Lawrence Clark Returns to Edinburgh

Underbelly (The Wee Coo), Edinburgh – 3^rd-28^thAugust (not 16^th) @ 6.40pm
Tickets from 0844 545 8252 or the Underbelly website.

What links Stephen Hawking, cardboard tube fights, Shane MacGowan, private health insurance, George Washington, Mussolini, a religious cult, the Queen, global Armageddon and the NHS?  Find out as highly acclaimed comedian Laurence Clark embarks on a one-man mission to help Obama sell the benefits of free healthcare to the American people.

“Intelligent and challenging… always a thought-provoking point behind the laughter.” **** Chortle

Following his critically acclaimed 2008 Edinburgh Fringe show which received an impressive total of eight 4 star reviews, Laurence Clark has taken a couple of years off from the Edinburgh Fringe to focus on his writing and creative development. He now gives talks and performances all over the world – including the US where he found inspiration for his show – and has a dedicated BBC1 documentary secured for Autumn / Spring broadcast. If you’re lucky you may see the crew following him round Edinburgh during the Fringe.

As an actor, presenter, commentator and comedian on BBC, ITV and C4, Laurence appears in documentaries, sitcoms, news shows and features and has also topped Shortlist magazine’s Britain’s Ten Funniest New Comedians. He is now returning to the Edinburgh Fringe to perform his brand new live show Health Hazard!

“Close to the bone and very funny… makes Chris Morris look lightweight.” **** The Scotsman

Inspired by his trips to the US, and the furore surrounding American health reforms, Laurence returned with camera-in-hand to find out for himself exactly how the American public view state-funded healthcare. Surely tales of Americans actually believing the NHS operates specialist death panels who decide whether you live or die are just propaganda and sensationalist press reporting … aren’t they? With personal tales, political exposés and an educational journey punctuated with bizarre incidents and amazing characters, Laurence Clark’s Health Hazard! is a show not to be missed.

“Any vaguely sentient being ought to leave this stupendously funny and thought-provoking show with their sides split and their minds buzzing. Laurence Clark has a wit drier than the Navajo desert, a control of timing that would put Seiko to shame and scores upon scores of fizzingly funny one-liners.” The Stage

Laurence has written 5 highly acclaimed solo shows, is a regular writer for BBC Ouch! and performs and writes sketches for comedy group Abnormally Funny People.  Across all his shows Laurence has had 18 x 4-star reviews and 3 x 5-star reviews.

“Remarkably funny… a damn fine comedian” **** Fest
“intelligent and incredibly mischievous” **** Metro
“nothing short of an excellent comedian” **** Three Weeks

Also visit Lawrence’s website at: www.laurenceclark.co.uk 

Development funded by Arts Council England, DaDafest ’10, Liverpool Decade of Health and Well-Being and North West Training and Development Team

Disability, Humour and Comedy ~ a Special Issue of the Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies: Call for Papers

In recent years disability’s relationship with humour and comedy has begun to be theorised.  A special issue of the Journal of Literary & Cultural Disability Studies seeks to provide a platform for these debates.

Guest edited by Dr. Tom Coogan (University of Leicester) and Dr. Rebecca Mallett (Sheffield Hallam University) the Call for Papers is as follows:

According to Morreall (2009), the Incongruity Theory “is today the most widely accepted theory of humour.” This theory holds that what makes a situation humorous is “that there is something odd, abnormal or out of place, which we enjoy in some way.” Add to this Mitchell and Snyder’s (2000) concept of narrative prosthesis, which identifies disability (and with it oddness, abnormality and “out of placeness”) as the crutch upon which narratives lean for their representational power, and a more fundamental relationship between disability and humour is suggested. As Moran (2003) has observed, humour is a term with a multitude of meanings. Among other things, she observes, it is a “cognitive style”; a term for a stimulus (e.g. a joke) or the response (e.g. laughter); a term for complex interactions between individuals; a “personality trait”; and an inherent characteristic.

Whatever the meaning, humour remains a multi-faceted thing. It can include as well as it excludes. It can both ease and exacerbate. What is clear is that humour creates many more questions than it answers. Who is allowed to make jokes about disability? If we are offended, should we just “get a sense of humour”? Is there a hierarchy of impairments, with some impairments being “fair game” and others “off limits”? Is there such a thing as “disability” humour? Does humour run the risk of attacking the seriousness, and thus the legitimacy, of disability rights? Or does it have a part to play in the struggle for such rights? How is disability playing out in the current vogues for satirical comedy and the comedy of embarrassment (e.g. “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and “The Office”)?

This special issue of JLCDS will explore the interplay between humour, impairment and disability across all forms of culture and the media. Submissions might consider representations of disability in particular texts or specific forms. Alternatively, they might examine disability theory in relation to humour theory. Submissions on all topics related to disability, humour and comedy are very welcome. Considerations of the impact of “political correctness” – the policing of what can and cannot be made funny – as well as the impact of “critical correctness” (Mallett, 2007) – the policing of what can and cannot be said about humorous/comedic representations of disability -are encouraged. We urge submissions to think the unthinkable and address the difficult questions.

Proposals (400 word abstract and a short bio) should be emailed to the guest editors Tom Coogan (University of Leicester): tac7@le.ac.uk or Rebecca Mallett (Sheffield Hallam University): r.mallett@shu.a.uk by March 1^st, 2011.  Final submissions will be due by October 2011.

Recommended Reads for September

So far, September has been a good month for publications from DRF members. Rebecca Mallett‘s long-awaited piece on disability in British comedy (entitled ‘Claiming Comedic Immunity: Or, What Do You Get When You Cross Contemporary British Comedy with Disability?’) is now out in Review of Disability Studies and Anne McGuire‘s ‘Disability, non-disability and the politics of mourning: Rethinking the ‘we’‘ has just been published by Disability Studies Quarterly.  That particular issue of DSQ is jam-packed with Anne’s University of Toronto colleagues, including another DRF member. Tanya Titchkosky‘s ‘The Not-Yet-Time of Disability in the Bureaucratization of University Life’ will be well worth a read for anyone who has struggled with the joys(!) of ‘disability’ within a university context.

• Review of Disability Studies: http://www.rds.hawaii.edu/downloads/
• Disability Studies Quarterly: http://www.dsq-sds.org/index