In 1989, the same year Seinfeld premiered, no comedian had ever headlined at Madison Square Garden. Since then, nearly 20 comedians have done so. Comedy is changing, and its icons have permeated culture in a way that it would take several comedy books to chronicle, if anyone wanted a Comedy History Reference volume set. Nobody does, so instead, we now have Comedy Book, a light look from Vulture writer Jesse David Fox at how comedy works and why its position in American cultural life is now, despite many claims to the contrary, higher than it has ever been.
Comedy Book takes the reader on a journey through comedic history to prove its thesis about the cultural ascendancy of comedy. With a bullet list of comedic categories, Fox guides the reader through the world of comedy to show you that there is an “us” for every one of us out there. The how of it is answered and extended upon later by another question, “What is comedy?” — the whole time hoping you’ll ask if it’s art, making light and brief mention of the fact that comedy suffers from artistic imposter syndrome brought on by a lack of seriousness inherent in the act of making others laugh. The fact that comedy is, as defined by the author, “the art of taking serious things not seriously” does nothing to help its argument. But it does make you wonder: Where would we be without it?
