The Myth of Inclusivity: exploring barriers to representation in stand-up comedy through Leicester Comedy Festival's archive (1994-)

总部位于莱斯特的注册慈善机构Big Difference Company利用喜剧来推动社会变革，这一目标部分通过本研究的背景——莱斯特喜剧节来实现。LCF于1994年作为DMU学生项目成立，到2023年将迎来30周年纪念。由创始导演Geoff Rowe BEM领导，BDC的LCF是英国最大的专门喜剧节。BDC的慈善目标意味着它通过与DMULocal、莱斯特水星年度喜剧演员奖和喜剧培训研讨会的合作来培养新兴人才。本博士学位的一个目的是将喜剧中“难以形容的”平等障碍理论化，从而为BDC/LCF如何针对干预措施提供信息。作为DMU的战略合作伙伴，BDC的LCF节为学士和硕士学生的实习和研究项目提供了一个支持性的研究环境。杰夫·罗（Geoff Rowe）是马里兰大学荣誉院士，每年都在该校讲课。2014年，Rowe推出了“我说喜剧对话”，就喜剧的历史和实践采访了重要的喜剧演员，为学生和研究人员提供了独特的见解。这个CDA是DMU和LFC近三十年合作的高潮。从2008年到2014年，“为笑而戏”研讨会提供了一个关于喜剧的社会影响的学术关注，确定了它代表不同观点的能力，并将叙事转变为赋权的来源。一年一度的“超越笑话”研讨会计划（2015年至今）继续推动将喜剧实践理论化，作为文化干预和批评，并促进行业专业人士、学者和漫画之间的对话。喜剧行业各个领域之间的对话对于探索参与障碍和扩大对LCF作为喜剧行业缩影的理解至关重要。2021年，虚拟小组专注于东米德兰兹郡的行业和喜剧经济，为这种合作铺平了道路，重点关注喜剧制作的条件及其对喜剧实践的影响。

Leicester-based registered charity Big Difference Company uses comedy to produce social change, an aim partly achieved through the context for this research - Leicester Comedy Festival. Celebrating its 30th anniversary in 2023, LCF started as a DMU student project in 1994. Led by its founding director, Geoff Rowe BEM, BDC's LCF is the UK's largest dedicated comedy festival. BDC's charitable objectives mean it nurtures emerging talent through collaborations with DMULocal, the Leicester Mercury Comedian of the Year award, and comedy training workshops. One aim of this PhD is to theorise the 'unspeakable' barriers to equality in comedy so informing how BDC/LCF target interventions. A DMU strategic partner, BDC's LCF festival provides a supportive research environment for BA and MA student placements and research projects. Geoff Rowe is a DMU honorand and lectures annually at the university. In 2014 Rowe introduced the 'I say Comedy Conversations', interviews with significant comedians regarding comedy's history and practices, providing unique insights for students and researchers. This CDA is the culmination of nearly three decades of collaboration between DMU and LFC. From 2008-2014, the Playing for Laughs symposia provided an academic focus on comedy's social impacts, identifying its ability to represent different perspectives and transform narratives as sources of empowerment. The annual Beyond a Joke seminar programme (2015 - present) continues this push to theorise comedic practice as cultural intervention and critique and foster dialogue between industry professionals, academics and comics. These conversations between all areas of the comedy industry are vital in exploring barriers to participation and in widening understanding of LCF as a microcosm of the comedy industry. In 2021 virtual panels focused on the industry and the comedy economy of the East Midlands, paving the way for this collaboration with its focus on the conditions of comedy production and their impacts on comedy practices.