"The Funniest Joke in the World" is a Monty Python comedy sketch revolving around a joke that is so funny that anyone who reads or hears it promptly dies from laughter. Ernest Scribbler, a British "manufacturer of jokes", writes the joke on a piece of paper only to die laughing. His mother also immediately dies laughing after reading it, as do the first constables on the scene. Eventually the joke is contained, weaponized, and deployed against Germany during World War II.
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In is an American sketch comedy television program which ran for six seasons from January 22, 1968, to March 12, 1973, on the NBC television network. The show, hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin, originally aired as a one-time special on September 9, 1967, and was such a success that it was brought back as a series, replacing The Man from U.N.C.L.E. on Mondays at 8 pm (ET). It quickly became the most popular television show in the United States.
Arthur Stanton Eric Johnson was an American actor and comedian who was best known for his work as a regular on television's Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In.
In theatre, breaking character occurs when an actor fails to maintain the illusion that they are the character they are supposedly portraying. This is considered unprofessional while performing in front of an audience or camera. British English uses a slang term, corpsing, to specifically describe one of the most common ways of breaking character—when an actor loses their composure and laughs or giggles inappropriately during a scene. If the breaking of character is particularly serious, it normally results in an abandonment of a take in recorded or filmed drama.
The Melbourne International Comedy Festival (MICF) is the largest stand-alone comedy festival and the second-largest international comedy festival in the world. First held in 1987, it takes place annually in Melbourne over four weeks, typically starting in March and running through to April. The Melbourne Town Hall has served as the festival hub, but performances are held in many venues throughout the city.
Will Durst is an American political satirist. He has been likened to Mort Sahl and Will Rogers.
Renaldo Santoni was an American film, television and voice actor. He was noted for playing Poppie on the television sitcom Seinfeld, Tony Gonzales in Cobra, and Chico González in Dirty Harry.
"More Cowbell" is a comedy sketch that aired on Saturday Night Live on April 8, 2000. The sketch was written by regular cast member Will Ferrell and playwright Donnell Campbell and depicts the recording of the song "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" by Blue Öyster Cult. The sketch stars guest host Christopher Walken as fictional music producer Bruce Dickinson, and Ferrell as fictional cowbell player Gene Frenkle, whose overzealous playing annoys his bandmates but pleases producer Dickinson. The sketch also features Chris Parnell as Eric Bloom, Jimmy Fallon as Bobby Rondinelli, Chris Kattan as Buck Dharma, and Horatio Sanz as Joe Bouchard.
The Dangerous Brothers was a stage and TV act by anarchic comedy duo Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson, performing respectively as "Richard Dangerous" and "Sir Adrian Dangerous". Originally appearing on stage in London at the comedy club The Comic Strip, the characters were well developed before appearing on TV. First appearing on television on a one-off 1980 BBC TV show Boom Boom Out Go The Lights, they were also featured in a TV short documentary film The Comic Strip, directed by Julien Temple, before they appeared in a number of brief sketches in the TV programme Saturday Live from 1985 and into its first series in 1986.
Gary Anthony Williams is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He has voiced the characters of Uncle Ruckus on The Boondocks, General Horace Warfield in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and Dr. Richard Tygan in XCOM 2, portraying Anton "Bebop" Zeck in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. He has also appeared on shows such as Boston Legal, I'm Sorry, Malcolm in the Middle and The Soul Man. He was a cast member on the sketch comedy series Blue Collar TV and currently the improv comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway?. He is also a co-founder of the L.A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival.
Rick Miller is a Canadian director, actor, comedian, musician, playwright, and podcast host, currently living in Toronto. He has two architecture degrees from McGill University in Montreal, and has performed in 6 languages on 5 continents. Although primarily known as a solo theatre creator and performer, Miller is also known for hosting the television series Just for Laughs and for performing a version of "Bohemian Rhapsody" during which he impersonates "twenty five of the most annoying voices in the music industry". His BOOM Trilogy of solo shows examine 75 years of music, culture and politics, and have been performed over 600 times across North America, Europe and Asia.
Shaka Laka Boom Boom is an Indian children's fantasy adventure television series. It was written and directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya. Merchandise based on the series were also launched in markets.
Kookyville is a British comedy sketch show that aired on 25 November 2012 on Channel 4. The programme, created by Nichola Hegarty, is different from other sketch shows in that "These people are not actors or comedians, and there's no script...they're just real funny people."
Boom Town is a structured-reality television and comedy sketch show series produced by independent company Knickerbockerglory for BBC. It first aired on BBC Three in August and September 2013. Directed by Hannah Springham and produced by Jonathan Stadlen, the series features a cast of eccentrics playing their own alter-egos, including their "own catchphrases, eccentricities and larger than life personalities".
Christianne Jose B. Navatois a Filipino actor, dancer and singer under ABS-CBN's Star Magic.
Brendan Hunt is an American actor and writer known for roles in the films We're the Millers (2013) and Horrible Bosses 2 (2014) as well as voicing two characters in the video game Fallout 4 (2015). He is a co-creator of the Apple TV+ sitcom Ted Lasso, as well as a writer and regular cast member.
Television comedy is a category of broadcasting that has been present since the early days of entertainment media. While there are several genres of comedy, some of the first ones aired were variety shows. One of the first United States television programs was the comedy-variety show Texaco Star Theater, which was most prominent in the years that it featured Milton Berle - from 1948 to 1956. The range of television comedy has become broader, with the addition of sitcoms, improvisational comedy, and stand-up comedy, while also adding comedic aspects into other television genres, including drama and news. Television comedy provides opportunities for viewers to relate the content in these shows to society. Some audience members may have similar views about certain comedic aspects of shows, while others will take different perspectives. This also relates to developing new social norms, sometimes acting as the medium that introduces these transitions.
The Iliza Shlesinger Sketch Show is an American sketch comedy television series created by and starring Iliza Shlesinger. The series premiered on Netflix on April 1, 2020.
Brandon George Rogers is an American comedian, actor, filmmaker, and YouTuber. He plays many characters in his eponymous YouTube channel and is a writer on the adult animated web series Helluva Boss, in which he primarily voices the main character Blitzo, as well as voicing reporter Katie Killjoy in Hazbin Hotel.
A Spark Story is a 2021 American documentary film directed by Jason Sterman and Leanne Dare. Focusing on SparkShorts directors Aphton Corbin and Louis Gonzales, the film is a co-production between Pixar and Supper Club, and marks the former's first fully live-action project. The film was released on September 24, 2021, on Disney+. The film was to be removed from Disney+ on May 26, 2023, but it was kept after demand by fans.
