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corrective, but this is a complex area and on other occasions humour is used subtly to ‘do’ leadership and influence (Watson & Drew, 2017). Only through such close-grained analysis can the ways in which humour is used to influence and exert power be examined. While humour is often trivialised as unimportant in the social sciences, it is an integral aspect of the human condition and hence deserves serious consideration. The workplace has provided a fruitful arena for the study of humour but it is unusual to devote an entire book to one field. This, of course, constitutes both a strength and a weakness. While it creates the opportunity for an in-depth look at humour and comedy in a single profession, it misses out on cross-comparison with other professions which would add to a sociology of humour in the workplace more broadly. As it is, I was left wondering quite who the reader of this book is intended to be.