British Stand Up Comedy Archive

The British Stand-Up Comedy Archive at the University of Kent was established in 2013 to celebrate, preserve, and provide access to the archives and records of British stand-up comedy and stand-up comedians. The inspiration for the establishment of this archive was the deposit at the University of the personal archive of the comedian Linda Smith (1958-2006). Other early deposits were from Tony Allen, a pioneer of alternative comedy, Mark Thomas, comedian and political activist, and John Pidgeon, journalist and producer of music and comedy radio programmes. The collections contain audio visual recordings (both off-air recordings and recordings of live events), scripts, publicity material, photographs, press, correspondence, and props.

The archive was established by the University of Kent’s Special Collections and with Dr Oliver Double and the Department of Drama and Theatre at the University of Kent, which runs a Stand-Up Comedy MA programme and a Stand-Up Comedy module as part of its BA Drama and Theatre.

Partially catalogued

Available for consultation at the University of Kent's Special Collections & Archives reading room, Templeman Library, University of Kent, Canterbury, CT2 7NU (specialcollections@kent.ac.uk).

Initial deposits to the British Stand-Up Comedy Archive have been through donations and by the Archivist making approaches to people involved in stand-up comedy. Material has been retained in individual Collections according to the depositor.