# What were "comedy" and "laughter" like 100+ years ago? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [July 6, 2023, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700 "2023-07-06T20:22:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/21 "2023-07-07T03:23:10Z")
Chaplin was more visual comedy, what we might call “slapstick” now. For written comedy you can consider Mark Twain. Be mindful that 100 years is just a short time ago. That was the heyday of Dorothy Parker’s acerbic wit and the Algonquin Round Table. ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/22 "2023-07-07T04:15:37Z")
Eddie Cantor was huge star in the 1920s. The following link is a 1923 “talkie” of his “song and dance” routine: [A Few Moments With Eddie Cantor. 1923 Fun Film - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2O4vJ7MFSd4) ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/23 "2023-07-07T05:11:51Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > > [@Cervaise](#): > > > > The only Abbott and Costello I’ve shared is the baseball sketch, and that worked pretty well. They listened carefully, grinning, then asked a bunch of questions, then asked to watch it again immediately. > > Who and what were the topics of their questions? That’s right. 🤣 ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/24 "2023-07-07T05:32:17Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > This is one sketch every aspiring comedy duo seems to know, and it never gets old. It even works in (some) other languages, with a little adaptation. A few weeks after showing her the sketch for the first time, my older daughter asked me about the possibility of translating the sketch into German to share with her classmates (most of her classes are taught in that language). A quick google and I found these two guys from several years ago who did a (partial) translation as their own school assignment. **[YouTube link hidden behind text because of error about embedding media](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg2UCXRK0bo)** Listening to it, my daughter (who is much more fluent in German than I am) observed that the grammatical trick behind the sketch is largely interchangeable in this language. She noted a couple of places where an English-specific pun had to be dropped or modified, but she was impressed at how well it adapted (and we then discussed how a surprising amount of English has its feet on German ground). Then she ran off to her room to see if she could make it work in French. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/25 "2023-07-07T05:46:21Z")
> [@NinthAcolyte](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > Abraham: Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? > > Sampson: I do bite my thumb, sir. > > Abraham: Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? > > Sampson: [Aside to GREGORY] Is the law of our side, if I say ay? > > Gregory: No. > > Sampson: No, sir, I do not bite my thumb at you, sir, but I bite my thumb, sir. > > Modernized, that might be something like: [Here’s what a modernized version looks like.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEzskNtFnIY) ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/26 "2023-07-07T06:11:51Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > If there are passages from Chaplin’s films that make _you_ laugh, could you please list them here? For starters, when the dog’s tail is poking out a hole in the seat of his pants. I think the brilliant parts are still brilliant. One problem may be that other parts of his films haven’t aged well and/or weren’t very good to start with. They seem too simple or obvious and end up dampening the mirth generated up to that point. Another problem is that many people can’t relate to things that are too old for their tastes. Some of the best music of all time can be found on old recordings, but some people only hear scratchy, low-fi noise. For me and I think most people, appreciation of art involves an initial stage of skepticism, as if someone were knocking on your door and you decide to have a look and maybe let them in. ---
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/27 "2023-07-07T06:12:37Z")
The main difference is now things are funny until someone gets hurt. Back then things were funny because someone got hurt. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/28 "2023-07-07T12:54:32Z")
There’s a joke that I first read in the humor pages of _Playboy_ that I later read in the 14th-century book _The Decameron_ (the one that involves the husband climbing a tree). Another _Decameron_ comic sex-themed story (about a barrel) previously appeared in 2nd-century Roman novel _The Golden Ass_ (or _The Metamorphoses_) by Apuleius. Some jokes never die; they just slowly change with the times. Especially the smutty ones, because people by and large _don’t_ change with the times. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/29 "2023-07-07T13:20:23Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Another _Decameron_ comic sex-themed story… Aren’t all of the stories in the Decameron sex-themed? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/30 "2023-07-07T13:58:20Z")
Most of them, but not all of them are comic. Some are also about drinking/gluttony instead. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/31 "2023-07-07T14:03:18Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > my older daughter asked me about the possibility of translating the sketch into German Did she have to try translating it from baseball into some other context? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/32 "2023-07-07T14:19:57Z")
It seems to me that it should translate fairly easily into any language and any context. Baseball in the original just provides a set of roles, but any other set of roles could work just as well: “Who’s the center, What’s the name of the goalie, I don’t know the coach”, or “Who’s the CEO, What’s the name of the chief engineer, I don’t know the receptionist”. And since half of each pun is a proper name, and the names are rather implausible anyway, you can just take whatever words your language uses for “who”, “what”, and the like, and declare those to be (implausible) proper names (at worst, if you’re in a culture with a short, rigidly-proscribed list of acceptable names, then you set the joke Over There, in foreign parts where they do things differently). ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/33 "2023-07-07T14:30:13Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It seems to me that it should translate fairly easily into any language and any context. I’ve seen a version of “Who’s on First?” about computers, which uses names of computer software instead of the who/what/I don’t know terms. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/34 "2023-07-07T14:37:51Z")
I’ve seen several bits that were either variations on, or inspired by, Abbott & Costello’s “Who’s On First” (including one involving the band The Who). But IMHO there’s a limit on how much you can change and still consider it a translation of the famous routine, as opposed to a different routine inspired by it or along the same lines as it. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/35 "2023-07-07T14:39:49Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I’ve seen several bits that were either variations on, or inspired by, Abbott & Costello’s “Who’s On First” (including one involving the band The Who). The rock band version is pretty funny, IMO. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdqv5xIsFLM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdqv5xIsFLM) ---
**Author:** ![whitetho](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whitetho/32/1059_2.png) [@whitetho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whitetho)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/36 "2023-07-07T14:46:03Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > The rock band version is pretty funny, IMO. [Slappy Squirrel] An earlier rock version, with three bands instead of two: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ludCVowT-DE](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ludCVowT-DE) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/37 "2023-07-07T14:53:33Z")
Vin Scully was delighted when [Chin-Ling Hu](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chin-Lung_Hu) made it to the big leagues with the Dodgers in 2007, especially after he hit his first single. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/38 "2023-07-07T15:00:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It seems to me that it should translate fairly easily into any language and any context. I cringe to link to Quora for obvious reasons, but it seems like a non-terrible answer— > **[How difficult would it be to translate Abbott & Costello's 'Who's on...](https://www.quora.com/How-difficult-would-it-be-to-translate-Abbott-Costellos-Whos-on-First-routine-into-other-languages-on-a-scale-of-1-10)** > > Answer (1 of 2): It would work out in Germanic languages; I’ve certainly come across much harder translations. I’d do it into Swedish in a couple of hours; way longer than the GDPR policy I really should be working on right now, but not extraordinary... > [@](#): > > Finnish or Turkish, now there’s a problem—they’re agglutinative languagues, so “who” would work very differently as a name and as a question because you’d just tag a “question-person” particle onto the word, so you’d probably be hard put to get the same mix-up. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/39 "2023-07-07T15:11:47Z")
> [@Cervaise](#): > > my older daughter asked me about the possibility of translating the sketch into German to share with her classmates (most of her classes are taught in that language). I believe it translates to “Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beiherhund das Oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2023, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700/40 "2023-07-07T15:31:58Z")
I’m surprised by people not laughing at Chaplin. I have myself laughed out loud at many of his slapstick routines from his old silent films. Maybe you just don’t care for Chaplin. Buster Keaton’s _The General_ was mentioned upthread. I highly recommend it – we showed it to our daughter when she was little, and she loved it (despite being silent. And black and white). But that;s just one example. Keaton in general (and Harold Lloyd) were great silent comedians, and I find them very funny. As for earlier humor, I agree about Twain. (That’s not his only piece about Cooper, BTW. There’s also this –[http://strangebeautiful.com/other-texts/twain-coopers-prose-style.pdf](http://strangebeautiful.com/other-texts/twain-coopers-prose-style.pdf) ) A lot of Twain’s stuff is still funny. Heck, the man was known as a humorist. Try _A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court_ Read the original. This book hasn’t been appropriately adapted yet on TV or the movies. I will agree that humor and styles change, and that something that was rip-roaringly funny to one generation might leave another unmoved. But I was delighted to find that one of my grade school teacher’s assertion that ancient comedic material wasn’t really “funny” ("it just means it has a happy ending, she explained) wasn’t at all true. As the jokes cited above show, some things stay funny for a long time. Read the epigrams of Martial sometime. First century CE [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-were-comedy-and-laughter-like-100-years-ago/986700.md?page=3)