The Oxford Comedy Archive

UPDATE - The Archive has an in-person museum exhibit!

​

We were honoured to work with the Museum of Oxford on the temporary exhibition 'Ronnie Barker - Oxford's Comedy Legend'! See rare artefacts, photos and props from Barker's life, and explore the role Oxford’s venues have played in the city’s comedy history. With interviews straight from our Comedy Archive, and contributions from the Oxford Revue, Oxford Imps and Undercover Comedy, this exhibition isn’t one to miss - you have until April 19th!

***

​

[This website is optimised for desktop] 

The Oxford Comedy Archive is a unique online museum for the last 70 years of Oxford-associated comedy.

 

The city's comedy heritage is well-known, yet other publications tend to skim over important details or reproduce inaccurate information. The Archive thus acts as the first definitive account of some of the most interesting periods of Oxford's recent cultural history - from the origins of 'Beyond The Fringe', to the rise of Monty Python and Rowan Atkinson, to the Internet fame of the 'Gap Yah' sketch.

Here, you will find a wealth of rare audio recordings from the 1950s to the present day, many of which have never been legally published anywhere before. 102 highlight clips are found in the seven main 'exhibits', while the 'Library' contains many complete shows. The Archive also includes over 11 hours of world-exclusive audio interviews with the people who were actually there, along with a snapshot into Oxford's present-day stand-up scene ('City 2023'). 

 

We hope to show how UK culture has progressed via an all-important lens - young people and what they did to make each other laugh. We also discuss how Oxford alumni have changed British entertainment, and whether said influence is even warranted.

​

The Oxford Comedy Archive will be updated with new content over time, so check back for more exhibits soon! For further information or enquiry, contact rainstopsplayproductions@gmail.com.

​

The Archive contains foul language, and references to sex, violence, drugs and discrimination throughout. Some material in the 'Library' contains uncensored discriminatory language and depictions. As an accurate record of the past, it is important for this collection to acknowledge and discuss the impact of this content - as, in many ways, we are yet to properly learn from it.