Aristotle’s surviving observations about Comedy in classical Greek theatre, have been taken to suggest a certain inferiority in the art form, when compared to its angst-ridden sister, Tragedy.

Echoes of that attitude pervade the history of Western cultural thought. But can comedy be more than mere light relief, more than just ‘having a laugh’? This Investigate Day will examine the case for and against the serious business of comedy.

We shall look at prime examples of stand-up, sketch, sitcom and feature-length comedy, in order to examine questions such as: how does comedy function? what are the fundamental differences between tragedy and comedy? does comedy matter? and, are some topics not fit subjects for comedy?

Possible material: Dr Strangelove; Cooking with Elvis; Frasier; Smack the Pony; Sarah Silvermann .

This session is led by Martin Thomasson, writer of And Did Those Feet and Senior Creative Writing Lecturer at the University of Bolton.