Contextual information Gesticulation is the grammatical equivalent of contextual narrative and so finds a place in this project. I am covering this first as physical actions play an important part in any comedians’ routine, but are not readily apparent on the taped version*. Generally speaking, it can be found in three ways. Firstly, by actually

Using colloquial accents General discourse, communicating directly with the audience, is what makes or breaks a comedian. If you read a humorous sketch – such as ‘Driver-in-Law’ – it is not the words themselves that make you laugh, but the images that they conjure up. In the book form this is somewhat restricted. You can

Tuts Unconscious ‘tuts’ only appear in the first half of his act and are usually preceded by a very short pause and followed by ‘and’ or ‘er(m).’ They may just be used as fillers for time or while he thinks out his next sentence, but there is evidence to suggest that they are possibly mnemonic