ABSTRACT
Why would someone choose to work in the television comedy industry? What motivates such workers, and how do they go about entering the industry? This chapter examines these questions through analysis of the experiences of a number of people whom the ‘Make Me Laugh’ project followed at the start of their careers, as they took their first steps into working in television comedy. Some of these are people who had worked in other media or cultural forms, and via that work had come to the attention of those already established in the industry; for others working in comedy represented the very start of their creative careers. All of the people discussed here are ones who represent success in this process, with projects they were working on ones which entered production and were broadcast. That said, however, this does not mean this chapter recounts processes that were trouble-free; as will become evident, such achievement requires considerable negotiation, meaning that it may not always be the kind that was hoped for by those involved. A key aim of this chapter is to explore the experiences of people entering the industry. As will be seen, various routes into comedy production are possible, and these may be catalysed by accident, luck, and circumstance. To enter an industry is to be faced with a community of practice whose conventions are established and usually taken for granted by those already within it; to be successful in that industry, therefore, requires making sense of these conventions swiftly, and aligning with them. Howard S. Becker (2008: 5) notes how people require training in order to enter an ‘art world’, and therefore the concomitant need for others to be willing to act as trainers or educators. The evidence on offer here shows that it is existing industry members who typically function as trainers, drawing on their own experiences as material to be passed on to those entering the industry. In that sense, to enter such an industry requires demonstrating your ability to think and act in a manner similar to those already in it, given that espousing critical views on the way things are done is likely to result in damaging working relationships necessary for success.
