‘Comedy is the new rock’n’roll!” This line, variously attributed to a defunct listings mag, a member of the Comedy Store Players and Janet Street-Porter, became common currency in the 1990s, when comedy gatecrashed arenas with Newman and Baddiel’s maiden Wembley gig in 1993. Had the art of making people laugh eclipsed – in size, public enthusiasm, cultural cachet – the art of making people groove?
It feels like a quaint conversation in light of the arrival of Oasis’s mega-tour in Edinburgh this month, which triggered panic among standups at the gazumping of their fringe audience. But has comedy returned to playing second fiddle to its sexier, better-loved big brother? Or are such distinctions meaningless in a cultural landscape unrecognisable from the 1990s?
