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Alternative comedy is a term coined in the 1980s for a style of comedy that makes a conscious break with the mainstream comedic style of an era but can also be found in cartoons. The phrase has had different connotations in different contexts: in the UK, it was used to describe content which was an "alternative" to the mainstream of live comedy, which often involved racist and sexist material. In other contexts, it is the nature of the form that is "alternative", avoiding reliance on a standardised structure of a sequence of jokes with punch lines. 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." In an interview with ''The A.V. Club'' after his performance in the 2011 comedy-drama film ''Young Adult'', Oswalt stated: 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 (). 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. ==United Kingdom== The official history of London's Comedy Store credits comedian and author Tony Allen〔 with coining the term. However, in his autobiography, the late Malcolm Hardee claims to have coined the term in 1978. Alternative comedy came to describe an approach to stand-up comedy that was neither racist nor sexist but free-form and devised by the performers themselves. This style won out in a "civil war" against more traditional comedians who had, initially, also performed at London's Comedy Store, Dean Street, Soho, from its opening in May 1979. Traditional club comedians of the time often relied on jokes targeting women and minorities. The alternative comedy that developed from these clashes was more like comedy's answer to punk. Alexei Sayle, the Comedy Store's first MC, provided angry character comedy satirising the left. Fellow MC Tony Allen broke the taboos of personal and sexual politics, while actor Keith Allen confronted audiences in a fearless series of "put-ons" and was a big influence on the early cabaret scene that was about to emerge. As these newer comics grew in confidence, Tony Allen and Alexi Sayle founded "Alternative Cabaret", 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, 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. The pair also brought alternative stand-up to the Edinburgh Festival for the first time in August 1980 with "Late Night Alternative" at the Heriot-Watt Theatre.〔(Alexei Sayle dot ME )〕 Returning with a full show in 1981, "Alternative Cabaret" was the critical comedy hit of that year.〔 The Comedy Store now advertised itself as "The Home of Alternative Comedy" in London's weekly Entertainment Guide, ''Time Out'', listing "Alternative Cabaret" as its main show. 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.〔 The new comedy got its own section, "Cabaret", in Listings magazines, first in ''City Limits'' followed by ''Time Out'' on 21 January 1983. Other organisations, comics, and entrepreneurs—including Maria Kempinska's 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. Meanwhile, another group of comics left the Comedy Store with Peter Richardson to form The Comic Strip and run their own "Comedy Cabaret" shows at The Boulevard Theatre, Walkers Court, Soho in October 1980. The Comic Strip, featuring double acts and sketch comedy, included Manchester University and Drama School graduates Rik Mayall, Ade Edmondson, Nigel Planer, and French and Saunders, who began to aim their talents at television. As ''The Comic Strip Presents...'', the team made over 40 TV Movies for both Channel 4 and the 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 ''The Young Ones''. However, it was as MC of Channel 4's new comedy show ''Saturday Live'' that Ben Elton found fame 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."〔 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".〔 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. 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.〔 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, Eddie Izzard, Harry Hill, Peter Kay, Jimmy Carr, and Ross Noble. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「alternative comedy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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