Documentary comedy

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Documentary comedy is a form of comedy that combines aspects of stand-up, documentary and traditional story-telling. It is particularly influenced by the observational character of alternative comedy, but with the key difference that the anecdotes recounted are not merely random observations, but are linked together as part of a tongue-in-cheek documentary with a genuine subject: investigating a topical issue or reporting a (usually facetious) quest that the comedian has undertaken, for instance. As in alternative comedy, there is no fourth wall.

Although it subverts the documentary format, it is distinct from mockumentary humour, in which the subject of the purported documentary is fictional and the comedian pretends the documentary is serious.

A noted pioneer of documentary comedy is the British comedian Dave Gorman. His subjects have included astrology (in his show "Dave Gorman's Important Astrology Experiment") and quests to find namesakes ("Are you Dave Gorman?") and googlewhacks ("Dave Gorman's Googlewhack Adventure").