ABSTRACT
In discussions around art, laughter is notoriously absent. Indeed, a survey of academic literature would hardly lead to the speculation that the more playful sides of humanity existed. However, after researching laughter at Manchester Metropolitan University, I am convinced of its importance within contemporary modes of performance. As well as making audiences active in meaning-making processes, the ‘affective’ dimensions of laughter can interrupt the usual relations that exist between bodies, allowing new forms of collective-life to emerge. Building on recent research on laughter and affect, this Short essay will position comedy as a form of ‘relational’ art. Moving beyond reductive accounts of laughter as a function of stimulus-response, I suggest that comedy is not just about making people laugh, but fielding a charged atmosphere through which new modes of life-living can emerge.
