Editing Alternative comedy

{{Short description|Style of comedy}}
{{Synthesis|article|date=October 2009}} <!-- since "alternative" is non-specific, these separate comedy scenes are combined together arbitrarily -->

'''Alternative comedy''' is a term coined in the 1980s for a style of [[comedy]]<ref>{{cite news|title=Micro-epic of The Black Hole|last=Thomas|first=David|date=5 March 1982|work=The Times|page=v|quote= At a time when "alternative comedy" is increasingly showing itself to be little other than a more aggressive version of the old comedy, the National Theatre of Brent are offering a style that is entirely original.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.brooklynpaper.com/stories/26/45/26_45piehole.html |title=The Brooklyn Paper: SERIOUS FUN |work=[[The Brooklyn Paper]] |author=Lisa Selin Davis |date=10 November 2003 |access-date=30 October 2009 |quote=Alternative comedy is nothing new. The term gained fame in 1980s Britain, when out-of-the-ordinary sitcoms like ''[[The Young Ones (TV series)|The Young Ones]]'' or ''[[Absolutely Fabulous]]'' popped up, and continued in America with unorthodox sketch comedy groups such as Manhattan's [[Upright Citizen's Brigade]]. But, according to [Andrea Rosen of the 'Pie Hole Comedy Show' in Brooklyn, New York], alternative comedy predates all of those acts. '[[Mel Brooks]] was an alternative comic,' said Rosen, citing his famous [[2000 Year Old Man|2000-Year-Old Man]] routine. 'So is [[Steve Martin]].' And Rosen's influences also include old masters like filmmaker [[Woody Allen]], who started his career as a standup. 'There's a whole world of alternative comedy rooms, in bars and basements.'}}</ref> that makes a conscious break with the mainstream comedic style of an era.<ref>{{cite book|title=Television Producers | first=Jeremy | last=Tunstall | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b0RG7GBW7ooC&q=%22alternative+comedy%22+define&pg=PA127| page=127 | year=1993 | publisher=Routledge | isbn=0-415-09471-2 | quote='Alternative' comedy is inevitably difficult to define, not least because it tends, after an interval, to join the mainstream.}}</ref> The phrase has had different connotations in different contexts: in the UK, it was used to describe content that was an "alternative" to the mainstream stand-up of the day which took place in [[working men's club]]s, and was characterised by unoriginal gags often containing elements of [[sexism]] and [[racism]].<ref name="Comedystore">{{cite book|last=Cook|first=William|title=The Comedy Store|year=2001|publisher=Little, Brown & Company|isbn=0-316-85792-0}}</ref>{{ambiguous|is the mainstream or alternative sexist and racist?|date=October 2019}} In other contexts, it is the nature of the form that is "alternative", avoiding reliance on a standardised structure of a sequence of [[joke]]s with [[punch line]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Double |first=Oliver |date=2014 |orig-year=2005 |title=Getting the Joke: the inner workings of stand-up comedy |edition=2nd |location=New York  |publisher=Bloomsbury Methuen Drama |page=59 |isbn=978-1-4081-7460-9 |quote=Stylistically, American alternative comedy is, as one journalist wrote, 'hard to define and frequently in flux,' but like its UK equivalent, it tends to be loose, quirky, folksy, homemade, autobiographical, politically liberal and full of geeky pop culture references, with gags about comic books or cultish punk bands.}}</ref> [[Patton Oswalt]] has defined it as "comedy where the audience has no pre-set expectations about the crowd, and vice versa. In comedy clubs, there tends to be a certain vibe—alternative comedy explores different types of material."<ref>{{cite web|url= http://bostonguide.com/archives1/five_questions/index.php?url=patton%20oswalt.html |title= 5 questions with Patton Oswalt |work= Panorama Magazine|date= 5 May 2008|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160311045921/http://bostonguide.com/archives1/five_questions/index.php?url=patton%20oswalt.html |access-date= 24 November 2014|archive-date= 11 March 2016 }}</ref>

In an interview with ''[[The A.V. Club]]'' after his performance in the 2011 [[comedy-drama]] film ''[[Young Adult (film)|Young Adult]]'', Oswalt stated:

<blockquote>I had come up out of that whole alternative scene, which was all about, "Don't try it, man. Just go up and wing it." I think a lot of that comes from insecurity. It's that fashion of improv and amateurism that comes from the insecurity of saying to the audience, "Well, it doesn't matter if it doesn't go well, because I didn't even try that hard to begin with." It's like, "Oh, that's why you're not [trying]. If you actually tried hard and it sucked, then you've got to blame yourself." So that's what makes it hard for some people to sit down and actually just do the fucking work, because doing the work means you're making a commitment.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.avclub.com/patton-oswalt-on-his-most-memorable-roles-and-giving-li-1798234688|title= Patton Oswalt on his most memorable roles and giving life advice to Dane Cook|work= The A.V. Club|publisher= [[Onion Inc.]]|date= 9 November 2012|access-date= 22 November 2012|archive-date= 27 November 2012|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121127223808/http://www.avclub.com/articles/patton-oswalt-on-his-most-memorable-roles-and-givi%2C88860/2/|url-status= live}}</ref></blockquote>

==United Kingdom==
Alternative comedy had a number of influences. It was a reaction against the mainstream stand-up of the day which took place in [[working men's club]]s, and was characterised by unoriginal gags often containing elements of [[sexism]] and [[racism]]. Positive influences include American [[Sick comedy|'sick' comedians]] of the 1950s and 1960s, like [[Mort Sahl]] and [[Lenny Bruce]]; the 1960s comedian [[John Paul Joans]], who had been influenced by Bruce;<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Absalom |first1=Steve |title=Whatever happened to John Paul Joans? |journal=The Stage |date=10 November 1983 |page=4}}</ref>  the [[Punk rock|punk]] scene of the late 1970s; poets like [[John Cooper Clarke]]; and less conventional earlier comedians like [[Billy Connolly]] and [[John Dowie (humourist)|John Dowie]].<ref>{{Cite book|last=Double|first=Oliver|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1151188972|title=Alternative Comedy: 1979 and the Reinvention of British Stand-Up|date=2020|publisher=METHUEN DRAMA|isbn=978-1-350-05282-6|location=[S.l.]|oclc=1151188972}}</ref> 
===Comedy Store===
The beginning of alternative comedy is commonly associated with the opening of the [[Comedy Store, London|Comedy Store]] club in London on 19 May 1979, initially a weekly [[gong show]]-style comedy night in a room above a strip club in [[Soho]]. The official history of the club credits comedian and author [[Tony Allen (comedian)|Tony Allen]]<ref name=Comedystore /> with coining the term. However, in his autobiography, the late [[Malcolm Hardee]] claims to have coined the term in 1978.<ref name="Hardee 1996">{{cite book|last=Hardee|first=Malcolm|title=I Stole Freddie Mercury's Birthday Cake | year=1996 | publisher=Fourth Estate|isbn=0-09-188924-3|author2=Fleming, John}}</ref>

Alternative comedy came to describe an approach to [[stand-up comedy]] that was neither racist nor sexist, defining itself against more traditional comedians playing the Northern working men's clubs who often relied on jokes targeting women and minorities in a form of comedy "civil war".<ref name="Double">{{cite book|last=Double|first=Oliver|title=Stand Up, On Being a Comedian|year=1997|publisher=Methuen Drama|isbn=0-413-70320-7|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/standuponbeingco0000doub}}</ref><ref name=Tenyears>{{cite book|last=Connor|first=John|title=Ten Years of Alternative Comedy|year=1990|publisher=PAPERMAC|isbn=0-333-54171-5}}</ref> (This divide was not absolute, with some performers from that circuit performing at the Comedy Store from its opening in May 1979.)<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bonello Rutter Giappone |first1=Krista |title=The Punk Turn in Comedy: Masks of Anarchy |date=24 May 2018 |publisher=Springer International |isbn=9783319728414 |page=43}}</ref> What developed from these clashes was, in [[Arthur Smith (comedian)|Arthur Smith]]'s words, "comedy's version of punk".<ref>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Arthur|title=My Name is Daphne Fairfax|year=2009|publisher=Random House| isbn=978-0-09-951965-2 |page= 145}}</ref>

[[Alexei Sayle]], the Comedy Store's first [[Master of Ceremonies|MC]], provided angry character comedy satirising the left. [[Arnold Brown (comedian)|Arnold Brown]], an older stand-up comic noted for his quick-witted, [[observational comedy|observational]] style, was revered by several alternative comedians, and would become a regular fixture at The Comedy Store. Fellow MC Tony Allen broke the taboos of personal and sexual politics, while [[Keith Allen (actor)|Keith Allen]] confronted audiences in a fearless{{tone inline|date=November 2014}} series of "put-ons" and was a big influence on the early [[cabaret]] scene that was about to emerge.<ref>{{cite book|last=Smith|first=Arthur|title=My Name is Daphne Fairfax|year=2009|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-0-09-951965-2}}</ref> As these newer comics grew in confidence, Tony Allen and Alexei Sayle founded [[Alternative Cabaret]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Calcott|first=Andrew|title=The Rough Guide to British Cult Comedy|year=2006|publisher=Penguin Books Ltd|isbn=1-84353-618-8|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/roughguidetobrit00hall}}</ref> with other Comedy Store regulars. Their aim was to establish several alternative comedy clubs in London in addition to their flagship venue at the [[Elgin (Ladbroke Grove)|Elgin]], Ladbroke Grove, from August 1979. Its core members were Jim Barclay, [[Andy De La Tour]], and [[Pauline Melville]], stand-ups who shared a background in radical fringe theatre.<ref>{{cite book|last=Rosengard|first=Peter|title= Didn't You Kill My Mother-in-Law?|year=1989|publisher=Methuen Drama |isbn=978-0-413-17390-4 |author2=Wilmot, Roger}}</ref> The pair also brought alternative stand-up to the [[Edinburgh Festival]] for the first time in August 1980<ref>{{cite book|last=Sayle|first=Alexi|title=My Favourite Year|publisher=Sunday Independent |date = 3 August 2003}}</ref> with "Late Night Alternative" at the Heriot-Watt Theatre.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.alexeisayle.me/about-me/|title=Alexei Sayle - About Me|website=www.alexeisayle.me}}</ref> Returning with a full show in 1981, "Alternative Cabaret" was the critical comedy hit of that year.<ref name=Tenyears/>

===Alternative Cabaret===
The Comedy Store now advertised itself as "The Home of Alternative Comedy"<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]|title=London Listings |date =1 January 1981 |pages= 60}}</ref> in London's weekly Entertainment Guide, ''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]'', listing "Alternative Cabaret" as its main show.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=Time Out|title=London Listings|date = 4 December 1981 | pages = 81}}</ref> Their tours established the idea of running comedy shows in small venues around London, and sowed the seeds of the network of pub-based gigs that grew in the capital and across the UK throughout the 1980s.<ref name="Double"/> The new comedy got its own section, "Cabaret", in Listings magazines, first in ''[[City Limits (London magazine)|City Limits]]'' followed by ''Time Out'' on 21 January 1983.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=Time Out|title=London Listings |date = 21 January 1983|pages= 69}}</ref> Other organisations, comics, and entrepreneurs—including Maria Kempinska's [[Jongleurs (comedy club)|Jongleurs]] and Roland and Clare Muldoon's CAST/New Variety—added more regular venues, bringing the number of gigs per week from 24 in 1983 to 69 by 1987.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal=Time Out|title=London Listings |date = 21 January 1983}}</ref>

===The Comic Strip===
{{Main|The Comic Strip}}
Meanwhile, another group of comics left the Comedy Store with [[Peter Richardson (actor)|Peter Richardson]] to form [[The Comic Strip]] and run their own "Comedy Cabaret" shows at the Boulevard Theatre, Walkers Court, Soho in October 1980.<ref name="Over21-1981">{{cite web | first=David | last=Johnson | title= Something Funny is Happening in Stripland | url= https://shapersofthe80s.com/seismic-shifts/1980-a-new-decade-demands-new-comedy/ |work=Over21, January issue, page 36, republished at Shapersofthe80s | location=London | access-date=2018-04-07 |date=1981-01-01}}</ref> The Comic Strip, featuring double acts and sketch comedy, consisted of [[University of Manchester|Manchester University]] and [[Central School of Speech and Drama|Royal Central School]] graduates [[Ade Edmondson]], [[Rik Mayall]], [[Nigel Planer]], [[Dawn French]], and [[Jennifer Saunders]], who began to aim their talents at television. As ''[[The Comic Strip|The Comic Strip Presents]]'', the group made over 40 television films for both [[Channel 4]] and [[BBC]].

[[Ben Elton]], who had by then become the Comedy Store's next MC, was invited by Rik Mayall to join him as co-writer of BBC2's TV hit sitcom ''[[The Young Ones (TV series)|The Young Ones]]''. It was then as MC of Channel 4's new comedy show ''[[Saturday Live (UK TV series)|Saturday Live]]'' that Elton found fame as a performer in his own right. As author William Cook noted, "After ''The Young Ones'' made him Alternative Comedy's hidden voice, ''Saturday Live'' (Channel 4) made him its most visible face."<ref name=Comedystore/>

Comic and broadcaster Arthur Smith observed that "If Tony Allen, 'The Godfather of Alternative Comedy', was the theory of anarchic comedy, then Malcolm Hardee was its cock-eyed embodiment".<ref name=Tenyears/> Hardee was the much loved MC at the Tunnel Palladium, The Mitre, Deptford 1984-89 whose audience were famous for their vocal participation and wit.{{tone inline|date=November 2014}} There he influenced the early careers of [[Vic Reeves]] and [[Bob Mortimer]], [[Simon Day]], [[Chris Lynam]], Martin Soan, [[Harry Enfield]], and many others to whom he gave their first gigs. He also found fame himself as part of [[The Greatest Show on Legs]], which had been started by Martin Soan, his part in the legendary "Naked Balloon Dance" as well as his many shows and pranks at The Edinburgh Festival.<ref name="Hardee 1996"/>

Just about every major British stand-up comedian in the last thirty years started their career in alternative comedy clubs, including Ben Elton, [[Jo Brand]], [[Jack Dee]], [[Lee Evans (comedian)|Lee Evans]], [[Eddie Izzard]], [[Harry Hill]], [[Peter Kay]], [[Jimmy Carr]], and [[Ross Noble]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Double|first=Oliver|title=Getting The Joke| year=2005 |publisher=Methuen |isbn=0-413-77476-7}}</ref>

===Contemporary alternative comedy in the United Kingdom===
Alternative comedy has enjoyed a resurgence in the UK since about 2010, with [[Stewart Lee]] promoting the liberal, progressive values of the 1980s alternative comedy scene through his writing, live shows featuring veteran alternative comedians including [[Alexei Sayle]] and [[Norman Lovett]], as well as a [[Comedy Central]] TV series showcasing a great variety of alternative acts, ''[[The Alternative Comedy Experience]]''. Younger acts have banded together into groups dedicated to alternative comedy, including [[The Alternative Comedy Memorial Society]] and [[Weirdos Comedy Club|The Weirdos Collective]].

==United States==

===New York City===
In New York City, much of what is called alternative or "downtown comedy"<ref name=nyt2006>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/fashion/sundaystyles/29Comedy.html?ex=1296190800&en=81d9e77f927d8fc5&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss |title=Alternative Comedy - New York Times |work=[[The New York Times]] |author=Warren St. John |date=January 29, 2006 |access-date=2008-11-07}}</ref> is performed outside of traditional comedy clubs in theatres, such as [[Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre]] (UCB), [[Magnet Theater]], The Creek and The Cave,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/nyregion/the-creek-and-the-cave-serves-up-a-safe-harbor-for-improv.html?_r=0 |title=Behind Tacos, A Safe Haven for Comedy |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=16 March 2012 |access-date=June 28, 2014 |last1=Beurteaux |first1=Danielle }}</ref> and the [[Peoples Improv Theater]] (PIT), as well as cabarets that host comedy only occasionally.  The comedians at these shows offer character-based humour or [[surreal humour]], as opposed to [[Observational comedy|observations of everyday life]] or more polemical themes.<ref name="nyt20061">{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/29/fashion/sundaystyles/29Comedy.html?pagewanted=all | title=Seinfeld It Ain't | date=January 29, 2006 | work=[[The New York Times]]| access-date=2009-10-30| quote=Bars and back rooms in the East Village and Lower East Side are overflowing these days with the likes of Adolf Dice Hitler Clay: not spoofs of Nazis necessarily, but rather a wave of young and creative comics who are branching out from straight stand-up to eccentric sketch and character-based humor that owes more to ''[[Da Ali G Show]]'' than to [[George Carlin]]....Any attempt to define the term alternative comedy was doomed, [Andrés] du Bouchet said before his Tuesday night show, but he gave it a shot anyway. "Alternative is a catchall phrase for 'not [[stand-up comedy|stand-up]],' " he said.  Aziz Ansari, 22 and an up-and-coming comic on the scene, elaborated. "The alternative rooms give you an outlet to explore something other than straight stand-up," he said. "You can do characters. I can bring a girl on stage that I got rejected by and interview her, or do a [[PowerPoint]] presentation or show a short film. The nature of the venues allows you to experiment." | first=Warren | last=St. John}}</ref> In addition, many alternative comics such as [[Demetri Martin]] and Slovin and [[Leo Allen|Allen]] use unusual presentation styles, opting to play music, give [[PowerPoint]] presentations, or act out sketches.<ref name="nyt2006"/> Many alternative comics such as [[Sarah Silverman]], [[Janeane Garofalo]], and [[Todd Barry]] also perform in mainstream comedy venues. The now-defunct [[Luna Lounge]] in New York's [[Lower East Side]] was home to a celebrated weekly alternative comedy stand-up series called "Eating It" from 1995 to 2005, co-created by Garofalo, which featured a changing line-up including [[Louis CK]], [[Jim Norton (American comedian)|Jim Norton]], [[Ted Alexandro]], [[Todd Barry]], [[H. Jon Benjamin]], [[Greg Giraldo]], [[Patrice O'Neal]], [[Patton Oswalt]], [[Sarah Vowell]], [[Mike Birbiglia]], [[Marc Maron]], [[Dave Chappelle]], [[Roseanne Barr]], [[Sarah Silverman]], [[Janeane Garofalo]], and numerous others, until the property was sold and the building razed.

[[Eugene Mirman]] started a show called Invite Them up at Rififi, a bar in New York's East Village in 2002. The popular weekly show, co-hosted by Bobby Tisdale, never advertised or listed its performers. Comedians such as [[Demetri Martin]], [[Aziz Ansari]], [[Pete Holmes]], [[Jon Glaser]], [[Jon Daly]], [[Reggie Watts]] and musicians such as [[Bright Eyes (band)|Bright Eyes]] and [[Yo La Tengo]] all performed on Invite Them Up. The show spurred a host of other weekly events at Rififi hosted by [[Nick Kroll]], [[John Mulaney]], [[Greg Johnson (comedian)|Greg Johnson]], [[Larry Murphy (actor)|Larry Murphy]] and [[Jenny Slate]]. The venue was a hotbed of alternative comedy until complaints from neighbors about one of Rififi's dance parties, Trash, got the bar closed down in 2008.

Warren St. John said that the "inspiration" for alternative comedy in New York City is the [[Upright Citizens Brigade]]. The group originally formed at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in Chelsea in 1999.<ref name=nyt2006/> Four years later, in 2003, several performers at the UCB spun off their own theater, and formed the PIT. St. John also argues that one reason why unusual comics can succeed in New York City is that they don't have to tour part-time, as many of them also work as writers on local comedy television shows such as ''[[The Daily Show]]'' and the ''[[Late Show with David Letterman]]''.<ref name=nyt2006/>

===Los Angeles===

Patton Oswalt cited [[Dana Gould]] as the originator of the alternative comedy scene in the early nineties, who also cites [[Janeane Garofalo]] as another progenitor of the scene. [[Beth Lapides]] started the [[Un-Cabaret]] shows, which was the flagship of the alternative comedy movement.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://gothamist.com/2006/12/27/dana_gould_writ.php|title=Dana Gould, Writer and Comedian|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131206060656/http://gothamist.com/2006/12/27/dana_gould_writ.php|archive-date=2013-12-06}}</ref> Other contemporaries of the scene included [[Bob Odenkirk]], [[David Cross]], [[Greg Behrendt]], [[Andy Kindler]], and [[Kathy Griffin]].<ref>Nerdist Podcast with Dana Gould</ref>

Oswalt was essential in pioneering the alternative comedy on the West Coast. He created [[The Comedians of Comedy]] tour, which played across the US in independent music venues intermittently from 2004 to 2008. The original tour was hosted by Oswalt, and featured [[Maria Bamford]], [[Zach Galifianakis]], and [[Brian Posehn]].

==Australia==

The Experimental Comedy Club in [[Perth]], Western Australia was founded by Xavier Susai of Grassroots Comedy,<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-01-10 |title=Grassroots Comedy to deliver a summer of Fringe delights from 'convenient' Northbridge hub |url=https://xpressmag.com.au/grassroots-comedy-to-deliver-a-summer-of-fringe-delights-from-convenient-northbridge-hub/ |access-date=2024-01-13 |website=X-Press Magazine - Entertainment in Perth |language=en-AU}}</ref> during the [[COVID-19 pandemic|COVID-19 Pandemic]], as a safe space for comedians to try new styles and material, without being perceived as an audition for professional comedy nights.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Experimental Comedy Club returns to the Perth comedy scene at Fringe World - Event Information – ArtsHub Australia |url=https://www.artshub.com.au/event/experimental-comedy-club-returns-to-the-perth-comedy-scene-at-fringe-world-2694459/ |access-date=2024-01-13 |website=www.artshub.com.au |language=en-AU}}</ref> Visiting comedians from around the world such as [[Mark Normand]] and [[Stephen K. Amos]] have dropped in to perform at this room.

==Canada==

Canada has a history of embracing alternative stand-up and sketch comedy. [[The ALTdot COMedy Lounge]] has been running for more than 20 years at [[The Rivoli]], where [[The Kids in the Hall]] also had a residency in the mid-1980s.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Semley |first1=John |title=How the Kids in the Hall pioneered an alt-comedy scene at The Rivoli |url=https://nowtoronto.com/art-and-books/books/kids-in-the-hall-and-the-rivoli/ |website=NOW Magazine |language=en-us |date=3 October 2016}}</ref> Other notable alternative comedy shows now defunct included ''Pirate Video Cabaret'' (ended 2003), ''Laugh Sabbath'' and [[The Second City Theater Toronto]]'s ''Sketchy at Best''. Other notable alt acts include Terry Clement, [[Sean Cullen]], [[Jon Dore]], Paul Irving, [[Chris Locke (comedian)|Chris Locke]], [[Levi Macdougall]], [[Ron Sparks (comedian)|Ron Sparks]] and [[Harland Williams]].

==South Africa==

While South African comedy often comprises racial or [[stereotype]]-based humour{{Citation Needed|date=August 2021}}, alternative comedy in South Africa tends to avoid such subject matter. It is hard to define alternative comedy, but subject matter may include taboo, dark, non sequitur, geek, and various other topics, whilst excluding racial, scatological, stereotype, South Africanised humour and other topics considered mainstream. Although comedians of this genre may include mainstream topics, it does not form the majority of their sets.

It is hard to say exactly where it started, but The Underground in Melville Johannesburg was known for its risqué humour proliferated by founder [[John Vlismas]]. The Comedy Underground<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.channel24.co.za/Columnists/Rob-van-Vuuren/The-Comedy-underground-is-dead-20110927|title=The Comedy Underground is dead!}}</ref> was fertile development ground for alternative humour with its anything goes policy. Since its closure in 2010, alternative comedy has found new venues including [[Foxwood theatre]], Picollinos, and various others. Johannesburg remains the home of South African alternative.

One of the driving forces behind the increasing prominence of alternative comedy is the Johannesburg Comedy Cartel,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.joburg.co.za/|title=Joburg.co.za - Events, Restaurants & Bars, Accommodation Guide|website=Joburg}}</ref> whose members include [[Shaun Wewege]],<ref>[http://www.whacked.co.za/index.php/mcs/item/shaun-wewege Shaun Wewege] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130421234255/http://www.whacked.co.za/index.php/mcs/item/shaun-wewege |date=2013-04-21 }}</ref> [[Warren Robertson]], [[Vittorio Leonardi]], and [[Alyn Adams]]. Other South African comedians who fall into the genre include [[Dale Amler]], [[Roni Modimola]], Mark Banks, and Vlismas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2010-05-27-john-vlismas-on-the-post-fifa-apocalypse-sepp-blatter-and-helen-zille|title=John Vlismas on the post-Fifa apocalypse, Sepp Blatter and Helen Zille - Daily Maverick|website=dailymaverick.co.za|date=27 May 2010 }}</ref>

[[Mel Miller (comedian)|Mel Miller]] is arguably considered one of the pioneers of the alternative genre in South Africa. During the [[Apartheid]] era, Miller's material was considered "inappropriate" or radical, resulting in more than one run-in and detention with the [[South African Bureau of State Security]].

==See also==
* [[The Comic Strip]]
* [[The Comedy Store (London)]]
* [[Alternative Cabaret]]
* [[Saturday Live (British TV programme)|''Saturday Live'']]
* [[Luna Lounge]]
* [[The ALTdot COMedy Lounge]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

{{Comedy footer}}

[[Category:Comedy genres]]
[[Category:1980s neologisms]]
[[Category:Stand-up comedy]]