The field of humour and religion is growing but stand-up comedy remains a neglected phenomenon within Theology & Religious Studies. We hope that this book will spark people’s interests and encourage others to join – what we believe to be – a much needed conversation.
Dr Nicole Graham, Lecturer in Ethics and Values
04 September 2025
Dr Nicole Graham explores stand-up comedy, theology, and ethics in new book
In her new book, co-authored with Reverend Dr Jacob D. Myers (Columbia Theological Seminary), Dr Nicole Graham, Lecturer in Ethics and Values at King’s Department of Theology & Religious Studies, draws a rare critique of stand-up comedy through theology, religion, and ethics.
The book considers how theological, philosophical, and ethical questions of the past can help to offer fresh perspectives on debates about comic communities, cancel culture, and the socio-political potential of stand-up comedy. From identifying the quasi-sacramental and 'magical quality' of jokes to examining the similarities between the amen in a church and the laughter in a comedy club, this book demonstrates the entanglement of religion and comedy through the ages.
Dr Graham's analysis of comedians draws on themes of building communities, comical targets, exploring cancel culture and addressing the assumption that ethical comedy must always “punch up”.
"By packaging truths in the form of a joke, the message becomes palatable, easily digestible, and satisfying. Stand-up comedy has a tendency to be held to a higher moral standard than other forms of art, such as stories, cartoons, film/television, and other means of persuasion, but the sociopolitical efficacy of stand-up is found in the fact that it offers high risk/high reward. While humour can offend, be misunderstood, or even ignored, when it works, when the audience laughs and “gets” not only the joke but the message behind it, new possibilities of not only breaking down but building up become possible."
Dr Graham's first book, Feminism and the Religious Significance of Laughing Bodies, develops a theorisation of the place of laughter and, by extension, the “non-serious” in religious and ethical thought and offers a feminist exploration of the ethics of the laughing body. Building on this her current research explores how comedy can offer an effective means of shifting our perspective by challenging and changing our vision of the world.
Stand-Up Comedy, Theology, and Ethics is published by Bloomsbury and available to purchase here.
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Lecturer in Ethics and Values