Case File 3: What Is A Joke?

2025-09-25

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Welcome back to The Comedy Bureau! In the third episode, Laura and Olly open the doors of the office just in time for Laura to pose Olly another impossible question… what is a joke?!Laura and Olly first met at The University of Kent where Laura studied stand up comedy under Olly’s tutelage. Now, 20 years later they are reunited to examine the gory details of the world of comedy. Even when there might not be a definitive answer.First off Olly and Laura explore some traditional jokes to look at the ways they are structured. Then they exp...

Welcome back to The Comedy Bureau! In the third episode, Laura and Olly open the doors of the office just in time for Laura to pose Olly another impossible question… what is a joke?!

Laura and Olly first met at The University of Kent where Laura studied stand up comedy under Olly’s tutelage. Now, 20 years later they are reunited to examine the gory details of the world of comedy. Even when there might not be a definitive answer.

First off Olly and Laura explore some traditional jokes to look at the ways they are structured. Then they explore intentionality to see if the real soul of a joke is in the purpose of the sentence.

In this episode they analyse jokes from the Roman period to Shakespeare to the modern day stand-up routine to see if there are any definitive rules and regulations that truly define a joke.

What is a joke?

• Geoff Rowe (2021), All Puns Blazing: The Best British Knockout Jokes, Ebury Press

• Jimmy Carr and Lucy Greeves (2006), The Naked Jape, London: Michael Joseph.

• Dan Compton (2010), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, London: Michael O'Mara Books.

• James Orchard Halliwell (1844), Tarlton's Jests and News Out of Purgatory, London: Shakespeare Society.

• Lewis and Faye Copeland (eds.) (1940), 10,000 Jokes, Toasts & Stories, Garden City, NY: Garden City Books.

• Robert Orben (1946), The Encyclopedia of Patter, New York: Louis Tannen.

• Robert Orben (1951), One-Liners, New York: D Robbins.

• Robert Orben (1951), Comedy Technique, New York: Louis Tannen.

• Robert Orben (1963), If You Have to Be a Comic, Baldwin Harbor, NY: Orben Publications.

Comedians Laura mentions in this episode:

Dinesh Nathan @dineshnathancomedian