For Murochi: A Biased History of American Comedy

heavily edited from wikipedia and other sources

Roots and Genres

Burlesque

Burlesque is a "grotesque imitation of the dignified or pathetic" or "a literary/musical or other caricature". It is a very old form that can be traced back to the Greeks, and many examples exist in Shakespeare.

Slapstick

Slapstick uses exaggerated violence and being outside of common sense. includes Physical comedy,which uses the body to convey humour.

Sitcoms use slapstick mostly as comic relief during serious or intimate scenes, not for plot.

Famous Slapstick

Mack Sennett and Hal Roach and featuring such notables as Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, the Marx Brothers, the Keystone Kops, the Three Stooges

Buster Keaton, The Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, Lucille Ball, Martin Short, Don Knotts, Jerry Lewis, Ken Berry, Dick van Dyke's character "Rob Petrie" on The Dick Van Dyke Show, Ensign Charles "Chuck" Parker (Tim Conway) on McHale's Navy, John Ritter's character "Jack Tripper" on Three's Company, Jim Carrey's character "Ace Ventura", Michael Richards's character "Cosmo Kramer" on Seinfeld, Dustin Diamond's character "Samuel 'Screech' Powers" on Saved by the Bell, Jim Varney's character "Ernest P. Worrell", Chris Farley, Rowan Atkinson's "Mr. Bean", Johnny Lever, Jaleel White's character "Steve Urkel" on Family Matters, and Benny Hill are all examples of comedians who employ physical comedy as a medium for their characters. Charlie Chaplin started his film career as a physical comedian; although he developed additional means of comic expression, Chaplin's mature works continued to contain elements of slapstick.

Victorian Burlesque

In the Victorian era,   from about the 1830-1890, this became a kind of theater called Victorian Theatrical Burlesque.

It took the form of musical theatre parody in which a well-known opera, play or ballet was adapted into a broad comic play, usually a musical play, often risqué in style, mocking the theatrical and musical conventions and styles of the original work, and quoting or pastiching text or music from the original work.

Victorian Burlesque eventually was replaced by Edwardian musical comedy

American Burlesque

Victorian Burlesque was brought to America in the 1840's and became popular as American Burlesque in the 1860's. It represents a kind of working-class entertainment (confusingly called vaudeville in Britain). Originally similar to the British form, it slowly distinguished itself by introducing racier elements like risqué comedy, acrobatics, magic, and notably the striptease.

Comics who appeared in burlesque early in their careers included:

• Fanny Brice (radio comedienne, Barbara Streisand made her famous to modern audiences through the biographical play and movie Funny Girl),
• Mae West (early stage and movie comedienne and singer. famous for teasing double entendres),
• Eddie Cantor (household name in the age of radio, first to sing " Santa Claus Is Coming to Town")
• Abbott and Costello (first and arguably best comedy team ever),
• W. C. Fields (sarcastic drunken curmudegeon, hated kids and dogs.),
  Jackie Gleason (His TV shows The Honeymooners was one of the first TV sitcoms, and lasted just about forever and was watched by all.)
• Danny Thomas (later TV show was very popular. Family style, maybe a precursor to Dick Van Dyke or Full House style)
• Al Jolson ( "The World's Greatest Entertainer", "Jolson was to jazz, blues, and ragtime what Elvis Presley was to rock 'n' roll" Star of the first talking movie, the Jazz Singer. Author Stephen Banfield said Jolson's style was "arguably the single most important factor in defining the modern musical . . ."[ )
  
  "During his time he was the best known and most popular all-around entertainer America (and probably the world) has ever known, captivating audiences in the theatre and becoming an attraction on records, radio, and in films. He opened the ears of white audiences to the existence of musical forms alien to their previous understanding and experience ... and helped prepare the way for others who would bring a more realistic and sympathetic touch to black musical traditions."[75]
  
  
• Bert Lahr (The lion in the wizard of OZ)
• Phil Silvers ( Slapstick comedian. "The King of Chutzpah." The Phil Silvers Show, was the top TV show of the late 1950s set on a U.S. Army post as scheming "Sargeant Bilko". Originally shot live, it switched format, a significant change for TV. He later made many many "wacky" style movies.)
• Sid Caesar (standup, TV movie,
• Danny Kaye (Popular Singer/Comedian/mime in countless movies including Hans Christian Anderson. Apparently his distinctive style was born after having to perform during a blackout from a hurricane in Osaka in 1934.

While the group was in Osaka, Japan, a hurricane hit the city. The hotel Kaye and his colleagues stayed in suffered heavy damage; a piece of the hotel's cornice was hurled into Kaye's room by the strong wind, nearly killing him. By performance time that evening, the city was still in the grip of the storm. There was no power and the audience had become understandably restless and nervous. To keep everyone calm, Kaye went on stage, his face lit by a flashlight, and sang every song he could recall as loudly as he was able.[3] The experience of trying to entertain audiences who did not speak English is what brought him to the pantomimes, gestures, songs and facial expressions which eventually made him famous.[4][8]

• Red Skelton (TV and radio and film Master Clown and mime)
• Sophie Tucker ("The Last of the Red Hot Mamas." popularized black american music.)
• Fred Allen  (radio wise guy, comic sparring partner to Jack Benny (America's first stand-up comedian.))
  

The hour-long [  Town Hall Tonight ] featured segments that would influence radio and, much later, television; news satires such as Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In's "Laugh-In Looks at the News" and Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" were influenced by Town Hall Tonight's "The News Reel", later renamed "Town Hall News" (and in 1939–40, as a sop to his sponsor, "Ipana News"). The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson's "Mighty Carson Art Players" routines referenced Allen's Mighty Allen Art Players, in name and sometimes in routines. Allen and company also satirized popular musical comedies and films of the day, including and especially Oklahoma!. Allen also did semi-satirical interpretations of well-known lives – including his own. The show that became Town Hall Tonight was the longest-running hour-long comedy-based show in classic radio history.

All of these later became central figures in American comedy theater, movies, and TV.

Burlesque ended as prohibition stopped alcohol. The movie  The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) portrays some of the flavor of burlesque.

Vaudeville/Music Hall

Music Hall, or more generally Variety, features a variety of acts, especially musical performances and sketch comedy, and normally introduced by a compère (master of ceremonies) or host. Other types of acts include magic, animal and circus acts, acrobatics, juggling and ventriloquism. Music Hall gradually evolved from the concert saloon and variety hall into its mature form throughout the 1870s and 1880s. In the US, this became known as Vaudeville. In contrast to burlesque, vaudeville usually had mixed-gender audience, alcohol-free halls, and an intentional middle class appeal:

In the early 1880s, impresario Tony Pastor, a circus ringmaster turned theatre manager, capitalized on middle class sensibilities and spending power when he began to feature "polite" variety programs in several of his New York City theatres. The usual date given for the "birth" of vaudeville is October 24, 1881, when Pastor famously staged the first bill of self-proclaimed "clean" vaudeville in New York City. Hoping to draw a potential audience from female and family-based shopping traffic uptown, Pastor barred the sale of liquor in his theatres, eliminated bawdy material from his shows, and offered gifts of coal and hams to attendees. Pastor's experiment proved successful, and other managers soon followed suit.

Called "the heart of American show business," [American] vaudeville was one of the most popular types of entertainment in North America for several decades.[1]

These started as performances in pubs, which eventually became more elaborate and diverse.

• A music hall with a 'memory man' act provides a pivotal plot device in the classic 1935 Alfred Hitchcock thriller The 39 Steps.[43
• Charlie Chaplin's 1952 film Limelight, set in 1914 London, evokes the music hall world of Chaplin's youth where he performed as comedian before he achieved worldwide celebrity as a film star in America. The film depicts the last performance of a washed-up music hall clown called Calvero at The Empire theatre, Leicester Square. The film premiered at the Empire Cinema, which was built on the same site as the Empire theatre
  Music hall had a profound influence on The Beatles through Paul McCartney, who is himself the son of a music hall performer (Jim McCartney, who led Jim Mac's Jazz Band). Many of McCartney's songs are indistinguishable from music hall except in their instrumentation. When I'm Sixty-Four and Honey Pie are two fine examples, as are Your Mother Should Know and Maxwell's Silver Hammer.
• The spirit of music hall genre has enjoyed a new kind of life in television's The Muppet Show.
• The Theatre of the absurd was heavily influenced by music hall in its use of comedy, as well as avant-garde cultural forms (such as surrealism) being a more obvious influence.

American TV Variety/Sketch Show

Altogether these are the roots of American TV variety/sketch comedy show. I havent finished this section, so a lot missing. Grew alongside the sitcoms, and often shared talent, but has has stars of its own. But this is a rough path:

The Golden Age of Television

Jack Benny The start of it all

Bob Hope His own best fan

Sid Caesar Your Show of Shows

Dean Martin The rat pack

Red Skelton Show Film to radio to TV.

Jackie Gleason was most famous for the Honeymooners

The Ed Sullivan Show introduced the beatles, elvis, the who, and many other acts to american audiences

Laurence Welk midwest american nice and clean

60's and beyond

The Jonathan Winters Show (1956 TV series) not popular but very interesting

The Ernie Kovacs Show iconic, cult favorite. Pure brilliant surrealism, died tragically.

The Carol Burnett Show

The most frequently cited sketch was the 1976 parody "Went with the Wind", a send-up of the classic 1939 movie Gone with the Wind. Burnett, as Starlett, descends a long staircase wearing a green curtain complete with hanging rod. The outfit, designed by Bob Mackie, is now on display at the Smithsonian Institution.[5]

A unique feature of the show consisted of a question-and-answer segment involving Carol Burnett with the audience, in CBS Studio 33. Burnett usually did this for about 3–4 minutes at the start of most shows. Burnett would ask for the lights above the audience to be turned up ("Let's bump up the lights...") and then randomly pick audience members who raised their hand to ask her a question.

• Sample question from young woman in audience: "Have you ever taken acting lessons?"
  Carol: "Yes, I have."
  Audience member: "Do you think it did any good?"

The show was rehearsed for three to four hours each day until the Friday tapings, when two recordings were made. As there were only two recordings, if an actor flubbed a line in both takes, the error appeared in the broadcast, giving the show some immediacy. Pick-ups were exceptions, and usually only used for musical numbers.

A true variety show in its simplest of forms, The Carol Burnett Show struck a harmonious chord with viewers through parodies of films ("Went With the Wind"), television ("As the Stomach Turns") and TV commercials. Burnett and team struck gold with the original skit "The Family" which eventually spun off into a television show, "Mama's Family", starring Lawrence.

The show also became known for its closing theme song, written by Burnett's husband, with the following lyrics:
I'm so glad we had this time together
Just to have a laugh or sing a song
Seems we just get started and before you know it
Comes the time we have to say, "So long."

At the close of each episode Burnett would tug her ear. This silent message was meant for her grandmother who raised her. It meant she was thinking of her 'Nanny' at that moment. After her grandmother's death, Burnett continued the tradition.

In December, 1972, CBS moved The Carol Burnett Show to Saturday nights at 10:00 P.M. (E.S.T.) where, for the next four years, it was also part of a powerhouse Saturday night lineup of primetime shows that included All In The Family, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and The Bob Newhart Show.

Laugh-In

Hee Haw

The Smothers Brothers

The Muppet Show

Johnny Carson and late night talk shows

Saturday Night Live

The Daily Show

Comedy Teams

Great teams;
"Mixed Nuts: America's Love Affair With Comedy Teams from Burns and Allen to Belushi and Aykroyd," by Lawrence J. Epstein, Public Affairs, $26, 293 pages.

To use the Gracie Allen-type of "illogical logic" appropriate to the subject, all of a sudden we didn't notice that comedy teams weren't there anymore. They had been a part of American lives for decades, Lawrence J. Epstein points out in "Mixed Nuts," and by the 1960s they had mostly faded from the entertainment scene.

Epstein tracks the history of comedy teams, from their birth in the late 1880s with Weber and Fields "the first genuine team stars" to their lingering death throes in the "temporary teams" like Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder in the 1970s and '80s. In doing so, Epstein, previously the author of "The Haunted Smile: The Story of Jewish Comedians in America," says he found a "deeper social history of American life embedded in their story."

In seeking to determine why certain teams were popular at certain times, he concludes "that the teams flourished when we most needed a communal spirit and when we most forcefully embraced the virtues of self-sacrifice." That is, from the late 1920s to the early 1950s. "In this sense, the story of the rise and fall of comedy teams emerges as a metaphor for the struggle Americans undergo between communal responsibilities and personal desires."

The author employs a lot of that sort of psychological and sociological analysis and much of it is convincing, though occasionally it tends to overreach into the higher intellectual twaddle: The revolt against suburban life "was the shriek of an ego released from history's penitentiary."

In general, though, his analyses are as insightful as his facts are diverting. Did you know, for instance, that the straight man has always been considered more important than the comic? (He controls the pacing and other action.) Consequently, his (or, rarely, her) name invariably came first and he was often better paid.

Gracie Allen, by the way, was originally the straight man to her husband, George Burns. Their association illustrates perfectly, Epstein says, the dynamics of the straight man-comic team. The audience yearns for their "created world," which is held together by the tension between the "rationality" of the straight man and the fantasy of the comic.

Like Burns and Allen, most teams, before and later, were smart-dumb (Abbott and Costello, Martin and Lewis), but not Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Nor were they straight man-comic.

Laurel and Hardy were the first enduring film team and, Epstein asserts, possibly the best team ever, in large part because "they created the model of two friends struggling against the world." Like other great teams, they draw us into their world. They were the only silent team to be a success in sound.

Besides the Marx Brothers, other 1930s teams are little remembered. Bert Wheeler and Bob Woolsey, who had a precursor to Bud Abbott and Lou Costello's "Who's on First?" routine, didn't adapt to the times, which were turning to optimistic films, as the Marx Brothers did.

By the 1940s, teams were already past their peak, except for the Three Stooges, who never broke up and never lost their audience. Interestingly, the Stooges made the first American anti-Hitler film, "You Nazty Spy!" released in January 1940, a brave move when Hollywood was still concerned about overseas sales.

Abbot and Costello, who dominated comedy in the 1940s, were a throwback to the straight man-comic form. Jerry Seinfeld called them a vaudeville and burlesque preservation society. Epstein considers Abbott to have been the best straight man ever.

"Temporary teams" like Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, Epstein maintains, portended the coming decline of teams. They were echoed years later by similar temporary teams in the new medium of television Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca, Jackie Gleason and Art Carney, and Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance.

Occasionally he strays from his main topic into other areas: the controversy over "Amos 'n' Andy," radio comedy in general, and the social effects of television. None of this detracts from to the contrary, it adds to his narrative.

The disappearance of comedy teams Epstein attributes to the changing nature of show business stand-up comics began to dominate, for one thing and to changes in society. Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, who were together for 10 years (1946-56), right to the day, he sees as "the last spectacularly successful classic comedy team."

Then again, later on he calls the Smothers Brothers "one of the last classic comedy teams to achieve national success." At any rate, one thing is certain: They are the last major team still performing.

Laurel & Hardy Nor were they straight man-comic.

3 Stooges Never lost popularity. Pure slapstick.

Marx Brothers Slapstick with wit and talent

Abbot and Costello "Who's on First?"

Burns and Allen Married couple. Straight Burns to Silly, funny Allen.

Hope & Crosby Buddies who hate each other.

Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca Genius

Jackie Gleason and Art Carney Best friends, both buffoons, similar to Laurel and Hardy.

Lucille Ball and Vivian Vance I Love Lucy. The Female Laurel and Hardy.

Martin and Lewis Straight handsome singer Martin to buffoon Lewis.

Bob and Ray Modern extension of the old time radio shows. Countless characters and bits, always funny always pleasant. Influential, but never in the limelight.

Belushi and Aykroyd
 
Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder Crazy standup comedian and Everyman partner. Did many successful movies. The unlikely pair.

Smothers Brothers Variety type songs and skits  with occasional social commentary, for which they would often get in trouble.

 

Sitcom

 

Radio Era

Amos 'n' Andy (originally Sam 'n' Henry) First situation comedy (January 12, 1926)  continued the vaudeville and the minstrel show, now considered racist.

The Jack Benny Program part sitcom part variety show Radio  1932 to 1955. TV 1950 to 1965.

The Burns and Allen Show started in burlesque and early movies and radio but are TV legends.

Others: Blondie (from a comic) and  Fibber McGee and Molly starred vaudevillians James "Jim" and Marian Driscoll Jordan and also had its roots in Chicago. Beulah (1947) was first to feature African-American in lead role, both in radio and TV and had not laugh track or studio audience.

TV 1940s–1950s

In the late 1940s, TV borrowed the sitcom format, as in some of the shows above.

The Jack Benny Program

Burns and Allen Famous for breaking the fourth wall. They had helped preserve vaudeville

Abbott and Costello moved from the big screen to the little screen.

Early sitcoms were broadcast live and recorded on kinescopes or not recorded at all.

Beulah were early examples of sitcoms without a laugh-track or studio audience.

Jackie Gleason in the Life of Riley and the Honeymooners

The Trouble with Father.

Domestic comedies include The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Honeymooners, and Make Room for Daddy.

The Dick Van Dyke Show featured Mary Tyler Moore, who would later have a very important sitcom of her own. Dick Van Dyke became even more famous for some of his movie roles, as in Bert in Mary Poppins.

Workplace comedies include Our Miss Brooks and Mr. Peepers, both set in high schools, and The Phil Silvers Show, was set on a US Army post.

THE I Love Lucy Era

I Love Lucy dominated the 50s comedy. One of the longest lasting and because of lucky or smart decisions, was preserved for reruns which are still played. Slapstick style.

1960's: expansion away from nuclear family.

Martin and Lewis Comic duo that launched Jerry Lewis in movies and Dean Martin, who became a host of a long-running TV Variety show.

The Andy Griffith Show and My Three Sons featured widowers and their children.

The Brady Bunch focused on a blended family.

mid-60's: fantasy era

The Munsters Satirized American Family

The Addams Family sprang from a series of cartoon by New Yorker cartoonist Charles Addams and became movies. Macabre American Family

I Dream of Jeannie Astronauts who has a genie in a bottle.

Bewitched Family life with a magic twist. Recently made into a movie.

Gilligan's Island about seven stranded castaways including a movie star, a millionaire, and a professor.

The Monkees was a psychedelic musical about a fictional performing group.

Get Smart was a spy genre parody series. Recently made into a movie.

Batman loosely based on the comic book, perfected its unique camp variant of burlesque. The batman movies are in a different style, but sometimes refer to the series.

The animated sitcom takes off

The Flintstones was itself a parody of 50's sitcoms set in the stone age. iconic.

The Jetsons. first example of the science fiction sitcom subgenre.

Rocky and Bullwinkle. animated sendup of the cold war.

1970s: Controversy

These shows began to have racially and culturally diverse casts and themes.

Producer Norman Lear was the genius:

 All in the Family (based on British Till Death Us Do Part)  Openly explored taboo subjects in society, including, hippies, racism, sexism, religion, lifestyles, and so on with impeccable insight. Generated several spinoff.

Sanford and Son. based on British Steptoe and Son, about black young man and his old father.

The Mary Tyler Moore Show and its spinoffs explored the women's liberation and the single woman.

M*A*S*H addressed war. Based on a novel that became an unexpectedly successful movie. It was about the Korean war, but the parallels to the Vietnam war were understood. Ensemble cast, zaniness, and irreverence towards the war and social status reflected popular 60's attitudes. A total condemnation of war that probably significantly fueled anti Vietnam war sentiment.

Garry Marshall had several huge hits:

The Odd Couple the eternal battle between neat and messy.

Happy Days, Laverne and Shirley, Nostalgia for the 50s

Mork and Mindy gave Robin Williams his start. The lunatic fringe.

Not overtly political, Bob Newhart adapted his deadpan club act for television in sitcom format with The Bob Newhart Show, which was at once a throwback to the early vaudevillian origins of sitcoms and a harbinger of the 1980s - 1990s stand-up comedian sitcom trend. His dry deadpan style can be seen to have influenced later shows.

late 1970s sexiness

Three's Company borrowed from British Man About the House

Soap (where Billy Crystal got his start) and Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, both soap opera parodies, pushed the envelope of what was acceptable in television sitcoms with topics such as depression, gay character

1980s; The rise of the  stand-up and Family LIfe

Centered less on the social issues that defined many 1970s sitcoms.

Standup to TV: The Cosby Show, Roseanne Barr, Larry Sanders, and Seinfeld ("a show about nothing")

Full House, Alf, and many similar centered on family life and parent-child relationships

Cheers, a show about the local customers in a bar, focused on the evolving relationship between Sam and Diane.

COntroversial shows from the 70's like the Jeffersons and Alice changed in tone and became less controversial.

Late 80's backlash against the dominance of family-oriented sitcoms, with both more acerbic takes on working-class family life in Roseanne, Married with Children, and The Simpsons as well as programming such as Seinfeld that focused largely on relationships between single adults.

The Golden Girls, a show is about four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida, starred actreses who all starred in other shows before this. Bea Arthur and Rue McClanahan, were part of All in the Family spinoff Maude, Betty White, who co-starred with Mary Tyler Moore in The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

mid-1980s has specialization for specific audiences, such as children  such Saved by the Bell and Clarissa Explains It All.

The 1980s "Dramedy" programs were largely unsuccessful.

1990s: The ANimated sitcom lands

The early 1990s saw the rebirth of the animated sitcom, a trend which continues to this day.

The Simpsons, the longest-running sitcom in US history.

Other South Park, Futurama, Beavis and Butt-head, Family Guy and King of the Hill.

Mid-90s: The story arc

Seinfeld, one of the most popular U.S. sitcoms of the 1990s, featured story arcs.

Friends used soap opera elements such as the end-of-season cliffhanger and gradually developing the relationships of the characters over the course of the series.

Many other examples: Home Improvement, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Frasier, Will & Grace, Roseanne, Moesha, Everybody Loves Raymond, Family Matters, The Nanny, That '70s Show, The King of Queens are also noted for their long-term story arcs.

2000 and after: the single camera and the death of the laughtrack

The early 2000s saw a rebirth of the single camera shooting style for half-hour sitcoms, with shows such as Malcolm in the Middle, The Bernie Mac Show, Miranda, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, and Scrubs. Unlike earlier single camera shows, these sitcoms do not use laugh tracks. Notable, current single camera comedies include It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Louie, 30 Rock and Community. Recently, a pastiche from the UK has been utilized in American sitcoms, as many are being shot as a pseudo-documentary (aka mockumentary), such as The Office, Modern Family and Parks and Recreation.[clarification needed]

Newer sitcoms that still used a multiple camera setup (before live audiences) include Gary Unmarried, Mike & Molly, Rules of Engagement, $h*! My Dad Says, The Big Bang Theory, Life with Bonnie, According to Jim, The New Adventures of Old Christine, Two and a Half Men, Yes, Dear, How I Met Your Mother and Hot in Cleveland.