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Henry David Thoreau with a propeller cap.

Henry David Thoreau Was Funnier Than You Think, Particularly on the Subject of Work

On the necessary “deep sincerity” of dark humor.
by John Kaag, Jonathan van Belle via Literary Hub on June 26, 2023

What Ever Happened to Chicken Fat?

Comedy from Mad Magazine to The Simpsons.
by Jackson Arn via 3 Quarks Daily on July 27, 2020
Comedy troupe on stage.

Finding the Funny

Historians’ lectures provide material for improv comedians.
by Laura Ansley via Perspectives on History on May 13, 2020
Stan and Mardi Timm show off Johnson Smith novelties they’ve collected. Stan wears X-Ray Spex and holds a Tark Electric Razor. Mardi wears a sailor’s hat that says “Kiss Me Honey I Won’t Bite” and holds a Little Gem Lung Tester and Bust Developer.

Fun Delivered: World’s Foremost Experts on Whoopee Cushions and Silly Putty Tell All

The Timms provide the history behind their collection of 20th century mail-order novelty items.
by Lisa Hix via Collectors Weekly on March 17, 2020
Stylized depiction of detectives investigating the ink line from a pen, symbolizing fact checkers.

The History of The New Yorker’s Vaunted Fact-Checking Department

Reporters engage in charm and betrayal; checkers are in the harm-reduction business.
by Zach Helfand via The New Yorker on August 25, 2025
Issue of the "Subway Sun" from 1939, advertising an art exhibit..

When “The Subway Sun” Ruled NYC’s Underground

With its signature two-toned design and illustrations, the mock newspaper encouraged polite passenger etiquette and promoted local attractions.
by Maya Pontone via Hyperallergic on May 15, 2025
Mark Twain sits in thought on stone steps surrounded by nature while holding papers

Twain Dreams

The enigma of Samuel Clemens.
by John Jeremiah Sullivan via Harper’s on April 29, 2025
Edgar Watson Howe

The Sins and Sayings of E.W. Howe

A deeply skeptical, deeply American mind and its trail of sharp, clean sentences.
by Steve Szilagyi via 3 Quarks Daily on April 11, 2025
Elaine May and Walter Matthau sitting on a bench in May’s film A New Leaf.

May Days

A new biography of an elusive comic talent.
by Lizzy Harding via Bookforum on February 11, 2025
Man holding The New Yorker magazine like a telescope.

Onward and Upward

Harold Ross founded The New Yorker as a comic weekly. A hundred years later, we’re doubling down on our commitment to the much richer publication it became.
by David Remnick via The New Yorker on February 10, 2025
Johnny Carson hosting the Tonight Show.

The Amazing, Disappearing Johnny Carson

Carson pioneered a new style of late-night hosting—relaxed, improvisatory, risk-averse, and inscrutable.
by Isaac Butler via The New Yorker on November 6, 2024
Dr. Ruth Westheimer holding a telephone and pointing a finger, as if giving advice.
partner

The Massive Cultural Changes That Made Dr. Ruth Possible

Dr. Ruth left a legacy of sexual candor and the need to defend pleasure as a universal right—a conversation that is more relevant today than ever.
by Rebecca L. Davis via Made By History on July 19, 2024
Painting of Emily Dickinson writing at a desk outside.

Eternity Only Will Answer

Funny, convivial, chatty—a new edition of Emily Dickinson's letters upends the myth of her reclusive genius. 
by Maya C. Popa via Poetry Foundation on April 8, 2024
Larry David.

The End of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” Marks the End of an Era

Larry David is the last of his kind—and in several ways.
by Daniel Bessner via The Nation on April 8, 2024
A computer-drawn image of George Moses Horton.

Stand Up and Spout

Cecil Brown wants to digitally revive the enslaved antebellum poet George Moses Horton. Can digital technology help reconnect us to the tradition he embodied?
by Matt Sandler via The Baffler on January 8, 2024
A photograph of Louisa May Alcott.

Nonfiction That Rivals Little Women: The Forgotten Essays of Louisa May Alcott

Louisa May Alcott is best known for Little Women, but she earned her first taste of celebrity as an essayist.
by Liz Rosenberg via Literary Hub on October 24, 2023
Jewish characters in television and film

The Long History of Jewface

Bradley Cooper’s prosthetic nose is the latest example of the struggles around Jewish representation on the stage and screen.
by Jody Rosen via The New Yorker on October 7, 2023
Politician depicted as vampire bat.

"The Comic Natural History of the Human Race" (1851)

These caricatures of well-known Philadelphians transpose human heads onto animal forms.
by Hunter Dukes via The Public Domain Review on June 1, 2023
Ink drawing of Buster Keaton's face against pale pink background

Keep Your Eye on the Kid

Buster Keaton made his own kind of sense out of the perplexities of existence in ways baffling to those among whom he found himself.
by Geoffrey O'Brien via New York Review of Books on September 29, 2022
The United States of America, or as it’s also known: New York’s “back yard”.

Satirical Cartography: A Century of American Humor in Twisted Maps

Satire and an inflated sense of self-importance collide in a series of maps that goes back more than 100 years in American history.
by Frank Jacobs via Big Think on April 19, 2022
Handwritten magazine index

‘Index, A History of the’ Review: List-O-Mania

At the back of the book, the index provides a space for reference—and sometimes revenge.
by Ben Yagoda via The Wall Street Journal on February 11, 2022
Black and white photograph of Mark Twain

Mark Twain in Buffalo

Mark Twain would be hopelessly out of favor with both wings of the modern duopoly.
by Bill Kauffman via The Spectator on January 3, 2022
Comedian Charlie Hill on stage with a microphone.

‘Part of Why We Survived’

Is there something in particular about coming from a Native background that makes a person want to write and perform comedy?
by Ian Frazier via New York Review of Books on December 23, 2021
Alfred Hitchcock directing

The Haunted Imagination of Alfred Hitchcock

How the master of suspense got his sadistic streak.
by John Banville via The New Republic on April 1, 2021
Lawd, Mah Man's Leavin' by Archibald Motley Jr.

How Should We Understand the Shocking Use of Stereotypes in the Work of Black Artists?

It's about the satirical tradition of 'going there.'
by Richard J. Powell via Artnet News on February 16, 2021
A group of people striking with 9to5.

The Labor Feminism of 9to5 Should Guide Our Organizing Today

The vision of feminist labor organizing that guided the women’s white-collar organizing project 9to5 should still be our north star.
by Marianela D’Aprile via Jacobin on February 1, 2021
An illustration of an accordion being played.

The "Good Old Rebel" at the Heart of the Radical Right

How a satirical song mocking uneducated Confederates came to be embraced as an anthem of white Southern pride.
by Joseph M. Thompson via Southern Cultures on January 21, 2021
A collage including Betty Boop.

The Mixed-Up Masters of Early Animation

Pioneering cartoonists were experimental, satiric, erotic, and artistically ambitious.
by Adam Gopnik via The New Yorker on December 21, 2020
Black watercolor painting of trees and grasses.

The Pain of the KKK Joke

There are always three violences. The first is the violence itself.
by Hope Wabuke via The Paris Review on July 2, 2020

An Oral History of The Onion’s 9/11 Issue

Immediately after 9/11, humorists struggled with what many called ‘the death of irony.’ Then ‘The Onion’ returned and showed everyone the way
by Maria Schneider, Brian VanHooker, Robert Siegel, Todd Hanson, Mike Loew, Chad Nackers, Carol Kolb, Chris Karwowski, Tim Harrod, Mike Sacks, Nat Towsen, Joe Garden, Jim Romenesko via MEL on June 29, 2020
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