Funny Folks

Last updated
Funny Folks
CategoriesHumour, satire
FrequencyWeekly
Publisher James Henderson
Founded1874
Final issue1894
CountryUK

Funny Folks was a British periodical published between 1874 and 1894. It was published in London by Scottish newspaper proprietor James Henderson. It has been called "the first English 'comic' paper", [1] and "the model for all later British comics". [2]

The first issue, on 12 December 1874, was produced as a supplement to the special Christmas edition of Henderson's weekly magazine The Weekly Budget . Its popularity led to its subsequent publication as a free-standing periodical, priced at 1d. per copy. It was subtitled A Weekly Budget of Funny Pictures, Funny Notes, Funny Jokes, Funny Stories. [2]

The newspaper-format journal was innovative in combining entertaining stories and puzzles with large cartoons. [1] These were often satirical in tone, with some by John Proctor, known as Puck, [3] and some from German and French sources. It was aimed at an adult lower middle-class audience, rather than at children, and benefitted from innovations in the use of cheap paper and photo-zincography printing. [2] One of the contributors to the journal was Alfred Harmsworth, who launched his own Comic Cuts a few years later. [1]

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