Is climate change a laughing matter?

Recently there has been an increase in scientists, educators, and activists moving into comedy to tell the climate story. Could using humour as an educational method encourage a greater response to the climate crisis? The present research addresses this question by exploring the impact that an environmental-based comedy show had on various learningrelated and emotional outcomes. It was hypothesised first that humour has a positive influence on these outcomes, second, that there is a relationship between fear, hope, and responding to climate change, and third, that age is a significant factor in predicting such variables. Participants watched a recording of a live environmental stand-up comedy show and completed a questionnaire about their experience—all during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. The analyses indicated that even in these unprecedented circumstances, the environmental comedy show provided various learning-related outcomes and emotional outcomes. Further, the results suggested that age somewhat predicts variables related to climate change.

Humour and mental health: a case study of Arthur Asa Berger

Purpose>This paper aims to elicit insight on how humour may support mental health from Arthur Asa Berger, Professor Emeritus at San Francisco State University, author of more than 150 articles and 90 books, many on humour and humorous artist.Design/methodology/approach>This case study, followed by a 10-question interview, intentionally embraces visual autobiography to present Arthur's creative humorous contributions.Findings>Arthur conveys the importance of humour, not so much from joke-telling, which can be problematic, but in fun conversations, witty remarks and puns. We learn of his 45 humour techniques, and ways to apply humour in teaching, writing and drawing for therapeutic benefit.Research limitations/implications>This is a personal narrative, albeit from someone who has been academically and personally involved with humour for over 60 years.Practical implications>Evidence of the benefits of humour for mental health is mounting. Appreciating and harnessing humour, including with the 45 humour techniques, whenever you can, is recommended.Social implications>Humour supports relationship building and social inclusion. Social humour is best when it amuses others, offers positive insights into social relationships and is life affirming to both the humourist and their audience.Originality/value>To the best of the authors' knowledge, Arthur was the first to publish a PhD dissertation on a comic strip and has been at the vanguard of humour application in teaching, academic writing, drawing, popular comedy and humorous murder mysteries for decades. Arthur will be 90 years old in 2023.

Hidden Assets

Like that production, Hidden Assets was co-commissioned by the US streaming service Acorn TV, which specialises in developing, producing and acquiring English-language programming, much of it in the mystery, comedy, and police procedural genres, from the UK and other anglophone territories. While the Belgian subsidies are evidence that eight of the twelve reported shooting weeks were spent in Antwerp, the decision to locate only postproduction in Canada - despite an emerging Canadian sub-plot in the storyline - was apparently the result of a costly learning experience during the production of Acceptable Risk. [...]it's worth noting that AMC, through its "boutique" range of offerings including Acorn, Sundance Now, BBC America and IFC Films, seeks to differentiate itself from streaming giants like Netflix and Disney+ precisely by offering non-mainstream niche content from independent and international producers.

The Desert Song

Fisher reviews The Desert Song.

Introduction to Painful Laughter: Media and Politics in the Age of Cringe

This introduction to the Special Issue on cringe humour briefly traces the starting point of the contemporary cringe boom, and it looks into the roots of awkwardness as a cultural phenomenon in the 1960s. Moreover, the introduction argues for the cathartic potential of cringe humour in the context of sociopolitical issues, and briefly presents the subsequent articles.

Conjuring Kuwait Onstage: An Interview with Mohammed Al-Hemely

The play, set in unnamed slums of Kuwait, centers on Om Sror (mother of Sror), a leader of a hidden community that authorities have at best forgotten and at worst demonized (fig. 1). Closure of theatres around the world due to COVID-19 did not abet Al-Hemely’s drive, as he produced one of the first Zoom plays in the Arabic region. First step, everybody comes here. Because you can’t come inside my [points to head], I see too many things, I visit too many stages, I go backstage in many theatres, in Kuwait and outside.