HUMOUR | AN INTERDISCIPLINARY SYMPOSIUM

Lunch will be provided, please email any dietary requirements to [email protected]. Please also email if you would like to opt ou

The TORCH Humour Network invites you to attend our event ‘Humour: An Interdisciplinary Symposium’ on 29 May 2026. This one-day workshop brings scholars from universities across the UK and beyond together to discuss how different disciplines approach the study of humour, satire, laughter, and comedy. What does interdisciplinary research look like in practice? The programme for the event is outlined below. All are welcome – please register via the Eventbrite link. Coffee and tea will be provided throughout the day, and we will also be serving complimentary lunch for all participants.

Programme

Introduction: Welcome

10-10.30

We will serve coffee and tea from 10am and begin the workshop with a few introductory remarks around 10:20.

Keynote Address

10.30-11.30

Dr Oliver Double. ‘From Charity Shops to the British Stand-Up Comedy Archive: Developing Stand-Up as an Academic Discipline’

Coffee and tea

11.30-11.45

Panel 1: Humour through Disciplines

11.45-1.15

Prof Simon Kirchin. ‘Philosophy and Comedy: Dissecting Frogs?’

Dr Simon Weaver. ‘Developing a Critical Approach to Humour and Comedy through Rhetorical Discourse Analysis’

Lunch

1.15-2.30

Panel 2: Thinking About Satire

2.30-4

Prof Marilyn Booth. ‘Thinking through satire as political history: Egypt, 1890s-1920s’

Dr Adam Smith. ‘Satyrs and Scalpels Revisited: On Resisting Distorting Discourses of Satiric Violence’

Coffee and tea

4-4.15

Panel 3: Humour in Unexpected Places

4.15-5.45

Dr Niamh Kehoe-Rouchy. ‘Gendered Humour and Holiness in Old English Hagiography’

Dr Massih Zekavat. ‘A Literary Scholar, a Psychologist, and a Communications Scholar Walk into a Bar.’ [Online]

5.45 Conclusion

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Host or Publisher TORCH | The Oxford Research Centre in the Humanities