Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The History of Comedy

1820s - Blackface Minstrelsy: White male performers parodying the songs, dances and speech patterns of Southern blacks wearing burt cork on their face.

1828 - Thomas Rice, "Jump Jim Crow"

1843 - The Virginia Minstrels

1851 - Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet Beecher Stowe

1927 - The first film "talkie", The Jazz Singer, Al Jolson

1928 - The Amos and Andy Show

1880s Vaudeville: A collection of disparate acts marketed mainly to a family audience that became a national entertainment industry. From the French Val de Vire

Bert Williams

B.F. Keith and Edward Albee

The White Rats

1906 - Keith founds United Booking Service
1907 - Vaudeville now owned by a few magnates


Stand-Up Comedy

1880s - Early versions of stand-up comedy exist

1932 - George Burns and Gracie Allen become the first great comedy team of the modern technological age.

1948 - The Texaco Star Theater, Milton Berle

1950s-1960s - Lenny Bruce, George Carlin, Woody Allen, Bob Newhart

1970s - Andy Kaufman, Richard Pryor, Saturday Night Live

Sitcoms

1951 - I Love Lucy, Lucille Ball
1955 - The Honeymooners, Jackie Gleason
1961 - The Dick Van Dyke Show
1970 - The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1971 - All In The Family
1972 - M*A*S*H*
1974 - Good Times
1975 - The Jeffersons
1984 - The Cosby Show
1988 - Roseanne
1990 - Seinfeld

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