Andy Medhurst

Comedy is crucial to how the English see themselves. This book considers that proposition through a series of case studies of popular English comedies and comedians in the twentieth century, ranging from the Carry On films to the work of Mike Leigh and contemporary sitcoms such as The Royle Family, and from George Formby to Alan Bennett and Roy 'Chubby' Brown. Relating comic traditions to questions of class, gender, sexuality and geography, A National Joke looks at how comedy is a cultural thermometer, taking the temperature of its times. It asks why vulgarity has always delighted English audiences, why camp is such a strong thread in English humour, why class influences what we laugh at and why comedy has been so neglected in most theoretical writing about cultural identity. Part history and part polemic, it argues that the English urgently need to reflect on who they are, who they have been and who they might become, and insists that comedy offers a particularly illuminating location for undertaking those reflections.

Popular Comedy and English Cultural Identities

A National Joke

Crammed full of contemporary comedy examples and house-hold names, from the music hall tradition to contemporary sitcoms, Andy Medhurst considers how English comedy reflects national concerns with class, race, gender and sexuality and traces the recurrence of themes and structures. Examining popular English comedies and comedians in the twentieth century, ranging from the Carry On films to the work of Mike Leigh and contemporary sitcoms such as "The Royle Family", and from George Formby to Alan Bennett and Roy 'Chubby' Brown, the book argues that comedy plays a pivotal role in the construction of cultural identity. Medhurst presents case studies of comic traditions and representations, and examines key figures in English comic history, including Mike Leigh, Alan Bennett and Victoria Wood. Part history and part polemic, "A National Joke" is a book that will not only entertain, it will enlighten and inform any student, scholar, or general reader of our national comedy

Sally Munt

Sally R Munt, Professor

A major new publication in lesbian and gay studies, this accessible textbook comprises newly-commissioned essays from a rich cross-section of international scholars. The book's twenty-five chapters are organized according to the key debates in the field and are envisaged both as introductory overviews and critical reflections of each field. The chapters published here will raise debates concerning how lesbian and gay studies has contributed to and changed the identity of traditional disciplines, and shaped new areas of study such as the body, performativity and sexual politics. The contributors are experts in their field, and their essays in this essential new textbook comprise incisive and critical accounts that both summarize existing debates and point the way forward to future developments. This is a classroom text which makes ideal seminar material, and contains extensive references for further reading. Directly relevant to, and intersecting with, contemporary debates in sexuality, gender and culture, this book is highly accessible and impressively comprehensive. Sally Munt and Andy Medhurst have been teaching lesbian and gay studies for over a decade. They bring to this volume an extraordinary wealth of knowledge of their subject, and a particular capacity for producing readable and authoritative text.

Andy Medhurst

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