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Taboo Comedy: Television and Controversial Humour
The essays in this collection explore taboo and controversial humour in traditional scripted (sitcoms and other comedy series, animated series) and non-scripted forms (stand-up comedy, factual and reality shows, and advertising) both on cable and network television. Whilst the focus is predominantly on the US and UK, the contributors also address more general and global issues and different contexts of reception, in an attempt to look at this kind of comedy from different perspectives. Over the last few decades, taboo comedy has become a staple of television programming, thus raising issues concerning its functions and appropriateness, and making it an extremely relevant subject for those interested in how both humour and television work.
244 pages, Hardcover
Published December 19, 2016
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March 9, 2026
I would like to think that I have some insight into television comedy, having watched and ‘studied’ sitcoms, sketch shows and other forms of the TV genre since the early 1970s. I’ve seen plenty of programs that have been infamous for their challenging of accepted ‘norms’, coming from the US, UK or Australia. Among the panoply of shows I can include ‘The Goodies’, ‘Housos’, ‘South Park’, ‘The Naked Vicar Show’, ‘Love Thy Neighbour’, ‘The Aunty Jack Show’ and others that derived humour from issues pertaining to sex, death, bodily functions, violence, race, religion or whatever else might make one person laugh like a drain and another reach for the phone, pen or email to register a complaint. So I came to Taboo Comedy: Television and Controversial Humour with some hope. I understood that as a collection of academic essays it would not be a lay person’s book, and having completed it this estimation is in my opinion correct. The editors, Chiara Bucaria and Luca Barra, have fulfilled their responsibility and the gravitas of the contributing essayists seems on point. The problem is that, considering the subject and its potential to forment exciting and enjoyable theses, the chapters are at times rather uninspired and dull. Furthermore, the programming examples that are cited in most of the essays are rather insipid and not really explored that well.
The best essays to be found in this book are those by the editors themselves, introducing the book, Christie Davies on the history of taboo comedy on the BBC in the first three decades after World War Two and Matt Sienkiewicz on the animated comedy ‘Archer’. The rest of the contributions have moments where they offer some interesting analyses and observations, such as how depictions of Muslim characters in a sitcom can be seen as an attempt to ‘mainstream’ that community into broader North American society, or how reality TV can rely on the tropes and cliches of the double entendre that has such a long history in British humour. However, it’s rather disappointing to see the writers sucking something of the cultural and intellectual ‘fizz’ out of their subjects, and relying quite often on far too much theoretical language and conceptual analysis.
Even what I think is the best chapter in the book, ‘The Rise and Fall of Taboo Comedy in the BBC’ by Christie Davies, misses out. That it fails to speak to ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus’ or ‘The Goons’ (yes, I know the latter was a radio program, but Davies devotes plenty of space to ‘Round the Horne’ which was also not on the TV) is a bit of mistake. Having said this, it is pleasing to see ‘Till Death Us Do Part’, as written by Johnny Speight, getting plenty of attention, as well as ‘That Was The Week That Was’. The account of Mary Whitehouse’s activities as a lobbyist against what she and her sympathisers saw as obscene or sacrilegious broadcasting is well written, and the consideration of how in more recent years the BBC has backtracked somewhat on its desire to challenge taboos via comedy programming is also good.
Matt Sienkiewicz’s chapter on ‘Archer’, with its review of the inclusion of humour that alludes to taboo sexual acts including incest and bestiality, as considered through the lens of Freudian analysis is also rather good, and perhaps is the only one in the book that actually provokes the reader’s interest in both the show and the intellectual constructs underpinning his essay. There is no doubt that what he recounts from the animated comedy is very much in the ‘taboo’ area of comedy, and the contributing author offers some clarity as to what it all may mean without killing the joke.
The selection of programs made by the contributing authors in their studies are on the whole adequate, but as noted they miss some important examples (no mention of ‘All in the Family’, for example). I would’ve appreciated some Australian programs in the mix, and also more older programming references. Of course that is my opinion; I would assume other readers, particularly those with far less personal knowledge or history of TV comedy might be more than happy with what is explored herein.
All up Taboo Comedy: Television and Controversial Humour is a book that will meet the interests and requirements of those with a vested academic interest in the theory of humour studies, media studies and similar fields. It won’t appeal to the more generalist reader, and as a result I wouldn’t expect most people to enthusiastically take up this text. I’ve read better books on comedy and television (e.g. British TV Comedies; Cultural Concepts, Contexts and Controversies) but I will acknowledge the effort and achievements of those involved with this volume.
The best essays to be found in this book are those by the editors themselves, introducing the book, Christie Davies on the history of taboo comedy on the BBC in the first three decades after World War Two and Matt Sienkiewicz on the animated comedy ‘Archer’. The rest of the contributions have moments where they offer some interesting analyses and observations, such as how depictions of Muslim characters in a sitcom can be seen as an attempt to ‘mainstream’ that community into broader North American society, or how reality TV can rely on the tropes and cliches of the double entendre that has such a long history in British humour. However, it’s rather disappointing to see the writers sucking something of the cultural and intellectual ‘fizz’ out of their subjects, and relying quite often on far too much theoretical language and conceptual analysis.
Even what I think is the best chapter in the book, ‘The Rise and Fall of Taboo Comedy in the BBC’ by Christie Davies, misses out. That it fails to speak to ‘Monty Python’s Flying Circus’ or ‘The Goons’ (yes, I know the latter was a radio program, but Davies devotes plenty of space to ‘Round the Horne’ which was also not on the TV) is a bit of mistake. Having said this, it is pleasing to see ‘Till Death Us Do Part’, as written by Johnny Speight, getting plenty of attention, as well as ‘That Was The Week That Was’. The account of Mary Whitehouse’s activities as a lobbyist against what she and her sympathisers saw as obscene or sacrilegious broadcasting is well written, and the consideration of how in more recent years the BBC has backtracked somewhat on its desire to challenge taboos via comedy programming is also good.
Matt Sienkiewicz’s chapter on ‘Archer’, with its review of the inclusion of humour that alludes to taboo sexual acts including incest and bestiality, as considered through the lens of Freudian analysis is also rather good, and perhaps is the only one in the book that actually provokes the reader’s interest in both the show and the intellectual constructs underpinning his essay. There is no doubt that what he recounts from the animated comedy is very much in the ‘taboo’ area of comedy, and the contributing author offers some clarity as to what it all may mean without killing the joke.
The selection of programs made by the contributing authors in their studies are on the whole adequate, but as noted they miss some important examples (no mention of ‘All in the Family’, for example). I would’ve appreciated some Australian programs in the mix, and also more older programming references. Of course that is my opinion; I would assume other readers, particularly those with far less personal knowledge or history of TV comedy might be more than happy with what is explored herein.
All up Taboo Comedy: Television and Controversial Humour is a book that will meet the interests and requirements of those with a vested academic interest in the theory of humour studies, media studies and similar fields. It won’t appeal to the more generalist reader, and as a result I wouldn’t expect most people to enthusiastically take up this text. I’ve read better books on comedy and television (e.g. British TV Comedies; Cultural Concepts, Contexts and Controversies) but I will acknowledge the effort and achievements of those involved with this volume.
Displaying 1 of 1 review