After years spent in dark comedy clubs and cramped rooms above pubs, Mary O’Hara knows what makes her laugh. But what else can a good joke do? She meets the performers and researchers who say that comedy can change how we think and even how we act.

Explore the wonders of the literary world with these five quirky animations.

Do you enjoy watching Shakespeare's plays and like the idea of finding out more about them? This free course, Reading Shakespeare's As You Like It, will guide you through some of the most important speeches and scenes from one of Shakespeare's best-loved comedies.

The Fast Show's Charlie Higson discusses catchphrases.

How do comedians exploit the ambiguities of language in the production of innuendo? Featuring Julian Clary's head-writer, David McGillivray.

How do comedians exploit regional variety in comedy? Sheffield comedian Graham Fellows uses his character John Shuttleworth to illustrate.

What function does comedy serve? What do people in power learn by watching tragedies? In this collection of five animations comedienne Josie Long guides us into the fascinating world of Literary Theory. Along the way we’ll discover two very different types of poet (and lover): The Petrarchan and The Libertine, we’re given insight into the complexity behind the term author and learn the difference between a book and the idea of a book.

This collection was created in conjunction with The Open University course A334 English Literature from Shakespeare to Austen

Enjoy Aristophanes' comic account of one woman's extraordinary method of bringing The Peloponnesian War to an end in this classical studies animation. 

This free course, A short introduction to the English language, will look at the role language plays in our lives, with a particular focus on the English language. It will examine the history and the future of the language, from the Anglo-Saxons and Shakespeare to social media communication and stand-up comedy.