Books and Chapters

2026

Lockyer, S., Weaver, S. & Rowe, G. (2026) UK Live Comedy Sector Survey Report 2025. Centre for Comedy Studies Research, Live Comedy Association & British Comedy Guide

2025

Elphick, D., Toomey, J., Rowe, G., Lockyer, S., Weaver, S., Boosey, M. & Brown, A. (2025) UK Live Comedy Sector Survey Report 2024. Centre for Comedy Studies Research.

Lockyer, S. (2025) ‘Stand-up Comedy, Disability and Social Justice’. In Double, O. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Stand-up Comedy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 175–188.

Weaver, S. (2025) ‘Stand-up Comedy and Offence’. In Double, O. (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Stand-up Comedy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

2024

Lockyer, S. & Weaver, S. (2024) ‘The Ethics of Humour and Comedy’. In Ford, T.E., Chłopicki, W. & Kuipers, G. (eds.) De Gruyter Handbook of Humor Studies. Berlin: De Gruyter.

2022

Double, O. & Lockyer, S. (eds.) (2022) Alternative Comedy Now and Then: Critical Perspectives. London: Palgrave Macmillan

2021

Weaver, S. (2021) The Rhetoric of Brexit Humour: Comedy, Populism and the EU Referendum. Abingdon: Routledge.

2018

Weaver, S. (2018) ‘Brexit Irony on The Last Leg and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver’. In Webber, J. (ed.) The Joke Is on Us. Lanham: Lexington Books, pp. 65–86.

2014

Lockyer, S. (2014) 'Identity', SAGE Encyclopaedia of Humour Studies, pp. 377-378.

Weaver, S. (2014) ‘Ethnicity and humor’, SAGE Encyclopaedia of Humour Studies, pp. 215–219.

Weaver, S. (2014) ‘Ethnic Jokes’, SAGE Encyclopaedia of Humour Studies, pp. 214–215.

Weaver, S. (2014) ‘Foolstowns’, SAGE Encyclopaedia of Humour Studies, pp. 245–246.

2013

Hunt, L. (2013) Cult British TV Comedy: From Reeves and Mortimer to Psychoville. Manchester and New York: Manchester University Press. 

King, G. (2013) Indie 2.0: Change and Continuity in Contemporary American Indie Film. London: I.B. Tauris.

Lockyer, S. (2013) ‘“Dad’s Army Side to Terrorism”: Chris Morris, Four Lions and Jihad Comedy’. In Leggott, J. & Sexton, J. (eds.) No Known Cure: The Comedy of Chris Morris. London: BFI/Palgrave, pp. 197–211.

Roberts, J.M. (2013) ‘Insult and Devaluation’. In Fahlenbrach, K. et al. (eds.) Protest Cultures. Oxford and New York: Berghahn Books.

Weaver, S. (2013) ‘‘Strangers’, ‘others’ and the unstable metaphors of race representation in liquid modernity: the case of the Gypsy weddings’. In Liquid Sociology. Metaphor in Zygmunt Bauman’s Writings on Modernity. M. Davis (ed.). pp. 121-137. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing.

2012

Malik, S., (2012) The Indian Family on UK Reality Television: Convivial Culture in Salient Contexts, Television and New Media. Online First.

2011

Malik, S. (2011) ‘Mainstreaming Cultural Diversity’. In Cere, R. & Brunt, R. (eds.) Postcolonial Media in Britain. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 41–55.

Weaver, S. (2011) The Rhetoric of Racist Humour: US, UK and Global Race Joking. Farnham: Ashgate Publishing.

2010

Malik, S. (2010) ‘The Dark Side of Hybridity’. In Berghahn, D. & Sternberg, C. (eds.) European Cinema in Motion. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 132–151.

Malik, S. (2010) ‘How Little Britain Does “Race”’. In Lockyer, S. (ed.) Reading Little Britain. London: I.B. Tauris, pp. 75–94.

Wilkin, P. (2010) The Strange Case of Tory Anarchism. Faringdon: Libri Publishing.

2009

Lockyer, S., & Pickering, M. (eds.) (2009) Beyond a Joke: The Limits of Humour. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. 

2008

Hunt, L. (2008) BFI TV Classics: The League of Gentlemen. London, Houndmills and New York: BFI/Palgrave Macmillan.

2004

King, G. (2004) ‘“Killingly Funny”: Mixing modalities in New Hollywood’s comedy-with-violence’. In Schneider, S. (ed.) New Hollywood Violence. Manchester: Manchester University Press, pp. 126–143.

2002

King, G. (2002) Film Comedy. London: Wallflower Press.

Malik, S. (2002) Representing Black Britain: Black and Asian Images on Television. Sage Publications Ltd. ISBN 10: 0761970282; ISBN 13: 9780761970286.

1998

Hunt, L. (1998) British Low Culture: From Safari Suits to Sexploitation. London and New York: Routledge.

Journal Articles

2025

Pinto, B. & Riesch, H. (2025) ‘Does Humor in Popular Science Magazine Articles Increase Information Retention and Receptiveness in Science Education?’, Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society.

Weaver, S., & Lockyer, S. (2025) ‘Intersectionality and the Construction of Humour in Contemporary Stand-up Comedy’, European Journal of Cultural Studies, 28(6): 1551–1569

2023

Lockyer, S. & De Benedictis, S. (2023) ‘Performing Pregnancy: Comic Content, Critique and Ambivalence in Pregnant Stand-up Comedy’, International Journal of Cultural Studies, 26(3), pp. 343–361

2022

Lockyer, S. & Weaver, S. (2022) ‘On the importance of the dynamics of humour and comedy for constructionism and reflexivity in social science research methodology’, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 25(5), pp. 645–657.

2021

Riesch, H. et al. (2021) ‘A Moment of Science, Please’, Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 41(2–3), pp. 46–57.

2020

Lockyer, S. & Savigny, H. (2020) ‘Rape Jokes Aren’t Funny’, Feminist Media Studies, 20(3), pp. 434–449.

2019

Weaver, S. (2019) ‘Brexit Tricksters and the Reconstruction of Taboo’, Comedy Studies, 10(2), pp. 154–166.

2017

Mendel, J. & Riesch, H. (2017) ‘Gadflies Biting Science Communication’, Science Communication, 39(5), pp. 673–684.

Pinto, B. & Riesch, H. (2017) ‘Are audiences receptive to humour in popular science articles?’, Journal of Science Communication.

2016

Weaver, S. & Bradley, L. (2016) ‘Audience perceptions of anti-Muslim racism in The Dictator’, HUMOR, 29(2), pp. 279–300.

Weaver, S. & Mora, R.A. (2016) ‘Introduction: Tricksters, humour and activism’, International Journal of Cultural Studies, 19(5), pp. 479–485. 

Weaver, S., Mora, R.A. & Morgan, K. (2016) ‘Introduction. Gender and humour’, Social Semiotics, 26(3), pp. 227–233. 

Weaver, S. & Ozieranski, P. (2016) ‘New European tricksters’, International Journal of Cultural Studies, 19(5), pp. 577–591.

Lockyer, S. & Popa, D.E. (2016) ‘I Like the Metamorphosis of the Characters’. In International Journal of Communication, 10, pp. 20–41.  

2015

Lockyer, S. (2015) ‘From Comedy Targets to Comedy-Makers’, Disability & Society, 30(9), pp. 1397–1412.

Lockyer, S. (2015) ‘It’s Really Scared of Disability’, Journal of Popular Television, 3(2), pp. 179–193. 

Lockyer, S. (2015) ‘Performance, Expectation, Interaction and Intimacy’, Journal of Popular Culture, 48(3), pp. 586–603. 

Mora, R.A., Weaver, S. & Lindo, L.M. (2015) ‘Editorial for special issue on education and humour’, European Journal of Humour Research, 3(4), pp. 1–8. 

Riesch, H. (2015) ‘Why did the proton cross the road?’, Public Understanding of Science, 24(7), pp. 768–775.

Weaver, S. (2015) ‘The rhetoric of disparagement humor’, HUMOR, 28(2), pp. 327–347. 

2012

Weaver, S. (2012) ‘A rhetorical discourse analysis of online anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic jokes’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 36(3), pp. 483–499.

2011

Lockyer, S. (2011) ‘From Toothpick Legs to Dropping Vaginas’, Comedy Studies, 2(2), pp. 113–123. 

Lockyer, S. & Myers, L. (2011) ‘It’s About Expecting the Unexpected’ Live Stand-up Comedy from the Audiences' Perspective', Participations, 8(2), pp. 165–188.

Weaver, S. (2011) ‘Jokes, rhetoric and embodied racism: a rhetorical discourse analysis of the logics of racist jokes on the internet', Ethnicities, 11(4), pp. 413–435. 

Weaver, S. (2011) ‘Liquid Racism and the Ambiguity of Ali G’, European Journal of Cultural Studies, 14(3), pp. 249–264.

Weaver, S. (2011) ‘Definitions of the humorous in Chris Rock and Russell Peters fan blogs: A discussion of the problem of incongruity’, Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies, 8(2): 257–275. 

King, G. (2011) ‘Striking a Balance Between Culture and Fun: quality meets hitman genre in In Bruges', New Review of Film and Television Studies, 9(2), pp. 132–151.

2010

Hunt, L., (2010) ‘Near the Knuckle? It nearly took my arm off!  British Comedy and the “New Offensiveness”, Comedy Studies pp.181-189. ISSN 2040-610x.

Lockyer, S. (2010) ‘Dynamics of Social Class Contempt in Contemporary British television comedy’, Social Semiotics, 20(2), pp. 121–138

Weaver, S. (2010) ‘Developing a Rhetorical Analysis of Racist Humour: Examining Anti-black Jokes on the Internet’, Social Semiotics 20(5): 537-555.

Weaver, S. (2010)‘The Reverse Discourse and Resistance of Asian Comedians in the West’, Comedy Studies 1(2): 149-157.

Weaver, S. (2010) ‘Liquid Racism and the Danish Prophet Muhammad Cartoons’, Current Sociology 58(5): 675-692.

Weaver, S. (2010) ‘The ‘Other’ Laughs Back: Humour and Resistance in Anti-Racist Comedy’, Sociology 44(1): 31-48.

2009

Chow, BDV (2009) ‘Situations, Happenings, Gatherings, Laughter: Emergent British Stand-up Comedy in Sociopolitical Context’. In Malarcher, J. (ed.) Comedy Tonight! Theatre Symposium Series Vol. 16. Alabama: University of Alabama Press, pp. 121-134.

Lockyer, S., & Attwood, F. (2009) ‘“The Sickest Television Show Ever”: Paedogeddon and the British Press’, Popular Communication: The International Journal of Media and Culture, 7(1): 49–60. 

Wilkin, P. (2009) ‘(Tory) Anarchy in the UK: the Very Peculiar Practice of Tory Anarchism’, Journal of Anarchist Studies, 17(1), pp. 22–44.

2008

Roberts, J.M. (2008) ‘Expressive Free Speech’, Social Movement Studies, 7(2), pp. 101–119. 

Lockyer, S., & Pickering, M. (2008) You Must Be Joking: The Sociological Critique of Humour and Comic Media, Sociology Compass, 2(3): 808-820. 

2004

Roberts, J.M. (2004) ‘From Populist to Political Dialogue’, Cultural Studies, 18(6), pp. 884–910.