About this session
Date: 14th February 2024
Presenters: Jim Judges & Robert O'Toole
Main follow-up contact: Robert O'Toole
Overview: VR comedy clubs are a real thing! People are now regularly performing, laughing, and sometimes dying on stage, all in a virtual world. Comedians and audience appear as avatars. The latest tech is able to mirror real-world physical gestures to give an increasingly realistic appearance. We are even starting to see the characteristic edgy, fidgety, nervousness of the performer translated into the virtual world. Some comedians use this as a training ground, cheaper and safer than real-world clubs. Some have even become VR specialists. But what if the "intelligence" behind the avatar performing on stage was actually a machine? Could an AI be convincingly funny? Gen-AI can real off jokes that adhere to the common formulas. But could they go further? Will we soon see an artificial comedian winning the Edinburgh Comedy Awards?
Jim Judges should know - he's a technologist, performance researcher, and stand-up comedian. Robert O'Toole is a philosopher, technologist, VR expert, but definitely not a stand-up. This is a recording of their exploration of the possibilities, recorded live on the DAHL stage at Warwick in 2024. By the time you watch it, they may have been replaced by machines.
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Resources and further readings
Record and reflect
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