Editor’s introduction, special issue on ‘the comic audience’

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How has the comic audience changed? This special issue argues that changing distribution and reception contexts should prompt comedy scholars to reexamine the relationships between comedians and their audiences. Working from the premise that the audience is integral to the form and meaning of the comic performance, it offers three lenses for studying the comic audience in 2025: (1) direct address to the audience, (2) comic licence, and (3) persona. Building on existing scholarship in audience studies but incorporating approaches from other fields where relevant, the articles in this special issue examine the comic audience in stand-up, film, photography, podcasting, clowning, and comic writing. By foregrounding address, licence, and persona with attention to live and mediatized performance contexts, this special issue articulates contemporary frameworks for researching the comic audience.