The Comedy Bureau

Welcome back to The Comedy Bureau! Somehow, we find ourselves at the end of our second series! We really hope you've enjoyed what we've been putting out and if you have - please find a moment to rate/review the podcast or share it on social media! Not only is it the last episode of series 2, but it's also our first episode in our brand new offices and to celebrate we have some guests... the two of...

Welcome back to The Comedy Bureau - the comedy dissection podcast where comedian Laura Lexx and academic Oliver Double take comedy arguably too seriously. This week on the podcast they are discussing comedy specials… first having a look at the different streaming platforms and options for releasing a comedy show once the live tour is completed. Obviously the larger platforms like Netflix and Prime...

Finally! The Bureau throws open its doors again and you can access the fantastic second part of our Tichborne Claimant story... this week focusing on the sensational act Little Tich who took his name from the Tichborne Claimant story and went on to become one of the biggest superstars of his age. Comedy historian and academic Oliver Double takes us on a fascinating journey through the life of Harr...

Welcome to The Comedy Bureau... where this week we are doing something slightly different! This is the first in a two part series where we are looking at how the most sensational legal story of the 1800s became one of the biggest comedy acts of the Music Hall era. In this first part of the story, Laura Lexx tells Oliver Double the truly spectacular story of the Tichborne Claimant. The heir to a we...

This week on The Comedy Bureau Laura and Olly turn their attention to the biggest thing in the British comedy calendar... The Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Since the early 1980s the festival has been THE go to location for comedians new and established. Whether it's a month of practise, a month of polishing new ideas or a month to show off your latest gem it is never ignored by the comedy scene. We f...

Welcome back to The Comedy Bureau - your one stop pod for all things deep dive comedy nerdish! Every week academic Oliver Double and comedian Laura Lexx choose a different aspect of comedy to pull apart, dissect, study and present to you. This week Oliver has chosen the subject and he has picked the art of MCing. If you've been to see a live comedy show then you will have seen the host comedian, t...

Welcome to the latest episode of The Comedy Bureau. The Comedy Bureau is a passion project from comedian Laura Lexx and academic Oliver Double. The pair are OBSESSED with comedy and so have joined forces to make a show where comedy is taken incredibly seriously. Right from the inception of the show, they had an idea that some episodes could be about singular people and the impact they have had on...

Hello and welcome back to The Comedy Bureau! On the podcast this week academic Oliver Double and stand-up comedian Laura Lexx have a look back at the development of comedy on television. We predominantly look at the UK comedy scene, with a brief hop across the pond to see what's going on in the United States of America. Oliver reveals to Laura that the first broadcasted Variety shows was in the 19...

Welcome back to the second episode of series two from The Comedy Bureau! In this episode we step slightly outside of our own expertise and explore some science of humour in great apes. Neither comedy academic Oliver Double, nor comedian Laura Lexx are experts in animal behaviour or apes so they are calling on as much research as they can find in this episode to explore what evidence has been prese...

Welcome back to The Comedy Bureau! The office is now open for a fantastic second series with ten upcoming episodes all about different fascinating niche aspects of comedy. In this episode we are discussing jesters and myth busting some of the assumptions you might have about the role of jesters in medieval courts in England. In a Comedy Bureau first, Laura takes the lead on the research and tells...

In this very special between series Working From Home episode, we welcome another guest to The Comedy Bureau. Wayne is based in LA, and is basically the Comedy Bureau’s American cousin, we think. We’re so glad to have him on the show. He started performing comedy in New York, in the 1980s before moving to LA to continue performing comedy and from there he’s gone on to do almost everything it’s pos...

Merry Christmas from everyone at The Comedy Bureau! To celebrate the season of rest and love we are bringing you a very special episode recorded away from the famous offices of The Comedy Bureau. We went on a wonderful nerdy day out to The University of Kent, specifically to The Special Collections, to look at their incredible archives. As it is Christmas, we thought what better subject than Panto...

The offices of The Comedy Bureau are currently closed, with strict instructions from the caretaker not to disturb a single leaf on the peace lily until we begin series 2. However, we have had so much feedback from all of you since you listened to series 1 that we felt we really ought to address some of your concerns, enquiries and suggestions. We begin by delving into the mailbag and looking at a...

If you’re a fan of standup comedy then you will be absolutely familiar with the stereotypical depiction of stand up happening in the basement of a club in front of a bare brick wall. But why are you so familiar with it? Why is that the signature style for stand up comedy? In the final episode of this series, comedian Laura Lexx and academic Oliver Double discuss the specific circumstances that led...

What an exceptional episode we have for you today… in 2023 Laura Lexx appeared on Celebrity Mastermind with her specialist subject being The History of Alternative Comedy. One of the most helpful books she read was Alternative Comedy: 1979 and the Reinvention of British Stand-Up by none other than Dr Oliver Double. Cut to 2025 and she’s just a girl sitting before a lecturer begging him to tell her...

Stand-up comedian Laura Lexx brings this case file to the table to address one of the top questions she’s presented with when telling strangers what she does for a living… “Oh but you can’t say anything these days…” Or can you? Academic Oliver Double sits down with Laura to discuss a history of censorship in stage comedy in the UK and USA. From the early years of front cloth comics and monologists...

Finishing up our mini-series in Comic Theory, this week Laura and Olly turn their attention to Superiority Theory. This is the idea that people laugh because the stimulus made them feel better than or good in some way. They enter the chat with a brief discussion on status, particularly in double acts between a higher status straight man and a lower status funny guy. Then we move on to the theorist...

This week, The Comedy Bureau team continue their mini series looking at popular comic theories. Last week they explored Incongruity, and this week they move on to Relief Theory (sometimes called Release Theory). The offices have an oniony scent this week due to some delicious sandwiches (shout out to Lavash in Brighton) but that doesn’t stop Oliver Double and Laura Lexx getting nerdy. They begin w...

Welcome back to the offices of The Comedy Bureau, staffed by comedian Laura Lexx and tame historian and comic lecturer Olly Double! This week Laura and Olly decide to knuckle down and really focus on something that keeps rearing its head during their discussions of other aspects of comedy… comic theory. Why are things funny? What is funny? What is humour EXACTLY? Now, it’s sort of another one of t...

Welcome back to the cosy offices of The Comedy Bureau. Staffed by comedian Laura Lexx and academic Olly Double, it’s the go to place for all the comedy discussions and analysis you could ever want. This week, in their most provocatively titled episode to date Laura and Olly explore the rage-inducing issue of women in comedy. As a stand up comedian, Laura is often forced to deal with people who, fo...

In the very first episode of The Comedy Bureau, stand-up comedian, author and podcaster Laura Lexx poses comedy academic Olly Double an impossible question. It sounds simple when you ask it... who was the first stand up comedian? But, as Olly passionately and carefully explains – there's no way to answer because stand-up comedy didn't leap out of the ether fully formed as an entertainment format....

Welcome back to the office of The Comedy Bureau, here you will find Reader in Popular Performance and Comic History Olly Double, alongside comedian and author Laura Lexx. They are the employees at The Comedy Bureau – a department in The University of Niche Interests where the analysis of all things comedy takes place in meticulous detail. In this episode Olly and Laura are focusing on a simple que...

Welcome back to The Comedy Bureau! In the third episode, Laura and Olly open the doors of the office just in time for Laura to pose Olly another impossible question… what is a joke?! Laura and Olly first met at The University of Kent where Laura studied stand up comedy under Olly’s tutelage. Now, 20 years later they are reunited to examine the gory details of the world of comedy. Even when there m...

The Comedy Bureau launches Thursday 25th September at 7pm (UK time) with its first three case files. Academic Oliver Double and comedian Laura Lexx begin their investigations with an impossible question… Who was the first stand up comedian? From there they move out into even murkier waters… what is a joke and why do humans laugh? The Comedy Bureau is a warm, insightful look into all facets of come...