Totally unique, utterly irreverent but universally enjoyed, the UK’s film and television comedies are among its most impactful exports and greatest cultural triumphs. What is it about the style and inventiveness of comedy in the UK that has made it so successful and influential? In what ways has it altered the landscape of what we can make fun of and what is funny?

From Charlie Chaplin to Monty Python, Mr Bean and Ali G; from Notting Hill and Shaun of the Dead to The Office, Fleabag and Derry Girls, comedy on the screen in the UK has imaginatively and fearlessly poked fun at social norms, class, gender, education, the uptight and the unjust. With a healthy sense of the absurd, it has taken on Prime Ministers, revered historical figures, royalty, romance, the petty and the prideful. Fuelled by satire and self-deprecation, it has crossed oceans and generations, survived World Wars, political unrest, and societal upheaval. 

The course will involve readings and regular viewings of a rich range of UK comedy, fostering debate on what cultural, historical, and social factors have contributed to the UK comedic sensibility and tracing how UK comedy exploded across the globe. We will ask what makes people laugh, and probe the nature of humour itself: the role it plays in society, media, and government; and what makes it so essential to the human experience.

The overnight class trip to London will include a visit to the London Film Museum in Covent Garden, and a walking tour of some fascinating film comedy locations.

Professor: Douglas Kass, Associate Professor of Cinema and TV Arts, Elon University, NC. Email dkass@elon.edu