This is an extract from a much longer and very interesting article by Julian Hall on the state of comedy in Britain. You can read the full article on The Independent's websitehere.

The thrill of making others laugh has prompted increasing numbers of new comics to set up their own club nights, guaranteeing them stage time and the chance to get other new comics on the bill, including some better-known acts if the organisers have the contacts.

Both Edinburgh and the national circuit are still dominated by stand-up, but lately there has been something of a resurgence in both character comedy and sketch comedy, and in club nights to house them. In Edinburgh, the success of the "alcoholic children's entertainer" Jeremy Lion, the alter ego of Justin Edwards, is a great example of retro comedy chic (think Hi-De-Hi! but funnier) and a fine exponent of musical comedy to boot. So, too, is the Eighties musical parodist Gary Le Strange.

A quirky take on club events is a new night called Club Black Sheep, hosted by the duo Ciaran Murtagh and Andrew Jones, who have created a number of delightfully silly comedy plays between them. Among the acts for their inaugural show was Alex Horne, whose comedy mirrors the research-based antics of Dave Gorman. Horne has done a show devoted entirely to body language and a "choose your own adventure"-style romp based on Latin. He shared the bill with a balloon-modeller and a poet trombonist; it's the kind of mix the hosts rightly describe as "unexpected".

"We're trying to bring acts together that wouldn't normally share a bill," Murtagh explains. "It's a contemporary twist on an old idea that harks back to the days of music hall and variety. The strange thing is that, somewhere along the line, what was once populist and mainstream has become underground and cult-ish. Performers of whatever discipline can learn a lot from each other, but comedians have their own clubs, cabaret artistes have theirs and singers have theirs. We want to break down barriers."

So it's a diverse universe, this comedy malarkey. Like Big Bang theory, it looks as if things are only going to carry on expanding. They only do that when there's a space to fill, and clearly the range of tastes to be catered for is as wide as ever. That's a trend mirrored in the music industry, where you can't keep a "mania" about one band or artist going for longer than five minutes, and in cinema, where there are so many ways to make a successful film that don't involve adhering to a classic Hollywood format.

Julian Hall
The Independent17.11.06