Make Me Laugh: Creativity in the British television comedy industry

Mills, Brett (2016) Make Me Laugh: Creativity in the British television comedy industry. Humor, 29 (2). 157–174. ISSN 1613-3722

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Abstract

The three-year (2012–2015) AHRC-funded research project Make Me Laugh: Creativity in the British Television Comedy Industry worked with writers, producers, directors and other industry personnel to map the productions they work on and follow their labor as they move from one job to another and strive to maintain a career. This article draws on interview material from this project to investigate the ways in which comedy workers negotiate the maintenance of their creativity within economic, cultural and industrial contexts such as policy, funding, and the whims of broadcasters and production companies. It argues that while such contexts are evident for all cultural production, there are specifics of the comedy sector because of humor’s relationships with the social role of broadcasting. It therefore highlights the specificity of comic creative labor, contributing to ongoing Humor Studies debates focused on the particularities of comedy as a category.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	creativity,television,comedy industry,bbc,creative industries,creative labour
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > School of Art, Media and American Studies
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Research Groups > Film, Television and Media
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	05 May 2016 12:00
Last Modified:	21 Jul 2023 09:39
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/58584
DOI:	10.1515/humor-2015-0051

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