Tim Miles: No laughing matter? Why comedy is important to higher education

What this episode covers

1 April 2015 Studying comedy offers us fascinating insights and important possibilities. The talk will explore a path through evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, health care, pedagogy, cultural anthology, the performing arts, and other academic fields, looking at the work of comedy and humour scholars. The talk will also briefly look at stand-up comedy, and Tim's doctoral research in which he argued that laughter rarely has much to do with anything being objectively funny, but is more connected to human relationships. Dr Tim Miles wrote jokes for BBC radio as an undergraduate, subsequently running his own comedy club booking the then unknown Al Murray and Graham Norton. Having taught in Higher Education for ten years he was awarded a PhD by the University of Surrey in 2014, his doctoral research examining ways of analysing live stand-up comedy.

Distinct summary based on available episode metadata or transcript content.