Comedy

Volume VII, Number 1 | winter 2014

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Preamble

The Solid Nonpareil

By Lewis H. Lapham

From Mesopotamia to Mark Twain, the question has remained the same for thousands of years—who’s laughing now?

Black and white photograph of Mark Twain sitting between two men.

Essay

Once Upon a Time in the West

By Ben Tarnoff

How a simple story of a man and his talented frog made Mark Twain a national celebrity.

Map showing comedic theater tropes from around the world.

Map

The Human Comedy

Theatrical fools and buffoons from around the world and across time.

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Miscellany

Gioachino Rossini was known to possess strong opinions about other composers. “Wagner has some fine moments,” he estimated, “but some bad quarters of an hour.” After hearing Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, he remarked, “What a good thing it isn’t music.”

Voices In Time

1963 | Los Angeles

Lenny Bruce Loses the Crowd

“Do you mind being called a sick comic?”More

Voices In Time

1896 | London

Sense and Nonsense

“Babies cannot manage crocodiles.”More

Voices In Time

1456 | Paris

Last Testament

François Villon writes his will and burns a few bridges.More

Charts & Graphs

Six famous clowns in history: Publilius, Tarlton, Grimaldi, Rice, Grock, Bergen

Comic Relief

Clowns, jesters, and other performers.

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Oil painting portrair Michel de Montaigne in red robes and white collar

Engraving of William Shakespeare from the first folio edition.

Painting of Jean de la Bruyère wearing a red cape.

Contributors

Ukrainian-born Russian novelist Nikolai Gogol.

Samuel Beckett, 1977. Photograph by Roger Pic.

Some things are privileged from jest—namely, religion, matters of state, great persons, all men’s present business of importance, and any case that deserves pity.

—Francis Bacon, 1597