
the summit had been reached, turned into sharp showers, and
showed symptoms of continuing. The supply of water was found to
be very short, as, trusting to the statements of the natives before it
was ascertained that their knowledge of the country did not extend
beyond the termination of the path, it was thought unnecessary to
carry a large supply to the end of the journey, where, it was
anticipated, it would be found in abundance. The prospect for the
night was not cheering. Those who had brought a change of clothing
now put it on in place of the dripping garments hitherto worn, and
rolling themselves in their blankets, lay down to sleep, or to try to
sleep. Many things conspired to prevent slumber. It was soon
discovered that some of the party had no blanket. Mr Chalmers at
once set himself to rectify this, and did so in characteristic fashion.
He borrowed a knife, and, cutting his own blanket in two, insisted
upon its being accepted by a companion who had none. It is related
of one of the several Saints Martin—on board men-of-war, we cannot
be expected to be very familiar with the hagiology, so it will be well
not to attempt to specify which of them it was—that seeing a beggar
in want of a cloak, he gave him his own. Now, seriously, without in
the least desiring to disparage the charity of the saint, it may be
pointed out that beggars are usually met with in the streets of towns,
and that to give away a cloak therein is at the best not more
meritorious than giving to a companion half of your only blanket at
the beginning of a rainy night on the summit of a distant mountain.
But this was not all. It was decided that the best protection against
rain would be the erection of some sort of tent. ‘Ta-ma-té’ was soon
employed in helping to construct this shelter, and in spite of all
opposition, persisted in contributing the remaining portion of his
blanket to form the roof.
Contenting himself with as much of a companion’s blanket as could
be spared to him, he made himself, as he protested, extremely
comfortable; and that all might be as merry as possible, started a
musical entertainment by favouring the company with Auld
Langsyne. His jollity was contagious. There was a succession of
songs. When these had been concluded with a ‘fore-bitter’ of
formidable length on the death of Lord Nelson by a seaman of
H.M.S. Nelson gifted with a fine voice, the natives were invited to
take up the singing. They complied without much hesitation. They
sang in a low and rather plaintive tone, with a curious deep tremolo
uttered from time to time in unison. At length, as some began to
grow sleepy, Mr Chalmers asked for silence, so that the teacher Biga
might be able to conduct the evening devotions. This he did in an
extempore prayer, attentively followed by the natives, and, if not
understood, at all events reverently listened to, by the white men. To
one at least of the latter, sleep was impossible. Fatigue must be
indeed overwhelming which will enable one to slumber when, in the
midst of the only available sleeping-place, a point of rock is so
situated that it almost forces a passage between the ribs. Luckily,
there were no mosquitoes or other voracious insects. But there was
an unpleasant many-legged black slug four or five inches long which
evinced an unconquerable predilection for crawling over the naked
human body. It was far from pleasant to find this animal just effecting
a passage between the neckband of the shirt and the skin, or trying
to coil itself round the ear of the side which happened to be
uppermost. A careful member of our party, before lying down, had
stretched a line between two trees, and on it had hung his wet
clothes. Looking about him in the night, he discovered that the
clothes had disappeared, and his announcement of this discovery
elicited from a companion the intelligence that the natives were
wearing them. This statement, so to speak, brought down the house.
The natives heartily joined in the hilarious applause with which it was
received. The same reception was extended to occasional
ejaculations from other companions of the bivouac, such as, ‘By
Jove! there’s a native with my shirt on!’ Subsequent reflections
convinced the owners that it was fortunate that the temporary
borrowing of their clothes by their native friends had been looked
upon as part of the fun of the excursion. Had any one been so ill-
conditioned as to maltreat or scold the merry, intelligent carriers, they
would, almost to a certainty, have stolen away in the night, and have
left the white men to get themselves and their things home as best
they could. One native gentleman displayed so much ingenuity in the
mode of wearing one of the more unmentionable garments, which he
somehow or other succeeded in converting into a kind of sleeved
waistcoat, that the appreciative owner made him a present of it. The
new possessor had a proper pride in this acquisition, and wore it in
his village after the descent; indeed, he had the honour of being
introduced to the commodore whilst clad in it.
‘Ta-ma-té,’ who, with universal assent, had established a genial
despotism over the bivouac, issued a decree that every one should
make a joke, and that the joke adjudged the best should be sent to a
newspaper for publication. Either this was trying the loyalty of his
contented subjects too severely, or the labour of incubating jokes
was too great for wearied mountaineers, for, after one or two feeble
endeavours to comply with his edict, a general silence fell upon the
company.
In the morning, after a not absolutely perfect night’s rest, deficiency
of water rendered abstaining from even an attempt at breakfast
compulsory. There was little, therefore, to delay the ceremony of
hoisting the union-jack—providently brought for the purpose by
Lieutenant Fenton—upon the newly crowned summit. A suitable tree
was cut down and lopped; the flag was secured to it; and a hole
having been dug in which to insert it, the flagstaff was reared amidst
a very good imitation of three cheers from the natives, and the real
thing from the white men. The descent then began; and much of it
was effected by a different route from that of the ascent. Orchids,
ferns, and other plants were collected on the way. Sore hands,
barked shins, added to want of sleep and to a long fast, made the
descent seem to some even more fatiguing than the climb of the day
before. The interval before water was reached appeared excessive,
and before a halt could be made for breakfast, interminable. By two
p.m. the travellers were back on board their ships, proud of the
distinction of being the first to ascend a mountain summit in Eastern
New Guinea.
TREASURE TROVE.
A STORY IN FOUR CHAPTERS.—CHAP. IV.
Upon Jasper Rodley’s entrance into the house, Bertha had retired to
her own room, pleading that she was suffering from the excitement,
the fatigue, and the exposure she had undergone; but she could
hear a conversation kept up in the dining-room until a late hour, and
instinctively felt that Rodley had not come again without a reason. To
her surprise, the next morning she found that both her father and his
visitor were already downstairs, Jasper Rodley looking out of the
window and whistling to himself, the captain with evident agitation
marked on his movements and face.
‘Bertha,’ he said, without even giving her the usual morning greeting,
‘Mr Rodley has come here especially to say that from information he
has received, it will be necessary for you at once to decide what
course you intend to adopt. There is a chance, he says, that the
great evil hanging over our heads may be averted, but it depends
upon your answer.’
‘Mr Rodley must give me until this evening to think over the matter. I
am going into Saint Quinians, if possible to see Harry—that is, Mr
Symonds, for even Mr Rodley will admit that plighted troths are not
to be broken in this abrupt manner. I shall be home before dark.’
‘Then I will see you on your road,’ said Rodley, ‘as I am going into
the town.’
‘You need not trouble,’ said Bertha. ‘The road is quite familiar to me,
and I have no fear of being molested.’ Then, without waiting to hear
whether Jasper Rodley objected or not to the arrangement, she left
the house.
In exactly an hour’s time, she walked into the town. At the old gate
she was confronted by rather a pretty girl, who laid a hand gently on
her arm, and said: ‘You are Miss West, I believe?’
Bertha replied in the affirmative.
‘You are in an unhappy and terrible position, and you have very little
time to spare, I think?’ added the girl.
Bertha looked at her wonderingly, for she could not recall ever
having seen her before.
‘I mean,’ explained the girl, who observed that Bertha was surprised
at this acquaintance on the part of a stranger with her affairs—‘I
mean with regard to that man, Jasper Rodley.—Yes, I know all about
it; and I want, not only to be your friend, but to see that evil-doing
meets with its just reward.’
The girl was poorly dressed; but her accent and mode of expression
were those of an educated woman, and, moreover, she had such a
thin, sorrow-lined face, that Bertha felt she could trust her.
‘Let me be with you to-day,’ continued the girl, ‘and you may thank
me for it some day. I have long wanted to see you, and have waited
here for you often. Never mind who I am—that you shall find out
later.’
‘Very well,’ said Bertha, who naturally clung to the friendship of one
of her own sex. ‘I am going to see Mr Symonds—my betrothed.’
‘The gentleman who was obliged to leave Faraday’s Bank, four
years ago; yes, I remember,’ said the girl.
They crossed the market-place together, and were soon at Harry
Symonds’ lodgings. The servant, in reply to Bertha’s inquiries, said
that the young man was so far recovered as to be able to sit up, but
that the doctor had ordered him to keep perfectly quiet and to be free
from all excitement. So Bertha wrote him a note describing all that
had taken place, and begging for an immediate answer. In the
course of twenty minutes, the servant handed her a piece of paper,
on which was scrawled as follows:
My dearest Love—This is written with my left hand, as
my right is yet in a sling. I wish I could say all that I want
to; but as every moment is of value to you, I will simply
keep to business. Take a postchaise home; get the money
out of the cavern, and send it here. John Sargent the
fisherman is to be trusted; let him come back with it in the
postchaise. I will return it to the bank, making up out of my
savings whatever difference there is from the original
amount stolen. Lose no time, my darling, and God bless
you!—Ever your affectionate
Harry.
Bertha and the girl hurried away; and just as they entered the
Dolphin Inn to order the chaise, they espied Jasper Rodley entering
the town watchhouse, the local headquarters of the civil force which
in those days performed, or rather was supposed to perform, the
duties of our modern constabulary.
‘Miss West,’ said the girl, ‘I had better remain in the town for the
present. At what hour to-day is Jasper Rodley coming to your
house?’
‘I said I would be home by dark. He will be there before then, to
receive my final answer.’
‘Very well, then; I will be there about that time,’ continued the girl.
‘Will you not even tell me your name?’ asked Bertha.
‘Yes. My name is Patience Crowell. Till to-night, good-bye. Keep up
your spirits; all will end well.’
In a few minutes the postchaise was ready, and in order to escape
the notice of Jasper Rodley, was driven round to the town gate,
where Bertha jumped in. She stopped at John Sargent’s cottage,
and mentioned her errand.
‘Why,’ said the old fisherman, ‘I’m too glad to do anythin’ for Master
Symonds. He saved my life once at Saint Quinians’ jetty, and I’ve
never had no chance of doin’ suthin’ for him in return like.—Come
along, miss; if it’s to the end of the world, come along!’
As Jasper Rodley might pass by at any moment, Bertha thought it
best to keep the chaise out of sight, whilst she and the fisherman,
provided with a large net-basket, proceeded to the cliffs. In half an
hour’s time the bags of coin were safely stowed away in the
postchaise; John Sargent jumped in, the chaise rattled off; and
Bertha, with a light heart and a heightened colour, returned home.
The captain was stumping up and down the little gravelled space in
his garden, which from the presence there of half-a-dozen old
cannon and a flagstaff, he delighted to call the Battery. When he
beheld Bertha, he welcomed her with a sad smile, and putting her
arm in his, said: ‘Bertha, lass, I’ve been thinking over this business
ever since you went away this morning, and the more I’ve thought
about it, the more I’ve called myself a mean, cowardly, selfish old
fool.’
‘Why, father?’
‘Because, look here. I’ve been telling you to make yourself miserable
for life by marrying a man you despise and dislike, just so that I may
get off the punishment that’s due to me. I’m an old man, and in the
ordinary course of things, I can’t have many years before me. You’re
a girl with all your life before you, and yet I’m wicked enough to tell
you to give up all your long life so that my few years shouldn’t be
disturbed.’
‘But father’—— began Bertha.
‘Let me speak!’ interposed the old man. ‘I’ve been doing a wicked
thing all these four years; but I know what’s right. When this man
asks you to be his wife to-night, you say “No;” mind, you say “No.” If
you don’t, I will; and you won’t marry without my permission.’
‘Dear father, you leave it to me. I do not promise anything except that
by no act of mine shall one hair of your head be touched.—Let us
talk of other things, for Jasper Rodley will be here soon.’
So they walked up and down until the sun began to sink behind the
hills inland and the air grew chilly. They had scarcely got into the
house, when Jasper Rodley appeared. He bowed formally to Bertha,
and offered his hand to the captain, which was declined. ‘Miss West,’
he said, ‘I think I have given you fair time for decision. I have not
been so exacting as circumstances justified.’
Bertha said nothing in reply, but sat in a chair by the window, and
looked out on the sea as if nothing unusual was taking place.
So Jasper Rodley continued: ‘I will speak then at once, and to the
point. Miss West, will you accept me for your husband?’
‘No, I will not,’ replied Bertha, in a low, firm voice.
Mr Rodley was evidently unprepared for this, and looked at her with
open mouth. ‘That is your final answer?’ he asked, after a pause.
‘You are prepared to see your father, whom you love so dearly, taken
from here in custody to be brought up as a common felon?’
‘Yes. That is, Mr Rodley, if you can prove anything against him. Of
what do you accuse him?’
‘I accuse him of having lived during the past four years upon money
which was not his, but which was stolen from Faraday’s Bank in
Saint Quinians, which was taken off in a vessel called the Fancy
Lass, the said vessel being wrecked off this coast.’
‘Very well,’ continued Bertha. ‘What is your proof that he knows
anything about this money?’
‘One moment before I answer that. You refuse to marry me if I can
bring no proof. You will marry me if I do?’
‘Show me the proof first,’ answered Bertha.
‘You must follow me, then.’
‘Not alone.—Father, you must come with me.’
So the trio proceeded out into the dusk, and, conducted by Jasper
Rodley, followed the path leading to the cliffs. Bertha observed that
they were followed at a little distance by a man closely enveloped in
a long coat, and as they ascended the ledge of rock communicating
with the shore, noticed two other figures—those of a man and a
woman—watching them.
‘It’s a very nice little hiding-place,’ remarked Rodley, when they
arrived at the bushes—‘a very nice little hiding-place, and it seems
almost a pity to make it public property; but a proof is demanded,
and sentimental feelings must give way.’ He smiled as he said this,
and kicked the bush aside with his feet, thus uncovering the cavern
entrance. They entered the hole, which was now quite dark; but
Rodley had come prepared, and struck a light. He then rolled away
the stone, and without looking himself, gave Bertha the light and
bade her satisfy her doubts.
‘There is nothing here,’ she said.
‘Nothing!’ exclaimed Rodley, taking the light from her hand and
examining the cavity. ‘Why!—Gracious powers! no more there is!
There has been robbery! Some one has been here and has sacked
the bank!’ His face was positively ghastly in the weird light as he said
this, and under his breath he continued a fire of horrible execrations.
‘Well, Mr Rodley,’ said Bertha, smiling, ‘and the proof?’
Rodley did not answer, but moved as if to leave the cavern, when a
woman’s figure confronted him at the entrance, and a ringing voice
said: ‘Proof! No! He has no proof!’
Rodley staggered back with a cry of rage and surprise. ‘Patience!
Why—how have you got here? I left you at Yarmouth!—Ha! I see it
all now!’
‘Yes,’ cried the girl, ‘of course you do. I gave you fair warning, when I
found out that you were beginning to forsake me for another; but not
until after I had begged and entreated you, with tears in my eyes, to
remember the solemn protestations of love you had made me, and
the solemn troth which we had plighted together.’
‘Let me go!’ roared Rodley; ‘you’re mad!’
‘No, no—not so fast!’ cried the girl. She made a signal to some one
without, and a man entered.
‘Jasper Rodley,’ continued Patience, ‘this constable has a warrant for
your apprehension on the charge of having been concerned in the
bank robbery four years ago.—Yes, you may look fiercely at me. I
swore that the secret in my keeping should never be divulged. I
loved you so much, that I was ready even to marry a thief. But as
you have broken your faith with me, I consider myself free of all
obligations.—Captain West, it was this man who planned the
robbery, who had the coin conveyed to his boat, the Fancy Lass, and
who alone was saved from the wreck.’
Rodley made a desperate rush for the cave entrance; but the
constable held him fast, and took him off.
‘There, Miss West!’ cried the girl; ‘I have done my duty, and I have
satisfied my revenge. My mission is accomplished. Good-bye, and
all happiness be with you.’ And before Bertha could stop her, she
had disappeared.
Jasper Rodley was convicted on the charge of robbery, and received
a heavy sentence, which he did not live to fulfil. Harry Symonds paid
in to the bank the entire sum stolen, the authorities of which offered
him immediately the position of manager, which he declined. He and
Bertha were married shortly afterwards; but they could not induce
the old captain to move to the house they had taken, for he could not
get over the shame of the exposure, and declared that he was only
fit for the hermit life he had chosen; but no one outside the little circle
ever knew that he had been indirectly concerned in the robbery; and
neither Harry nor Bertha alluded to it after.
Of Patience Crowell, who had so opportunely appeared on the
scene, nothing was ever known.
THE MONTH:
SCIENCE AND ARTS.
Dr Gustav Jaeger, whose sanitary clothing reform made some little

stir a year or two back, seeks to apply the principle involved in his
theory to furniture. This theory teaches that cotton, linen, and other
stuffs of vegetable origin retain a power of absorbing those noxious
animal exhalations which as plants they digest. Dead fibre, or wood,
will, he maintains, act in the same manner, and will throw off the
deleterious matter, to the prejudice of living beings, whenever there
is a change of temperature. This, he holds, is the reason why a room
which has been shut up for some days has an unpleasant odour
attaching to it, and which is very apparent in German government
offices, which are fitted with innumerable shelves and pigeon-holes
made of plain unpainted wood. For sanitary reasons, therefore, the
back and unseen parts of furniture should be varnished, painted, or
treated with some kind of composition, to fill the pores of the wood;
hence it is that so-called sanitary furniture has in Germany become
an article of commerce, and is likely to find its way to this and other
countries.
Such large quantities of ice are now made by various artificial
processes, that ice is no longer a luxury which can only be procured
by the rich, but is an article of commerce which can be purchased at
a very low price in all large towns in the kingdom. It is not generally
known that the artificial product is far purer than natural ice, but
such, according to M. Bischoff of Berlin, who has made a scientific
analysis of specimens, is the case.
All honest persons rejoice greatly when a notorious evil-doer is run
to earth, and much the same satisfaction is experienced when
science points with unerring finger to the source of disease, for then
the first step has been taken in its eradication. Many, therefore, will
rejoice when they read the recently issued Report of Mr W. H.
Power, the Inspector of the Local Government Board, concerning an
epidemic of scarlatina which occurred in London last year. The story
is most interesting, but too long to quote in full. Suffice it to say that
the disease in question has, after the most painstaking inquiries,
been traced to the milk given by certain cows which were affected
with a skin disease showing itself in the region of the teats and
udders. We know to our cost that certain diseases can be transferred
from the lower animals to man. ‘Woolsorters’ disease’ is traced to the
same germ which produces splenic fever in cattle and sheep, a
malady which has been so ably dealt with by M. Pasteur. The terrible
glanders in horses is transferable to man. Jenner was led to the
splendid discovery of vaccination from observing the effects of
cowpox on milkmaids; and now we have scarlatina traced directly to
the cowhouse. Dr Klein, the famous pathologist, has been engaged
to report upon this new revelation concerning milk, and we may
reasonably hope that his researches will bear fruitful results.
A new method of etching on glass has been devised. The ink is of a
waxy composition, and requires to be heated to render it fluid. It is
applied to the glass with a special form of pen, which can be kept in
a hot condition by a gas or electrical attachment. When the drawing
is complete, the plate is etched by fluoric acid, which of course only
attacks and dissolves those portions not covered by the protective
ink. The result is a drawing in raised lines, which can be made to
furnish an electrotype, or can, if required, be used direct as a block
to print from.
Springs in mid-ocean are not unknown, and, if we remember rightly,
there is more than one of the kind at which ships have endeavoured
to renew their stores of fresh water. But an ocean oil-well is certainly
a rarity. The captain of a British schooner reports that in March last,
while bound for New Orleans, his vessel passed over a submarine
spring of petroleum, which bubbled up all round the ship, and
extended over the surface of the sea for some hundred yards. It
seems to be a moot-point whether this phenomenon is a mere freak
of nature, or whether it is caused by the sunken cargo of some ill-
fated oil-ship. In the latter case, the gradual leakage of casks would
account for the strange appearance.

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Alternative Comedy Now and Then:

Critical Perspectives Oliver Double

ISSN 2731-4332 ISSN 2731-4340 (electronic)

Cover illustration: Earth Exchange Cabaret Poster, courtesy of Kim Wells

Part I Alternative Comedy Venues 35

4 ‘A Local Show for Local People’: Alternative Cabaret at

Part II Performers’ Perspectives 111

Part III Interpreting Alternative Comedy 163

Part IV Alternative Comedy Today 219

11 ‘Less Dick Jokes’: Women-Only Comedy Line-Ups,

Jonjo Brady is a PhD candidate at Ulster University and University of

Co, and from 1986 ran his company fishproductions dedicated to

Brian Mulligan joined Skint Video in 1983 on a zero hours contract to

Fig. 3.1 Meccano Club poster 1985, designed by Lucinda Denning 53

Table 5.1 The Fun Committee 90

Alternative Comedy Now and Then:

Oliver Double and Sharon Lockyer

Unthinkably, in the summer of 2019 alternative comedy turned 40. That

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 1

incongruous about seeing something as radical as alternative comedy hit a

only alternative offered by much alternative comedy is that it isn’t funny’

‘We were mixing everything up’

However, those who experienced altcom at the time certainly perceived

Moreover, Henry was aware of the restrictions placed on him as a black

very phrase ‘alternative comedy’ misleadingly suggests a uniformity of

‘Something other than straight stand-up’

eventually became known as alternative comedy’ (2021, p. 98). Neither

One main difference between an alternative comedy room and a traditional

reaction against the constraints of the stand-up form. … If you go around

In his highly entertaining history of Cluub Z, You Are Nothing, Robert

GawkaGoGo—as well as Ince himself, reading from and analysing pas-

Roberts explains what motivated them to set up ACMS:

The label alternative comedy—like the lack of a drink minimum in

over the years evolved more to being a comedy collective, where … we

In tracing this history, what becomes clear is that whereas alternative

Outline of the Book

and political philosophy which included supporting female performers

Newcastle-upon-Tyne’s first alternative cabaret club in an upstairs room of

Cavendish, Dominic. 2006. Belly Laughs for Bookworms. Daily Telegraph,

Alternative Comedy Timeline

1965 CAST (Cartoon Archetypical Slogan Theatre) started by Roland and

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 23

Dr Gustav Jaeger, whose sanitary clothing reform made some little

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Part I Alternative Comedy Venues 35

4 ‘A Local Show for Local People’: Alternative Cabaret at

Part II Performers’ Perspectives 111

Part III Interpreting Alternative Comedy 163

Part IV Alternative Comedy Today 219

11 ‘Less Dick Jokes’: Women-Only Comedy Line-Ups,

Fig. 3.1 Meccano Club poster 1985, designed by Lucinda Denning 53

Table 5.1 The Fun Committee 90