46 Items Tagged

Comedy

Meet Dynasty Handbag, L.A.’s Queen of Weird

"Scary Lucy." statue.

Jamestown, New York

Lucille Ball Memorial Park

Its original statue was deemed so ugly, locals called it “Scary Lucy.”

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Mask and Wig Clubhouse

A curious building honoring past and current members of a historic musical comedy troupe.

A garbage clean-up in downtown New York, 1890s.

When New Yorkers Were Menaced by Banana Peels

They slipped and fell. Really!

Alex Mayyasi July 24, 2019

The cover for the cheese featured the movie poster for Top Secret.

Hawthorne, California

SpaceX Space Cheese

The first privately-owned space capsule to orbit and land carried a secret payload: a wheel of Le Brouère.

The excavated mosaics.

Found: Vulgar Mosaics in a Roman Latrine

They offered bathroom-goers some raunchy entertainment.

Matthew Taub November 8, 2018

Coventry, England

The Phil Silvers Archival Museum

The only museum in the world dedicated to preserving the life and work of American comedian and entertainer, Phil Silvers.

Tomnadashan Copper Mine.

Ardtalnaig, Scotland

Tomnadashan Mine

Monty Python fans will recognize this abandoned mine as the Cave of the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog.

Seattle, Washington

Rubber Chicken Museum

The flock of plastic poultry is an ode to the classic comedy staple.

Mt. Cleese

Palmerston North, New Zealand

Mt. Cleese

A New Zealand rubbish dump named after British comedian John Cleese.

Comedy Carpet.

Blackpool, England

Comedy Carpet

A typographic tribute to the many comedic greats who make Great Britain laugh.

Comedy writer and vaudeville performer, Billy Glason.

Rediscovering the Newsletter That Inspired a Generation of Comedians

Billy Glason's "Fun-Master Gag Files" influenced the joke industry for decades.

Eric Grundhauser February 19, 2018

A young man bursting out into laughter.

Do We Code-Switch Our Laughter?

Laughing is not only contagious, but also contextual.

Christina Ayele Djossa January 26, 2018

In the early 20th century, audiences crammed in to see silent films, like this one starring William S. Hart.

Keeping the Art of Silent Film Music Alive

Nearly a century after talkies stole the show, composers, musicians, and audiences are still playing along.

Jessica Leigh Hester January 23, 2018

Eindhoven, Netherlands

Silly Walks Tunnel

Crouch down, stretch tall, and be sure to flail your legs to pay homage to the Monty Python classic.

An individualist named George Carlin.

Why Americans Are Cursing More Than Ever

Swear more to express yourself as an individual. Everybody's $#*%! doing it!

Natasha Frost August 4, 2017

What the National Comedy Center may look like once completed.

New York State Gives the National Comedy Center $500,000

They're investing in the history of comedy.

Eric Grundhauser August 3, 2017

A detail from an early 19th-century cartoon by Thomas Rowlandson.

Jest Books Were the 16th-Century Version of Insult Comedy

Think Don Rickles crossed with Shakespeare.

Meaghan Clark April 20, 2017