Stand-up comedy to the screen: A satirical autoethnographic approach

Disrupting conventional screenwriting practice, several Australian stand-up comedians have used their stand-up comedy personas and material within a satirical autoethnographic approach to develop their narrative television comedy series. Stand-up comedians use autoethnographic tools of personal experience and a critique of cultural beliefs, with a satirical comedic style to develop onstage material. Their unique ‘point of view’ that may challenge societal norms, together with their cultural identity, contributes to their onstage persona. Stand-up comedy has democratized the Australian screen by giving diverse creators a platform to prove their talent and provide proof that there is an audience for their projects. This study examines how Australian stand-up comics, Josh Thomas and Kitty Flanagan, use a satirical autoethnographic approach to critique cultural beliefs, such as those relating to gender, sexuality and age, within their stand-up comedy and further develop their stage personas and material to create their respective narrative television comedy series, Please Like Me (2013–16) and Fisk (2021–22). The author will discuss how she similarly used satirical autoethnography to develop her Melbourne International Comedy Festival show, The MILF Next Door , subverting cultural expectations relating to mature divorced mothers. Finally, the author will discuss how aspects of her show may be developed for narrative television comedy using satirical autoethnographic approaches.