Vanessa Pope, postdoc on the COSMOS project, has published a new methodology for analysing timing in performed speech in PNAS Nexus: https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/5/1/pgaf394/8431144.

Vanessa C Pope, Rebecca Stewart, Elaine Chew, Timing structures in live comedy: A matched-sequence approach to mapping performance dynamics, PNAS Nexus, Volume 5, Issue 1, January 2026, pgaf394, https://doi.org/10.1093/pnasnexus/pgaf394

Inspired by analyses of timing in music, Vanessa presents a framework, called Topology Analysis of Matching Sequences (TAMS), that algorithmically detects repeated material across performances and maps its timing to visualize performance dynamics. The authors applied TAMS to audio recordings from two professional stand-up comedians’ tours in the United Kingdom, analyzing multiple performances between 2017 and 2018. 

TAMS revealed structural features, including consistently-placed new material at the start of the show and dense sections of tightly-timed repeated content forming what the authors call content pillars. Hesitant sounds and apparent errors were used by both comedians as part of their recurring delivery. 

The methodology can be extended to analyze other repeated speech forms and performance types including theater, dance, and music, and can highlight the diversity and skill of live artistic performance at a time when working artists face pressure from generative AI.

The full press release is available on EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1112561.