One of UK comedy’s nerdier acts, with an infectious passion for her vocation, stand-up Laura Lexx has created The Comedy Bureau, an academically inclined but accessible podcast in which she and her former university tutor, Dr Oliver Double, discuss the history and theories behind comedy. At a time when the artform is keeping theatres open but struggling for government recognition and financial support, it’s a fond exploration that demands laughter be taken seriously. Equally, it respects comedy’s mystery and magic, never dissecting the metaphorical frog so strenuously that it dies.

From their efforts to identify the first comedian to tackling more modern concerns such as cancel culture, the episodes find the exceptionally well-versed Double (a sometime stand-up with roots in the 1979 emergence of alternative comedy and great reverence for the pioneers of music hall and vaudeville) summoning convincing historical evidence for his arguments. Meanwhile, Lexx establishes a through-line from earlier comics to her own career and that of her peers, highlighting the correspondences and differences.

Although a useful primer for legendary figures such as Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl and Max Miller, the podcast also introduces largely forgotten acts, such as erstwhile radio mainstay Suzette Tarri. Ideas about the essence and importance of comedy are weighed up, from such disparate thinkers as Sigmund Freud, Arthur Koestler and Plato, while Howard Jacobson’s advocacy for the social benefits of Bernard Manning’s racism needs to be heard to be believed.

There’s a collegiate aspect to the pod, with the hosts invariably in agreement and never departing too far from their tutorial format. But Lexx is always quick to ask Double to expand upon the more esoteric or unlikely seeming theories when required.

New episodes of The Comedy Bureau are available every Thursday.