- Title
- Comic investigation and genre-mixing : the television docucomedies of Lawrence Leung, Judith Lucy and Luke McGregor
- Creator
- Speed, Lesley
- Date
- 2020
- Type
- Text; Journal article
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/174275
- Identifier
- vital:14868
- Identifier
-
https://doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2020.1782838
- Identifier
- ISBN:1030-4312 (ISSN)
- Abstract
- In an era in which comedians have been positioned as public commentators, a cycle of Australian television documentaries centres on the premise of a comedian’s investigation of a theme of existential significance. Produced for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, these series are Lawrence Leung’s Choose Your Own Adventure (2009), Judith Lucy’s Spiritual Journey (2011), Judith Lucy is All Woman (2015) and Luke Warm Sex (2016). This article examines the relationship between genre-mixing and cultural commentary in this cycle, which explores themes of life goals and identity, spirituality, gender and sex. Employing conventions of personalized documentary, these docucomedies use performance reflexively to highlight spectacle and explore the humour of awkward situations and contemporary and changing cultural values. Central to each series is the positioning of the comedian as commentator, central participant, therapeutic subject and performer. Using humour to address uncertainties about what is acceptable in today’s society, these docucomedies draw on traditions of Australian screen comedy and non-fiction representation to serve as public pedagogy about twenty-first-century concerns, from spirituality and mediated intimacy to pornography. © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
- Publisher
- Routledge
- Relation
- Continuum Vol. 34, no. 5 (2020), p. 690-702
- Rights
- Metadata is freely available under a CCO license
- Rights
- Copyright © 2020 Informa UK Limited
- Rights
- Open Access
- Subject
- 1902 Film, Television and Digital Media; 2001 Communication and Media Studies; 2002 Cultural Studies; Australian Broadcasting Corporation; comedian; Comedy; Documentary; Television
- Full Text
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