Comedy Country

Comedy Country is a large Australian Research Council Linkage Project that investigates the impact of performance comedy in Australia. Focussing on the artform and the industry in which it is situated, the project hypothesis is that since the 1950s, comic performance has not merely reflected a changing Australia but has been a powerful catalyst that has helped shape and transform Australian social, civic and cultural expression, as well as national and diverse identities.

Comedy Country engages with diverse forms of performance, including: stand up, sketch, situation, mockumentary, revue, burlesque, cabaret, and music. It also investigates the settings in which these genres are performed, notably live performance on stage, in cinema, broadcast on radio and television, in recorded media, and via digital streaming and social media.

The project examines representation, participation and themes around class, ethnicity, gender, sexuality and other modes of identity and belonging. Comedy Country also has a major focus on Indigenous comedy of all kinds across all media and performance, including in Indigenous languages where it subverts colonial violence and racist narratives.

The project brings together an interdisciplinary team drawn from three Universities, five leading collecting institutions, two major comedy festivals and a media production company.