This April Fools’ Day Birmingham proclaims itself… SERIOUS ABOUT COMEDY.

Under Artistic Director Sean Foley, Birmingham Rep is set to become the only major theatre in the UK that takes Comedy seriously. The University of Birmingham and Birmingham Rep will be joined by Ken Cheng, Sophie Duker, Jo Enright, Athena Kugblenu, Shazia Mirza, Felicity Montagu, Josh Pugh and many others to launch this major new collaboration.

They say it’s good to laugh… but is it?
They say some comedians should be cancelled… should they?
They say satire is dead, but is it saying ‘satire is dead’ that is actually dead?
They say you can’t learn comedy… but can you grow funny bones?
And they say Birmingham’s a joke… but who’s laughing?

Co-directed by Sean Foley and Professor Ewan Fernie, Culture Lead for the College of Arts and Law and Director of the Everything to Everybody Project, this one-day event kicks off an ongoing research conversation about comedy. What does it mean, and how does it work – in plays, stand up, films, music, novels, and popular culture of all types.

The day will feature discussions with Athena Kugblenu, Beth Granville, Dean Burnett, Dr Annie Mahtani, Dr Asha Rogers, Dr Rose Whyman, Felicity Montagu, Helen Monks, Jo Enright, Jon Holmes, Ken Cheng, Olivia Nixon, Professor Graham Saunders, Professor Michael Dobson, Shazia Mirza, Sophie Duker, and Tim Fitz Higham with others to be announced.

SERIOUS ABOUT COMEDY starts a red-nosed enquiry into the most democratic of art forms. A new and ongoing forum where the comedy industry dances provocatively with academia and the public, in a shared pursuit of learning and laughs. But not necessarily in that order…