Mockumentary Comedy Performing Authenticity [Hardcover]

This book is the first to take comedy seriously as an important aspect of the popular mockumentary form of film and television fiction. It examines the ways in which mockumentary films and television programmes make visiblethrough comedythe performances that underpin straight documentaries and many of our public figures. Mockumentary Comedy focuses on the rock star and the politician, two figures that regularly feature as mockumentary subjects. These public figures are explored through detailed textual analyses of a range of film and television comedies, including A Hard Days Night, This is Spinal Tap, The Thick of It, Veep and the works of Christopher Guest and Alison Jackson. This book broadens the scope of existing mockumentary scholarship by taking comedy seriously in a sustained way for the first time. It ultimately argues that the comedic performancesby performers and of documentary conventionsare central to the forms critical significance and popular appeal. 

Richard Wallace is Assistant Professor in the Department of Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick, UK.