June 2011
As Shakespeare may have said, 'Laugh and the world laughs with you – cry and you cry alone' . . . Now here's a funny thing: why do we have humour? Even Darwin, if he thought about it at all, would have found it hard to explain. It would need to fit in with the general theory of adaptation, with advantage, and subsequent survival of the species; but it is not clear how the inclination to laugh at something could be a help in the progress of mankind. Indeed, in some circumstances, it would be distinctly counter-productive - even life-shortening. For example: your King, or war-lord, or even land-lord has just delivered a solemn speech setting out his new three year plan for the peasants, including several references to some more tax increases, longer working hours,and no holidays. Any laughter from the audience at the conclusion of this speech would have been very unwise and, in those more brutal days, may even have resulted in a period in the slammer or, worse, a bit of summary execution.
As to the complete history of comedy, no-one knows for certain how far back we would need to look; but it is known,at least that 5th Century Greece had already produced a number of recognised comics (people, not magazines.) Aristophanes was, probably, the most important at the time; though there were many contenders. The Old Comedy of Greece had a far reaching influence into the future – even to fairly recent times. Similar techniques could be detected in such well-known and popular productions as 'Dr. Strangelove' (Peter Sellers) and even the Monty Python T.V. show.
The actual title 'The Joker' was, of course, the name given to a character in the 'Batman' stories and films. He is described as an arch-enemy of batman – and was first mentioned as early as 1940 (Batman No. 1) He has remained a very popular presence in the series throughout.
Much research has been carried out, and many volumes written, concerning the subject of humour, including the every-day 'joke' form. Possibly one of the best summaries came from Henri Bergson, who, in his 1901 book 'le Rire' (laughter) suggested that '. . .laughter evolved to make social life possible for human beings. . .'
Indeed a big story, when told in full. But to end with a very old joke:
'Why do irish dogs have flat noses' . . .
'Because of their habit of chasing parked cars.' (groan!)