This traces the origins of comedy and humor from the Greek plays through to modern must-watch classics like 'The Simpsons'. It's part of my Google Knol "HOW TO LOL" which can be read here: * http://knol.google.com/k/twain/how-to-lol/31fjy9fjsu1x2/25 * http://www.scribd.com/doc/13251840/Comedy-Genres-A-Twain-Guide
Created by Twain on Mar 14, 2009
Last updated: 03/03/10 at 03:41 PM
Tags: comedy LOL. satire Twain improvisation Charlie Chaplin Greek comedy Shakespeare screwball comedy Woody Allen Robin Williams Billy Crystal Jackie Chan Eddie Murphy Moliere Dante
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Originally presented by Craig Kilborn between 1996 and 1998, this political satire has been helmed by Jon Stewart since 1998.
http://www.mahalo.com/The_Daily_Show
Originally, the Simpons appeared as a series of short animation sketches on the 'Tracey Ullman' show.
Ullman is a successful British comedienne and now producer for HBO.
http://www.simpsoncrazy.com/downloads/shorts.shtml
In November 2008, it was announced the Dead Parrot sketch is 1600 years old. William Berg, an American professor of Classics, traced it back to the works of Hierocles and Philagrius. In the 4th century AD, they wrote a collection of 265 jokes called Philogelos: The Laugh Addict.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/3454319/Dead-Parrot-sketch-is-1600-years-old.html
This film about a delusional commander, who initiates a nuclear war in a bunker, stars Peter Sellers in an Oscar-nominated role.
http://www.visual-memory.co.uk/amk/doc/0055.html
The idea of BBC producer, Ned Sherrin, this satirical show has influenced an entire generation after it. It was the platform which launched David Frost. It also established the careers of Roy Kinnear, Millicent Martin, Lance Percival and Willie Rushton. Famous writers who worked on the sketches included: Christopher Brooker, Graeme Chapman, Michael Frayn ("Copenhagen"), Clement Freud, Richard Ingrams (of Private Eye fame), David Nobbs, Bill Oddie (later of "The Goodies'), Dennis Potter ('Singing Detective") and Keith Waterhouse.
http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/583651/index.html
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were solo comedy performers until the producer Hal Roach paired them together.
http://www.laurel-and-hardy.com/
In this film, Chaplin plays a charming swindler called Edgar English who catches the attentions of the Keystone Kops.
http://chaplin.bfi.org.uk/resources/bfi/filmog/film.php?fid=59439
The fictional character of de Bergerac, a French soldier and poetic wit with an abnormally large nose, was based on Hector Savinien de Cyrano de Bergerac, a French dramatist (6 March 1619 – 28 July 1655).
http://www.cyranodebergerac.fr/
Arguably Wilde's most well-known and successful play, this centers around a comical case of mistaken identities and deliberate attempts by various parties to hide their true identities in the search for true love.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3557333/How-The-Importance-of-Being-Earnest-got-its-name.html
Later translated as 'The Pretentious Ladies', this play satirized Madame de Rambouillet, a member of King Louis XIV's court who had set herself up as the final judge of taste and culture in Paris, and other women like her.
http://www.us.archive.org/GnuBook/?id=molireslespr00moliuoft#19
This is Shakespeare's shortest play by number of lines. It tells the comical tale of Aegeon, a Syracusan merchant, who has been apprehended under Ephesian law and is sentenced to death since he doesn't have the money to pay his own ransom. When he is asked how he has come to be in Ephesus, Aegeon recounts how he fathered twin boys, both named Antipholus. Simultaneously, a poor woman nearby had given birth to twin boys, both named Dromio. Since she couldn't raise those boys, Aegeon bought them as servants for his sons. Years later, events cause them to mix up the sons' identities in a comical manner.
http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/errors/
The poet and dramatist wrote this didactic poem in praise of diligence. It's about the troubles experienced by a young couple, following on marriage. They are visited by Care, Need, Discomfort, and other personages common to medieval allegories to make them see the absurdities of their situation. Gringoire was a key founder and member of Confrérie des Enfants Sans Souci or Sots, a famous comedic acting troupe. He later made an appearance as a main character in Victor Hugo's 1831 novel, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, as well as the 1866 short dramatic play by Théodore de Banville called 'Gringoire'.
http://www.evene.fr/celebre/biographie/pierre-gringoire-2652.php
The exact history of India's travelling mimics, comics and jesters is not precisely known. Some say they trace back to the Mughal Empire which began in 1526 and lasted until the late 17th century. Others believe they arrived in India with Timur-leng (Tamburlaine), who invaded India in 1398. They are also said to be mentioned in Vatsyayana’s Kamasutra.
http://www.indianetzone.com/5/indian_comedy_humor.htm
The book of prose is divided into three sections:
* Inferno
* Purgatorio
* Paradiso.
Each one of these sections is divided into thirty-three cantos (except Inferno, which has thirty-four cantos), which are written in tercets (three line constructs).
The number three is significant because it as religious associations; the Father (God), Son (Jesus), and Holy Ghost form the Trinity.
The Divine Comedy explores man's trials, tempations and tribulations on his path towards Enlightenment and virtue.
http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=78793250
The mythical character of Li T'ieh-kuai, also known as "Iron Crutch Li" is thought to be an early example of Chinese satire and a comedy of manners.
Our modern word for comedy derives from the ancient Greek "komoidia" which found its place in the Dionysia.
Comedy theater underwent a period of flux and a lack of financing after the Peloponnesian War (404 BCE) and the victory of the Spartans which meant the culture of Athens changed.
The only surviving complete examples of Old Greek Comedy are to be found in the works of Aristophanes.
http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/clasdram/chapters/081earlygkcom.htm
Aristotle was born in Stagira in north Greece, the son of Nichomachus, the court physician to the Macedonian royal family. He was trained first in medicine, and then in 367 he was sent to Athens to study philosophy with Plato.
Where Aristotle differed most sharply from medieval and modern thinkers was in his belief that the universe had never had a beginning and would never end; it was eternal.
http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/poetics.1.1.html
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