Dr Olly Double, Reader in Drama in the School of Arts, was interviewed on BBC Radio Kent’s The Wake Up Call this morning, Friday 20 March 2020.
In the interview, Olly discusses how comedy can be used to alleviate worries during the current Coronavirus crisis. ‘I think joking gives you a bit of distance’, he explains, ‘when you laugh about something for a second, you can deny the awfulness of it. Also, it’s a way of suggesting solutions to awful problems.’
Olly also discusses how the comedy scene has been impacted by social distancing, and how the industry has responded. ‘The difficult thing at the moment for comedians is that they can’t go out and do their work. You can’t perform stand up when people can’t meet together in public meetings. What’s interesting is how they’re getting around that. For example, Robin Ince is organising the Stay at Home Festival, where you go online.’
Olly then explains about the creative solutions being used by Kent students for their performances on the module Stand Up Comedy.
The section can be heard at 1 hour 56 minutes into the programme here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p084pj58