History of Comedy
Comedy has been around since time immemorial – let’s face it, everyone loves a laugh! It appears that even the Ancient Greeks found ways to poke fun at one another, writing poems and songs which joked about stereotypes and the unusual. It looks like nothing has changed.
As comedy progressed through the centuries, it has evolved and branched into several different forms. Many of the historical forms of comedy, such as musical theatre (music halls and vaudeville shows combined humour with performance) and clown comedy (jester and clown performances from the medieval period have developed into circus performances, mime, and perhaps influenced famous characters such as Mr Bean) have been continually reinvented and today can be seen to inspire any number of stand-up comedians, performers, and comic writers. Shakespearean comedy too has never lost its popularity – since it’s inception in the time of Queen Elizabeth I, Shakespeare’s comedies have continuously been performed and reinterpreted.
With the introduction of radio, cinema and television, comedic performances have been able to reach increasingly widening audiences, and have inspired generations to see the funny side of life. Many of our most popular television shows, movies, and performers are classed as comedy or comical – and it’s not hard to see why. With a wider awareness of war, environmental and medical disaster, poverty and suffering, people are in need of escape – and comedy provides just that. It also has the incredible ability to reach across cultures, languages and religions to get to the truly human element of all things, and that is quite simply that people like to laugh.