Why LMAOnaise made a print comedy newspaper
Some of LMAOnaise’s fans and stars. (clockwise from top left: Chris Cantrill, Rosalie Minnitt, Kate Cheka, Su Mi)
By Zoe Paskett, editor
LMAOnaise’s first ever print newspaper showcasing the best of the UK’s up-and-coming comedy is officially here! So I thought I’d fill you in on why I decided to do it.
Whenever I tell anyone what I do, the first question is always: “who’s your favourite comedian?” and my response is unfailingly to forget every single comedian I’ve ever seen. (It literally happened to me yesterday.)
Before anyone slows down and yells FRAUD out the car window before speeding away, this is not an indication that I am bad at this, it is the opposite, actually. It’s because I see and love so much comedy that I can’t hold all the information stable in my sad little brain.
So, I devised an efficient solution: I would spend three months using every second of my spare time outside work when I could be going on dates or learning to cook something other than lasagne making a newspaper.
That way, when anyone asks me which comedians I love, I can say: READ THIS.
There are some other more important reasons as well and here they are.
To show UK comedy the way I know and love it
When I read about comedy in what I will refer to from here on out as The News, I don’t really recognise it. It's often overwhelmingly white and male, it's famous people, the ones who have made it already. If you were to exclusively read about comedy in The News, you'd think there are like a handful of stand-up comics who have miraculously made it to the telly overnight and that's what comedy is.
Obviously it isn't true. But there's this idea in arts journalism (I presume because of the internet and its clicks) that people don't want to read about people who aren't already famous. Which is absolute nonsense. As we are seeing all over with media now, the niches are where the readers are. People want to be written to by people who know what they're talking about, not written at about things they could read on wikipedia.
During the Edinburgh Fringe, it’s obvious that there's an audience for non-mainstream or non-famous comedy. At live podcast recordings, it's obvious. At regular mixed bill nights that sell out month after month, it’s obvious. My favourite comedy nights are those ones that show stand-up, sketch, character comedy, clowning, drag, cabaret… all in the same space. You get an evening that’s intimate and experimental and only happens once and that makes it magic. But that’s not what you see on the telly.
And it's why I struggle when people ask my favourite comedians — more than likely, I'm going to say someone they haven't heard of.
None of this is to say that I don't like what I see on the telly. I like SO MUCH of it! Some of them are people I was raving about years ago and will support forever. But they have platforms now they didn’t have earlier on in their career. It's the people without those platforms yet that I'm interested in shining the spotlight on. I want people to see the exciting vibrant scene I know and love.
THAT'S what I and so many people want from live comedy. THAT'S what's inside these pages.
To take a snapshot of comedy now
This newspaper isn't a definitive guide to live comedy in the UK. It couldn't be! That would be a whole book (which I'd be fine writing by the way if any publishers are listening…). But it IS a snapshot of comedy right now. It's exactly what my and a lot of people's experience is of comedy.
I’d like people to take this snapshot and zoom out. Read this newspaper, get to know these comedians, follow them, and from there you can see who they like and recommend. That’s how I’ve cultivated my knowledge of comedy over the last 13 years. Think of this as a bag of flower seeds. Yes, I present you with a little bag of flower seeds. You will sprinkle them in the garden of your mind and they will grow up and birds and small rodents will come along and spread their seeds all around your mind garden until it is a thriving wild meadow.
Yes, that metaphor works perfectly.
It’s also tangible proof that this all happened! It's a historical document that exists in the physical world. Which takes me on to…
To have and to hold
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: the internet is too big. There is too much on it and I don't know where anything is!
Not to invalidate the entire venture of LMAOnaise up until now as an internet BRAND, but we all know that being able to hold something in your hands is special. It just is.
I want you to read it 10 times and have it on the coffee table for guests to thumb through.
But then maybe you’ll put it in a box and find it when you move house in a few years and read it again with a nostalgic tear in your eye. Ideally you'd frame sections of it and hang it in the guest toilet (if you are a billionaire and have one of those). Maybe you'll use it to make papier mache with your nephew for a school art project. Or you'll cut out the letters to make a ransom note.
The world is your oyster — the only thing is, I want you to think twice before throwing it in the bin.
To make people happy
Sue me! I like spreading joy!
I am so proud of what has resulted. Please buy one! If you do, it will mean we can make a second edition with even MORE amazing people inside! If you have one already, please tell your friends and colleagues to buy them! I’ve made it so easy. You just click here.
