Funny Business: Disability, Humour, and Performance in Theatre and Drag Spaces

Disability and humour have an uneasy relationship. Research on disability and humour, particularly when concerned with learning-disabled adults, frequently raises questions of comprehension and highlights the potential for ridicule. Yet, we know very little about the role of humour in the lives of learning-disabled adults. Drawing on observations of a theatre group and a drag group for learning-disabled adults, and on interviews with theatre/drag staff and parents of learning-disabled adult children, I recognise learning-disabled adults as instigators, rather than objects, of humour. Humour is a prominent feature of training spaces and serves various functions, including cultivating a sense of belonging and connection. In public performances, the humour activities of learning-disabled adults, and approving reactions of audience members, reassert the agency, capabilities, and humanity of performers. Despite tensions, such as a potential for mockery and exploitation, I recognise how humour is enacted in ways that dismantle a deficit scripting of disabled lives.