Help & support the site

This page is the practical side of AltComedy.com: how to find things, how to change the way the site looks, how to tell us when we've got something wrong, and how you can help an independent, ad-supported site about alternative comedy keep going. None of it costs anything. We don't take donations or sell memberships, so if anyone ever asks you to pay "for AltComedy", it isn't us.

Finding your way around

The menu at the top of every page has five sections. On a phone, tap the menu button (three lines) to open it.

• History & Scenes: where alternative comedy came from, era by era and city by city.
• Comedians: profiles of the people who shaped it, with suggestions on where to start.
• Shows & Specials: guides and rankings of series, specials, albums and sketches.
• Craft & Career: practical guides for people making comedy.
• Essays & Ideas: longer pieces on how and why comedy works.

Inside articles, a few things help you move around:

• "On this page" lists every section of a long article. On a wide screen it sits beside the text and highlights where you are; on a phone it's a collapsible list near the top.
• Breadcrumbs above each headline show which section a page belongs to. Tap any of them to go up a level.
• "Keep reading" cards at the end of each article point to closely related pages.

Searching the site

Search is the fastest way to find a comedian, show or topic. To open it:

• press / on any page, or
• press Ctrl+K (Cmd+K on a Mac), or
• click or tap the magnifying-glass button in the header.

Start typing and results appear as you go. Press Enter to open the top result, use the arrow keys to move through the list, and press Esc to close the search box.

Dark mode and display

AltComedy.com follows your device's light or dark setting automatically. To switch manually, use the theme button (the moon icon) in the header. Your choice is remembered on your device for future visits; nothing is sent to us. If you clear your browser's site data, the site goes back to following your device setting.

A few other display notes:

• Text resizes with your browser's zoom (Ctrl or Cmd plus + and −), and the layout adjusts to fit.
• If your device is set to reduce motion, the site turns off its transitions.
• Pages print cleanly: the header, menu, footer, table of contents and related links are left out of the printed version, so you get the article itself.

For everything we do to make the site usable with assistive technology, see our accessibility statement.

If something isn't working

Most display problems are fixed by refreshing the page or updating your browser. If that doesn't help:

• Search doesn't open or shows no results: check that JavaScript is enabled, and that a content blocker isn't blocking the site's own files.
• The page looks broken or unstyled: try a hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R, or Cmd+Shift+R on a Mac).
• You keep seeing the consent message: it reappears if your browser deletes cookies when it closes. That's expected behaviour; see our cookie policy.
• A link is broken: please report it (see below).

Still stuck? Tell us through the contact form with the page address, your browser and device, and what you saw.

Report an error

Accuracy matters to us more than almost anything else. If you spot a wrong date, a misattributed credit, a misspelled name, a show that has moved to a different streaming service or a broken link, please tell us:

1. Open the contact form and choose Correction as the topic.
2. Include the page address and the specific sentence or detail that's wrong.
3. If you can, add a source, such as an official site, a broadcaster's listing or a reliable reference.

We check every report. If we got it wrong, we fix the page and update its date. Our full corrections policy is in our editorial standards.

Suggest a comedian or topic

We'd love to know who and what we're missing: a comedian everyone in your local scene talks about, a cult special nobody's written about properly, a sketch group we've overlooked, or a question you couldn't find answered anywhere. Use the contact form and choose Suggest a comedian or topic.

The most useful suggestions tell us:

• who or what it is, with a link to their official site, a special or a clip;
• why it matters, in a sentence or two;
• where people can watch or hear it.

We can't promise to cover every suggestion, and we decide coverage on editorial grounds alone, but suggestions do shape what we write next. Comedians are welcome to tell us about their own work the same way. We don't charge for coverage and don't accept payment for it.

How to support the site

AltComedy.com is free to read and funded by advertising. There's no paywall, no membership and no donation button, and we'd like to keep it that way. If you find the site useful, here's how to help:

Share what you like

The single most helpful thing you can do is send a page to someone who'd enjoy it. Post a link in a group chat, a forum thread or on social media when someone asks "where do I start with Maria Bamford?" or "what was Mr. Show?". Linking to us from your own blog or site helps people find us too.

Allow ads on AltComedy.com

Ads are how the site pays for itself. If you use an ad blocker, consider adding altcomedy.com to its allowlist (sometimes called "trusted sites" or "pause on this site"). We keep ads separate from articles and labelled, and you can control personalisation through the consent message, Google Ads Settings and the options in our privacy policy. Please don't click ads just to support us, though; it can get the site penalised.

Send us tips and corrections

Readers with deep knowledge of a scene, a comedian's catalogue or a city's venues make the site better. Every correction and good suggestion you send through the contact form improves the site for everyone who reads it after you.

Keep reading

It sounds obvious, but return visits, browsing past the first page and reading articles to the end all help. Bookmark the pages you come back to, and check the "Updated" date on articles we revise. If a page helped you decide what to watch next, or settled an argument about who really invented anti-comedy, that's exactly what it's for.

Frequently asked questions

Can I donate to AltComedy.com or become a member?

No. We don't take donations and there are no paid memberships. The site is funded by advertising, so the best support is simply reading, sharing and allowing our ads.

Does AltComedy.com have a newsletter or app?

No. The site is the whole thing: it works in any modern browser on phones, tablets and computers, and you can bookmark the pages you like.

Why can't I find a comedian on the site?

We don't cover everyone yet. Try the search (press / or Ctrl+K), browse the Comedians section, and if they're still missing, suggest them through the contact form.