Dr Sophie Quirk, Senior Lecturer in Drama and Theatre in the School of Arts, has featured on Morning Edition, broadcast on National Public Radio in America, yesterday 20 February 2019.
Morning Edition is the most popular news radio programme in the United States.
Sophie was interviewed for an item called ‘The Other Side of Anger’, which explored how comedy can be a cathartic way of expressing anger. The piece particularly focused on comedian Mo Amer, who has used comedy to explore his experiences as a Kuwaiti-Palestinian man in modern-day America. The topic coincides with Sophie’s research interest in the social and political impact of contemporary stand-up comedy performance.
‘There are some comedians who I actively want to see when something happens that makes me angry, say, politically,’ explained Sophie, ‘because they have had the same experience of current events, and they are going to talk about them. And the people around me are going to be expressing through their laughter and their groans a real empathy with what I’m feeling.’
The broadcast can be heard online here, with Sophie featuring 4’30” into the programme: www.npr.org/2019/02/20/689926199/you-get-paid-for-doing-therapy-stand-up-comedians-on-anger?t=1550657928745