Comedy as entertainment has been around for a while. The oldest written comedy was written by an ancient Greek theater playwright, Aristophanes. He wrote 40 comedies and 11 of them are still performed today.
These ancient Greek comedies were based on a “humor” that today would be called “politically incorrect”. They were obscene, sexist, and full of sexual innuendo, and made fun of certain groups or stereotypes.
Vaudeville gave birth to modern humor. Although the humor remained for the most part politically incorrect, it went from sexual innuendo and poking fun at certain groups of people to more sophisticated forms of “funny.”
When the movies came out, comedy was almost entirely action-based. We call it “antics.” Punching, hitting, twisting arms, etc. it was funny. The Three Stooges were the quintessential buffoon comedians of the time. They could walk into a room full of high society T-shirts and leave the place in shambles. The Three Stooges movies are still popular today, and no one has improved their antics – ever.
You can’t talk about comedy without mentioning the “first comedy couple”, Lucy and Desi. The show “I Love Lucy” was comedy at its finest. The jokes are still politically correct today. There was no need to rely on sexual innuendo or ethnic humor. Lucy and Desi were just FUNNY. Those old reruns can still make people laugh!
Sexual and ethnic humor gets the “cheapest” laughs. Very little talent is required, and even time is not that important. REAL comedy makes you laugh without relying on cheap laughs. Think about that the next time you watch what is sometimes considered comedy today.
Real comedians are real artists. Comedy is probably the most difficult form of entertainment. Comedians and comedies don’t have to wait for reviews to be written. If the audience laughed in the right places, the show was a success. If they didn’t, it wasn’t.
The entertainment industry includes everything that is fictional and / or makes us laugh, cry, feel fear, joy or sadness, or experience any other emotion due to what is happening before our eyes.
I call circus entertainment at its finest, but there are those who would differ from me. Some want to classify the “entertainment industry” only as plays, movies, or television that employ actresses and actors to portray imaginary characters. That is simply too narrow a definition for me. I stood in front of the monkey cage at the zoo and laughed louder than in the last comedy production I attended.
The entertainment industry, in my opinion, includes everything that entertainment offers, and that includes the circus.
The circus has it all. There’s suspense (tightrope acts), there’s drama (trapeze acts), there’s comedy (clowns), and the most incredible trained exotic animals you can imagine. That is entertainment. What else would you call it?
The circus is not new. There was a circus in ancient Rome. There were horse shows, horseback riding exhibitions, staged battles, and jugglers, acrobats, and trained animals. The Ringling brothers, Barnum and Bailey did not think of the circus.