A talk about what makes PC and un-PC comedy featuring Richard Herring, Bridget Christie and Miranda Sawyer.

“Thing 5” in The House of St Barnabas’ ongoing series, 37 Things You Need to Know about Modern Britain, curated in partnership with London-based cultural consultancy Bug, we take on the slippery subject of what makes us laugh (even when we know it shouldn’t)

Analysing a joke is like dissecting a frog - you don’t learn anything, and the frog dies. But shouldn't we try, at least? From US comedian Daniel Tosh suggesting his audience should rape a heckler

- ‘only a joke’, he said later - to comedy's new legion of stadium-selling stand-ups; from the ROFLs and LOLs driving internet trolls, to the tabloid frenzy over Reginald D. Hunter's use of 'the N word’, we are living in a time where funny is not just big business but a contemporary cultural battleground. 

Do comics have a jester's licence to say anything as long as it's funny? Or are there jokes we SHOULDN'T laugh at?

Bridget Christie – winner of last year’s Fosters Edinburgh Comedy Award with her feminist show ‘A Bic For Her’ and Richard Herring, whose recent shows tear into death, Christ, race and love - will discuss the highs and lows of PC comedy with journalist and broadcaster Miranda Sawyer. 

What’s a Liberal Allowed to Laugh at? takes place on Wednesday 5^th March in the beautiful chapel of The House of St Barnabas.