Humor
Birthed by Men: Comedy Origin Stories
From the Bible we know that Man created the first comedy, for the Bible tells us so.
Stand-Up (estimated early 4000 BC Garden, Eden)
From the Bible we know that Man created the first comedy, for the Bible tells us so:
“Adam, the First Man, stood in front of Eve, the First but not last ̶V̶i̶c̶t̶i̶m̶ Fan. He told a Story for which She did not Understand the Point of Him Sharing, but after Eve Recognized that Adam had Finally Finished, Relief Washed over Her and She Released a Sigh that was Mistaken for a Laugh. And so, Adam was Filled with Joy and Told this Story Over and Over again until Eve became Desperate for Change and thus Soiled Herself by Hiding under an Apple Tree and Listened to a Snake because the Snake Tempted Her with New (but Sacrilegious!) stories.”
This genesis of comedy continues today, though concerns regarding the purity of form emerged once the female comediennes permeated the field.
Improv (term coined 391 BC Rome, Italy)
Historical records confirm a woman inspired this popular form of comedy, though only technically. The wife of Theodosius the Great was a reluctant patron of the arts, demanding more consistency from the theater in exchange for financial backing. Theodosius’s wife observed that by Act II, actors belched barely intelligible lines before total chaos ensued; by Act III, scripts were tossed in lieu of impromptu on-stage sex simulations.
Directors of the time encouraged their theater troupes to imbibe backstage bucket wine as a mechanism to forget their low and erratically paid wages. Rather than enforce sobriety upon thespians and risk paying them a livable wage, the Great Roman Director created the term “improvisational theater” and thus answered Mrs. Theodosius’s demand with an artfully underhanded “No”.
The actors continued their bucket wine endeavors and drunken chaos was repackaged as an art form. Unfortunately, the name of this innovative director remains unknown due to copious wine stains obscuring the majority of Rome’s theater archives.
Knock-Knock (1626 Versailles, France)
The Renaissance disseminated social progress to the masses, yet the daily lives of women changed little, and domestic violence was still considered to be a “family issue”. But as ideas of “humanism” and “individualism” ran rampant, the womenfolk began hitting their husbands back and local Watchmen cautioned leaders that a female uprising was nigh. Kings of every country implored philosophers to craft lighthearted turns of phrase for the public to use whenever that thorny topic of hitting women arose.
Inspiration struck on day four of the Versailles Salon of 1626 after René Descartes read aloud Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Co-opting the lines “Knock, knock! Who’s there, i’ the name of Beelzebub?” when referring to domestic violence was a stylish method to remind the culturally enlightened Europeans that a man’s duty was to continue knocking the Devil out of women. The Knock-Knock joke remains one of the most carefree forms of comedy today.
Ventriloquism (earliest record 1754 Manchester, England)
Time immemorial, men have struggled to secure safe settings for sharing their most sensitive truths, and unsheathing one’s penis while throwing their voice so that onlookers believe the penis is speaking has become a lost art.
Due to increasingly strict morality clauses in the entertainment industry, 1964 saw its last ventriloquist act where the original prop of a human penis was utilized rather than the wood dolls audiences are accustomed to seeing onstage today.
Fun fact: The infamous line “Say hello to my little friend!” was borrowed from Mr. Richard Johnson’s last New York appearance where he gesticulated shooting the audience with his genitalia before being escorted out of Café Au Go Go by police. A young Oliver Stone was in attendance and this moment seared into his memory, providing character development content for his 1983 Scarface screenplay. Truly great comedy transcends genre!
Slapstick (origin disputed, but definitely created by men)
Being the more physically expressive sex, there is slim doubt that men created it. Men cannot be limited to communicating verbally. Words fail them, often. The poking of your enemy’s eyes, the exaggerated spanking of an insolent woman, is far more effective than using words.
The physicality of men is a gift to the comedy world and Charlie Chaplin is considered the master of this form. He is a true credit to the human race. He is iconic; his legacy proceeds one’s actual informed education of his life. And no, there is no reason to discuss his innocent little habit of having sex with underage girls. It was a different time!
