If you’re a fan of standup comedy then you will be absolutely familiar with the stereotypical depiction of stand up happening in the basement of a club in front of a bare brick wall. But why are you so familiar with it? Why is that the signature style for stand up comedy?

In the final episode of this series, comedian Laura Lexx and academic Oliver Double discuss the specific circumstances that led to stand up and bricks becoming linked. From basement clubs like The Hungry i to The Improv to televised stand up shows and the bricks becoming iconic – we chart the way bricks and stand up came together out of folk and into our collective memory.

This is the last in the series from The Comedy Bureau and we really hope you have enjoyed these 10 episodes all about different niche facets of comedy. If you have had a good time PLEASE let us know, and let us know if you would appreciate a second series. We are a tiny enterprise – everything you have seen and heard is entirely self-motivated and self-funded and we rely on your sharing, enthusiasm, reviews and downloads to keep going. If you can review, rate, like, subscribe and share we will be incredibly grateful.

If you have ideas for future episodes you would like to see or questions on what you’ve already seen please let us know in the comments! You can follow us on social media The.Comedy.Bureau and you can email us thecomedybureauteam@gmail.com

We hope to see you for a second series very soon. All the best, Laura and Olly x

Our sources for this episode were:

• Friedman, Budd & Whetsell, Tripp (2017), “The Improv: An Oral History of the Comedy Club that Revolutionised Stand-Up”, BenBella Books"

• Gerald Nachman, Seriously Funny: The Rebel Comedians of the 1950s and 1960s (New York: Pantheon, 2003).

• Budd Friedman with Tripp Whetsell, The Improv: An Oral History of the Comedy Club that Revolutionized Stand-Up (Dallas, Texas: Benbella Books, 2017).

• Kliph Nesteroff, The Comedians: Drunks, Thieves, Scoundrel and the History of American Comedy (New York: Grove Press, 2015).

Podcast cover art by Adam Richardson

Artwork for The Comedy Bureau is by Matthew Grant at Tiny Worlds Workshop @tinyworldsworkshop.

Our video editor and credit sequence designer is Lucas Orme.

Music was devised and performed by Olly Double.

Huge thanks to the whole team at Podspike for invaluable advice and help launching and marketing the show.

All media enquiries via Julian Hall textualhealingpr@gmail.com