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American Cornball: A Laffopedic Guide to the Formerly Funny
An irresistible survey of things the world used to find funny—from hiccups and hangovers to henpecked husbands and old maids—and what they tell us about the world, yesterday and today
From noxious skunks to shifty traveling salesmen, certain free-floating ideas have been passed down through our culture for generations, each decade becoming more deeply ingrained in our shared memory—while at the same time more mysterious and inscrutable. Often dating back to vaudeville (or even to the original Greek comedies), these ideas gallivanted across the comic landscape of vaudeville revues, early comic strips, silent movies, Warner Bros. and Disney cartoons, even the sitcoms of the 1950s and ‘60s, before eventually slipping back into the past.
Christopher Miller’s riotous study of bygone humor revisits nearly 200 of these comic staples, unpacking the (often unseemly) contexts in which the ideas arose, why they were funny in their time, whom their target market was-and, just as interesting, why they fell out of favor. The result is a kind of taxonomy of humor during America’s golden age; yet it also transcends the specific to offer a deeper, more profound look about the prejudices, preoccupations, and peculiarities of what Greil Marcus has called “the old, weird America”—a nation that was still polarized between urban and rural, black and white, highborn and lowbrow. Among the running jokes Miller examines:
• Alley Cats
• Bigamy
• Boarding Houses
• Career Girls and Poor Working Girls
• Castor Oil
• Chamber Pots
• Dishwashing Husbands
• Drunks and Drunkenness
• Fat Men
• Gold Diggers and Sugar Daddies
• Hash
• Hillbillies
• Hoboes
• Limburger
• Milquetoasts
• Mothers-in-Law
• Murphy Beds
• Opera
• Outhouses
• Pie Fights
• Pink Elephants
• The Rich
• Rolling Pins
• Secret Societies
• Shotgun Weddings
• Stuffed Shirts
• Tin Cans
• Yes-Men
• Yokels and Hicks
• Zealots
Along the way, Miller touches on issues of racism and sexism, stereotypes, even rape, revealing how dramatically our morals and morays have shifted in just the last few decades. At its heart, though, this is a richly entertaining survey—complete with more than 100 period illustrations—of our comic universe, and how it has shifted on its axis in the past century.
From noxious skunks to shifty traveling salesmen, certain free-floating ideas have been passed down through our culture for generations, each decade becoming more deeply ingrained in our shared memory—while at the same time more mysterious and inscrutable. Often dating back to vaudeville (or even to the original Greek comedies), these ideas gallivanted across the comic landscape of vaudeville revues, early comic strips, silent movies, Warner Bros. and Disney cartoons, even the sitcoms of the 1950s and ‘60s, before eventually slipping back into the past.
Christopher Miller’s riotous study of bygone humor revisits nearly 200 of these comic staples, unpacking the (often unseemly) contexts in which the ideas arose, why they were funny in their time, whom their target market was-and, just as interesting, why they fell out of favor. The result is a kind of taxonomy of humor during America’s golden age; yet it also transcends the specific to offer a deeper, more profound look about the prejudices, preoccupations, and peculiarities of what Greil Marcus has called “the old, weird America”—a nation that was still polarized between urban and rural, black and white, highborn and lowbrow. Among the running jokes Miller examines:
• Alley Cats
• Bigamy
• Boarding Houses
• Career Girls and Poor Working Girls
• Castor Oil
• Chamber Pots
• Dishwashing Husbands
• Drunks and Drunkenness
• Fat Men
• Gold Diggers and Sugar Daddies
• Hash
• Hillbillies
• Hoboes
• Limburger
• Milquetoasts
• Mothers-in-Law
• Murphy Beds
• Opera
• Outhouses
• Pie Fights
• Pink Elephants
• The Rich
• Rolling Pins
• Secret Societies
• Shotgun Weddings
• Stuffed Shirts
• Tin Cans
• Yes-Men
• Yokels and Hicks
• Zealots
Along the way, Miller touches on issues of racism and sexism, stereotypes, even rape, revealing how dramatically our morals and morays have shifted in just the last few decades. At its heart, though, this is a richly entertaining survey—complete with more than 100 period illustrations—of our comic universe, and how it has shifted on its axis in the past century.
544 pages, Hardcover
First published September 23, 2014
71 people are currently reading
350 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
October 14, 2014
Good grief, this book is at the intersection of 99% of the weird stuff I adore: reference books, highbrow writing about lowbrow subjects, silent movies and coarse popular culture from the teens and 20s. It doesn't have any freaks in it, but it does discuss suicide humor, dead baby jokes, outhouses and other abject bad taste topics in great detail, so close enough. Delightful, gross, scholarly and full of rabbit holes to slide down.
March 24, 2016
http://americancornball.tumblr.com/
Somewhere between a 3 and a 4. The author is one obsessed man. The work that went into this must of been incredible.
I especially like all the references to the old funny paper strips some going back to the earlier 1900's.
Somewhere between a 3 and a 4. The author is one obsessed man. The work that went into this must of been incredible.
I especially like all the references to the old funny paper strips some going back to the earlier 1900's.
November 9, 2014
This is yet another book I should have written.
It's an encyclopedia of the stuff your grandparents used to laugh at: angry housewives with rolling pins, drunk husbands, wedding night sexual inexperience, ham (ham was just naturally funny back then), girdles, horse manure, and so on.
We generally don't laugh at these things nowadays, not necessarily because we're more sophisticated or more compassionate or better psychologically adjusted, but simply because we don't experience many of them. Wedding night sexual inexperience? Is that even a thing? Girdles? No matter how uncomfortable Spanx are, they're not girdles. Horse manure? What's that?
For each entry, Miller goes into some detail about how earlier generations used these objects in their comedy, and offers some insight into why they found these things funny.
For some items, our generation actually is more sophisticated: jokes about "retards" or the big eyed "darky" stereotype might get a laugh out of some people today, but it'll be a guilty laugh, one they know they shouldn't have. This is completely different from the laughs your grandparents had from Amos N Andy, and Miller goes into significant detail as to why this is.
If there was anything wrong with the book, it was that the author injected too much of his own feelings into the text. (I'm certain this came from a naive editor ordering him to do so: "Too dry. Tell us what you feel about the comedic properties of sauerkraut.") Aside from that, this book is perfect.
It's an encyclopedia of the stuff your grandparents used to laugh at: angry housewives with rolling pins, drunk husbands, wedding night sexual inexperience, ham (ham was just naturally funny back then), girdles, horse manure, and so on.
We generally don't laugh at these things nowadays, not necessarily because we're more sophisticated or more compassionate or better psychologically adjusted, but simply because we don't experience many of them. Wedding night sexual inexperience? Is that even a thing? Girdles? No matter how uncomfortable Spanx are, they're not girdles. Horse manure? What's that?
For each entry, Miller goes into some detail about how earlier generations used these objects in their comedy, and offers some insight into why they found these things funny.
For some items, our generation actually is more sophisticated: jokes about "retards" or the big eyed "darky" stereotype might get a laugh out of some people today, but it'll be a guilty laugh, one they know they shouldn't have. This is completely different from the laughs your grandparents had from Amos N Andy, and Miller goes into significant detail as to why this is.
If there was anything wrong with the book, it was that the author injected too much of his own feelings into the text. (I'm certain this came from a naive editor ordering him to do so: "Too dry. Tell us what you feel about the comedic properties of sauerkraut.") Aside from that, this book is perfect.
June 6, 2015
I was very excited to see this book, since I often think I'm the only one who recognizes jokes that were a riot in the thirties and forties. Blame my dad, who grew up in the twenties and thirties and knew all the goofy phrases and saw all the goofy movies (sure, you know the Marx Brothers, but what do you know about the Ritz Brothers?)
Unfortunately, this book would make a great website. It's literally encyclopedic, but each entry isn't deep enough to use that way (unless you hyperlink to all the other entries)--the research is basically memory and Google. What would've worked better were chapters on types of dead humor (addictions, sexism, topicality) and an analysis of each. It'd be a lot shorter that way, too.
Still, I'll probably get back to it, since I don't know anything else that talks about bindlesticks.
Unfortunately, this book would make a great website. It's literally encyclopedic, but each entry isn't deep enough to use that way (unless you hyperlink to all the other entries)--the research is basically memory and Google. What would've worked better were chapters on types of dead humor (addictions, sexism, topicality) and an analysis of each. It'd be a lot shorter that way, too.
Still, I'll probably get back to it, since I don't know anything else that talks about bindlesticks.
January 22, 2015
This was Great! I finally get SO many gags in cartoons and old movies that I never quite understood before. Not to mention, my father's sense of humor makes a lot more sense now too!
This book gives you a great sense of history along with a few corny jokes for your kids and some naughty ones for your next cocktail party!
Totally worth the time to enjoy!
This book gives you a great sense of history along with a few corny jokes for your kids and some naughty ones for your next cocktail party!
Totally worth the time to enjoy!
February 4, 2014
American Cornball: A Laffopedic Guide to the Formerly Funny by Christopher Miller is a very highly recommended. This entertaining and fascinating guide looks at what Americans have found humorous from the start of the 20th century until about 1966.
Arrange in alphabetical order by the subject of the humor this guide offers a startling look back at what we have found funny in the past that may not be so funny today, as well as a nice overview of what topics are found in humor. In American Cornball, Christopher Miller looks at the comic stripes, cartoons, and movies from our past and sifts out the cultural touchstones of humor that were seemingly shared by a majority of people.
It is rather eye opening to read about some of the topics that people found humorous early in the 20th century that we would find appalling today (racism, dead baby jokes, rape jokes, spousal abuse). There are also connections to subjects still found in humor today (bananas, ducks, baldness, back seat drivers, spinach). There are things that used to be funny but have lost their humorous context over time (boarding houses, chamber pots, tax payer's/pauper’s barrel, old maids).
Miller provides so many great little tidbits of information. For example, I never would have thought that the early and mid-1960s seems to have been the heyday of funny amnesia. Or that cartoonists have always been kinder to dogs, but they clearly find cats funnier. Did you know that feet are even funnier than noses? Or that all personal-hygiene items are funny—mouthwash, toothpaste, toilet paper, and so on—but soap may be the funniest. Even I can understand that the bigger the musical instrument, the more laughter it provokes.
Who would have imagined that "mooning” peaked in 1955? Or that the laugh track debuted on the evening of September 9, 1950, on a television comedy called The Hank McCune Show? And number 23 is the funniest number, but the number 42, with hats off to Douglas Adams, comes in a close second to 23 as the favorite funny number.
Did you know that grawlixes are the name for symbols that stand for unprintable profanities:“!#@!” Or that an "eusystolism" is a euphemistic use of initials for words we’d prefer not to utter or spell out - "B.O.," "B.M.,” “V.D.,” and “W.C.” Or that those little drops of sweat that fly off a cartoon character when he or she is alarmed or dismayed are called "plewds."
This is an informative and entertaining guide as well as a history and linguistic lesson on humor.
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of HarperCollins via Edelweiss for review purposes. (Due to be published on 9/23/14, I read my review copy in February, 2014)
Arrange in alphabetical order by the subject of the humor this guide offers a startling look back at what we have found funny in the past that may not be so funny today, as well as a nice overview of what topics are found in humor. In American Cornball, Christopher Miller looks at the comic stripes, cartoons, and movies from our past and sifts out the cultural touchstones of humor that were seemingly shared by a majority of people.
It is rather eye opening to read about some of the topics that people found humorous early in the 20th century that we would find appalling today (racism, dead baby jokes, rape jokes, spousal abuse). There are also connections to subjects still found in humor today (bananas, ducks, baldness, back seat drivers, spinach). There are things that used to be funny but have lost their humorous context over time (boarding houses, chamber pots, tax payer's/pauper’s barrel, old maids).
Miller provides so many great little tidbits of information. For example, I never would have thought that the early and mid-1960s seems to have been the heyday of funny amnesia. Or that cartoonists have always been kinder to dogs, but they clearly find cats funnier. Did you know that feet are even funnier than noses? Or that all personal-hygiene items are funny—mouthwash, toothpaste, toilet paper, and so on—but soap may be the funniest. Even I can understand that the bigger the musical instrument, the more laughter it provokes.
Who would have imagined that "mooning” peaked in 1955? Or that the laugh track debuted on the evening of September 9, 1950, on a television comedy called The Hank McCune Show? And number 23 is the funniest number, but the number 42, with hats off to Douglas Adams, comes in a close second to 23 as the favorite funny number.
Did you know that grawlixes are the name for symbols that stand for unprintable profanities:“!#@!” Or that an "eusystolism" is a euphemistic use of initials for words we’d prefer not to utter or spell out - "B.O.," "B.M.,” “V.D.,” and “W.C.” Or that those little drops of sweat that fly off a cartoon character when he or she is alarmed or dismayed are called "plewds."
This is an informative and entertaining guide as well as a history and linguistic lesson on humor.
Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of HarperCollins via Edelweiss for review purposes. (Due to be published on 9/23/14, I read my review copy in February, 2014)
June 16, 2015
Can you believe there was a time when people found joy in the unfunniest things? Christopher Miller can, and he wrote a book to prove it. He thinks it's serious business. Serious enough to collect in encyclopedic form.
Incredibly thorough and well-researched, American Cornball is an exhaustive list and description of all the things (all of which originated before the 1960s) we laughed at in Tom and Jerry and Warner Bros. cartoons but never knew why, like Alum, Anvils, Ankles, Safes, Pianos, Fake Vomit etc. Also, as the title suggests, the this book does not shy away with what's considered beyond unfunny and simply distasteful nowadays, like Race and Rape. Miller discusses it all in this book, and through it all, he is somehow able to keep a distinguished and scholarly approach, sometimes singling out why a certain entry was crowned the funniest of its group, and sometimes even going into the origin of why they were considered funny.
So there really isn't much to say about American Cornball: it's interesting, straightforward, and maybe even still a little bit funny. Kind of like getting hit with a brick.
Incredibly thorough and well-researched, American Cornball is an exhaustive list and description of all the things (all of which originated before the 1960s) we laughed at in Tom and Jerry and Warner Bros. cartoons but never knew why, like Alum, Anvils, Ankles, Safes, Pianos, Fake Vomit etc. Also, as the title suggests, the this book does not shy away with what's considered beyond unfunny and simply distasteful nowadays, like Race and Rape. Miller discusses it all in this book, and through it all, he is somehow able to keep a distinguished and scholarly approach, sometimes singling out why a certain entry was crowned the funniest of its group, and sometimes even going into the origin of why they were considered funny.
So there really isn't much to say about American Cornball: it's interesting, straightforward, and maybe even still a little bit funny. Kind of like getting hit with a brick.
November 8, 2025
Það tók mig eitt og hálft ár að klára þessa bók því hún pirraði mig. Þetta er frábært umfjöllunarefni og ég átti von á góðu, en þessi nálgun að skrifa alfræði-uppflettirit er í grunninn ekki góð fyrir þetta efni. Hér hefði verið betra að fjalla um húmor á ákveðnum tímabilum heldur en að hafa kaflaheiti eins og "flatulence", "sandwiches" og "tightwads". Í öðru lagi eru freudískar túlkanir þessa höfundar hvimleiðar og bæta sjaldnast nokkru við umfjöllunina. Já já, þessi vindill er typpabrandari, flott hjá þér. Í þriðja lagi er það pirrandi að einstaka færslur eru áhugaverðar og skemmtilegar, en þær týnast meðal hinna sem eru það einfaldlega ekki. Frústrerandi hreint út sagt.
January 24, 2015
Christopher Miller’s American Cornball: A Laffopedic Guide to the Formerly Funny comes very close to being a book written especially for me. It’s about one of my favorite topics: things that used to be funny but mostly aren’t anymore. There are sections on Door-to-Door Salesmen and Outhouses and Sweet Adeline. Basically, if it was hilarious to people within a couple decades of 1930, it probably makes no sense to anyone in 2015. There are whole movies made up of these tropes, and most of them are really weird.
The main filter through which these tropes are examined is another of my favorite things: old comic strips. When I say “wife beating used to be considered hilarious,” your eyebrows go up. But what about Andy Capp? That was one of the four or five standard “jokes” in that strip. It was eventually balanced off by the wife beating up the husband, which happens in a lot more strips.
I spent several happy hours reading about Hats, Women’s (large, often in the way) and Icemen. If you have my tastes, this is a great book.
Having said that, I do have two complaints. First, the author is really into Freudian interpretations of stuff. And I got pretty tired of being told that everything was a phallic symbol. Sometimes a squirting flower or an exploding cigar is just a squirting flower or an exploding cigar. I don’t mind it coming up a couple of times, but if you read the book straight through, it comes up a lot.
My other complaint is about a baffling failure of research. The “Suicide” section (Suicide used to be hilarious to people, especially right after the Wall Street Crash of 1929), starts with this:
Well…the Mickey Mouse comic strip has been reprinted, in some very nice hardback books. I have two of them, and they’re a really interesting portrayal of Mickey Mouse, who’s been kind of stripped of personality in the last 85 years. They’re published by Fantagraphics, and they’re great. I particularly draw your attention to book one, Race to Death Valley, in which the attempted-suicide strips start on page 80.
Now, here’s the thing. Race to Death Valley came out in 2011, and there was a lot of hullabloo about it. If you like old-timey comic strips at all, I can’t imagine not being aware of it. And yet, American Cornball, a well-researched book, which came out in September 2014, doesn’t know it happened. In fact, it confidently asserts that it couldn’t happen. It’s just weird. At first I thought that maybe American Cornball was based on a blog, which would explain the occasional repeated fact and missed fact, but it doesn’t seem to be. It’s weird.
But that should not deter you. If you’re the sort of person who already knows what Mickey Mouse strips are in the first Fantagraphics collection, American Cornball is all about stuff you’ll like.
The main filter through which these tropes are examined is another of my favorite things: old comic strips. When I say “wife beating used to be considered hilarious,” your eyebrows go up. But what about Andy Capp? That was one of the four or five standard “jokes” in that strip. It was eventually balanced off by the wife beating up the husband, which happens in a lot more strips.
I spent several happy hours reading about Hats, Women’s (large, often in the way) and Icemen. If you have my tastes, this is a great book.
Having said that, I do have two complaints. First, the author is really into Freudian interpretations of stuff. And I got pretty tired of being told that everything was a phallic symbol. Sometimes a squirting flower or an exploding cigar is just a squirting flower or an exploding cigar. I don’t mind it coming up a couple of times, but if you read the book straight through, it comes up a lot.
My other complaint is about a baffling failure of research. The “Suicide” section (Suicide used to be hilarious to people, especially right after the Wall Street Crash of 1929), starts with this:
Eighty years ago, Mickey Mouse had his own comic strip, ostensibly the work of Walt Disney himself. If the Disney corporation ever authorizes a reprint of the strip, it’s safe to say they’ll cut the sequence from October 1930 in which Mickey, despondent after being dumped by Minnie, attempts suicide several days in a row — by gas, by gun, by jumping off a bridge.
Well…the Mickey Mouse comic strip has been reprinted, in some very nice hardback books. I have two of them, and they’re a really interesting portrayal of Mickey Mouse, who’s been kind of stripped of personality in the last 85 years. They’re published by Fantagraphics, and they’re great. I particularly draw your attention to book one, Race to Death Valley, in which the attempted-suicide strips start on page 80.
Now, here’s the thing. Race to Death Valley came out in 2011, and there was a lot of hullabloo about it. If you like old-timey comic strips at all, I can’t imagine not being aware of it. And yet, American Cornball, a well-researched book, which came out in September 2014, doesn’t know it happened. In fact, it confidently asserts that it couldn’t happen. It’s just weird. At first I thought that maybe American Cornball was based on a blog, which would explain the occasional repeated fact and missed fact, but it doesn’t seem to be. It’s weird.
But that should not deter you. If you’re the sort of person who already knows what Mickey Mouse strips are in the first Fantagraphics collection, American Cornball is all about stuff you’ll like.
November 23, 2014
This book is a lot of fun. Miller operates with a clear time period in mind: the first 2/3 of the 20th century. This works well, and keeps things from getting too cluttered, and it keeps him from going off on too many digressions. Miller has a good sense of humor (which I imagine is a necessity when your book is called American Cornball), and does a nice job of keeping the highbrow from being too high, and the lowbrow from being too low.
There's a nice variety of sources used, from the funnies (comics), to magazines, to tv shows and movies. Using these resources, he does his darnedest to explain the reasons behind the odd things that made Americans laugh. He covers such topics as hobos, soup (which, if you think about it's use in Seinfeld with the Soup Nazi, still has some traction), alley cats, and Sweet Adeline. After covering so much of the once-humorous, I would've liked it had he devoted some time to addressing which aspects of humor are never *not* funny. In other words, what sort of topics or jokes still hold up in the 21st century? What is it about the Marx Bros. that makes me roll my eyes, but I'm still slappin' my knees at I Love Lucy and the Hepburn/Tracy movies? Maybe that's for a sequel?
If you're looking to laugh and learn (about what made people laugh), this is an excellent read.
There's a nice variety of sources used, from the funnies (comics), to magazines, to tv shows and movies. Using these resources, he does his darnedest to explain the reasons behind the odd things that made Americans laugh. He covers such topics as hobos, soup (which, if you think about it's use in Seinfeld with the Soup Nazi, still has some traction), alley cats, and Sweet Adeline. After covering so much of the once-humorous, I would've liked it had he devoted some time to addressing which aspects of humor are never *not* funny. In other words, what sort of topics or jokes still hold up in the 21st century? What is it about the Marx Bros. that makes me roll my eyes, but I'm still slappin' my knees at I Love Lucy and the Hepburn/Tracy movies? Maybe that's for a sequel?
If you're looking to laugh and learn (about what made people laugh), this is an excellent read.
December 17, 2015
This is one of those books that people can't resist picking up and looking at when they see it, and the encyclopedia structure invites just that sort of quick dip and read approach to exploring the content. And the structure suits the subject, because the brief entries provide you with a solid introduction to each individual topic. Have a few minutes? Find out exactly why it was that cats figure so prominently in comic strips.
Miller does a good job of covering a very broad subject. He covers large, important issues such as how humor in relation to race and domestic violence is regarded very differently than it was in the first two thirds of the 20th century. But he also looks at smaller topics, like pickles, and horse manure, and baldness to reflect how and why things were funny and the degree to which that has or hasn't changed.
While he does provide examples to illustrate his points, I felt that this was the books greatest weakness. Too many of the comics examples were sourced to the same sources and there were not enough exemplars to help people unfamiliar with the originals to fully appreciate his points in all cases.
Miller does a good job of covering a very broad subject. He covers large, important issues such as how humor in relation to race and domestic violence is regarded very differently than it was in the first two thirds of the 20th century. But he also looks at smaller topics, like pickles, and horse manure, and baldness to reflect how and why things were funny and the degree to which that has or hasn't changed.
While he does provide examples to illustrate his points, I felt that this was the books greatest weakness. Too many of the comics examples were sourced to the same sources and there were not enough exemplars to help people unfamiliar with the originals to fully appreciate his points in all cases.
July 26, 2015
I enjoyed this book, but I'm not sure what to think of all the racist and sexist content. The author does, at times, remind the reader that what is acceptable to laugh at changes with the times, and that much current comedic content would be unthinkably offensive at the time these jokes were popular. Perhaps I'm too firmly entrenched in the political correctness of my own times. I did find the book fascinating, though, and of course there were plenty of non-racist/sexist jokes as well. Some of them even made me laugh!
January 16, 2016
This book had potential to be good but it was clear that the author took liberties with the material he presented. It reads like a reference book or encyclopedia, if you can remember how those read. The material has potential to be good but it lacks substance. Initially I was lead to believe that this covered the roots of why certain things were funny. Instead I got what anecdotes that the author cared about instead of decent history. I wouldn't mind this but my issue is that this book pretends to be something it is not.
February 19, 2015
Seemingly written for me, this is an encyclopedic guide to classic comic staples, such as pratfalls, alley cats, and tightwads, that may no longer be in vogue. Mainstream humor used to be so dark, as things like infant mortality and spouse-killing used to be played for laughs. Ah, the days of pure American values.
February 7, 2015
Clever consideration of things and situations that Americans once thought hilarious. Disappointed not to find the Swedish maid (esp. as played by Wallace Beery in a series of silents) as that always puzzled me.
April 14, 2021
I expected a compendium of old-time jokes and gags. What I got was so much better: an encyclopedic analysis of and commentary on the nature of what concepts have been regarded as funny, and why, and why many of those funny concepts have not weathered well over the years. The book is really a collection of short essays on domestic violence (wife beating was once regarded as well within the scope of casual humor), hiccups (still sort of funny nowadays), nincompoops (making fun of the socially maladroit), underwear (a discussion of the once-titillating college joke of raiding women's dorms), bosoms and breasts (older, overweight women have bosoms; hot young chicks have breasts), outhouses (jokes about shitting and pissing were A-OK once, but fart jokes were verboten in popular media until recently), fishing and fishermen (the punch lines always seem to be about not catching any fish), among many other vital topics. In an afterword, Miller lists some of the once-funny concepts he had to preclude from this volume (which is already 500 pages long): bulldogs, cannibals, cigars, elopement (funny only when a ladder is involved, he insists), flagpole sitting (one of many, many ways to work in dick jokes in a more buttoned-up time; cigars often fill that function as well, as Groucho Marx exploited to the full). I could have read another 500 pages of this.
Read as bedtime reading, for which it was ideal: entries of a page or three, well-written, thoughtful and perceptive, with many illustrations from Three Stooges shorts, old comic strips, gag postcards and other ephemera Americana.
I'll remember that almost anything is worth commentary and analysis, if approached from a reasonable perspective. I'll remember his discussion of flatulence being avoided in jokes, when allusions to other bodily functions (vomiting, halitosis) were condoned. Until recently; now fart jokes are ubiquitous, thanks to, among other things, Rudy Guiliani's election arguments.
Read as bedtime reading, for which it was ideal: entries of a page or three, well-written, thoughtful and perceptive, with many illustrations from Three Stooges shorts, old comic strips, gag postcards and other ephemera Americana.
I'll remember that almost anything is worth commentary and analysis, if approached from a reasonable perspective. I'll remember his discussion of flatulence being avoided in jokes, when allusions to other bodily functions (vomiting, halitosis) were condoned. Until recently; now fart jokes are ubiquitous, thanks to, among other things, Rudy Guiliani's election arguments.
December 26, 2024
An extensively researched project let down by terrible editing.
While there were lots of small mistakes like typos, formatting errors, and gaps in knowledge about contemporary culture, the book mainly suffers from its alphabetic encyclopedia format. It should have been divided into chapters, each with analysis on a particular style of humor or category of tropes. As it is, there are contradictions and redundancies, and the discussion of falling grand pianos comes over 300 pages after anvils.
The other main issue is that the author has a tendency to describe cartoons instead of just including them in the book. Maybe this is for copyright reasons, but if so, it is never acknowledged.
As for the analysis, it's insightful if tending a little too Freudian. The author is clear on his preference for the culture of the 20s over the 50s and 60s. There are some questionable takes about literature and gratuitous references to Henry James. The sardonic tone occasionally crosses the line from wit into smugness.
I'm mostly just impressed with the sheer enormousness of the time that must have been spent on research. Thanks to Christopher Miller, nobody will ever have to read all of Blondie or Li'l Abner ever again. And this should be celebrated.
While there were lots of small mistakes like typos, formatting errors, and gaps in knowledge about contemporary culture, the book mainly suffers from its alphabetic encyclopedia format. It should have been divided into chapters, each with analysis on a particular style of humor or category of tropes. As it is, there are contradictions and redundancies, and the discussion of falling grand pianos comes over 300 pages after anvils.
The other main issue is that the author has a tendency to describe cartoons instead of just including them in the book. Maybe this is for copyright reasons, but if so, it is never acknowledged.
As for the analysis, it's insightful if tending a little too Freudian. The author is clear on his preference for the culture of the 20s over the 50s and 60s. There are some questionable takes about literature and gratuitous references to Henry James. The sardonic tone occasionally crosses the line from wit into smugness.
I'm mostly just impressed with the sheer enormousness of the time that must have been spent on research. Thanks to Christopher Miller, nobody will ever have to read all of Blondie or Li'l Abner ever again. And this should be celebrated.
August 18, 2018
As a writer, Christopher Miller has already demonstrated for us his characteristically dry and brilliant sense of humor in a witty, tongue-firmly-in-cheek novel about the misadventures of a delusional academic composer titled "Sudden Noises from Inanimate Objects." In "American Cornball" he applies this attic salt to his meticulous scholarly research on what he (and most of us) would consider to be the "formerly funny." Nowadays our sense of humor is so jaded and cynical that we have very likely forgotten humor's cornier roots. I found this book amusing, engaging, and difficult to put down. It had me chortling all the way through without guilt because, whilst the text is quite droll and often side-splitting, it is also instructive insofar as it shines light on an often overlooked aspect of our cultural history. I give "American Cornball" my highest rating!
December 14, 2019
A thoroughly researched book by a person who enjoys his subject. American social history, fortunately or not, is best illustrated by what we thought was funny-or what we thought others would find funny- in the likes of joke postcards, daily funnies, and animated cartoons. Miller gives many many examples ( much of which I have seen myself) and shines a light-sometimes unforgiving- on the racist , sexist, ethnocentric past. Alphabetically organized, my only complaint is that it isn't bigger.
April 14, 2020
If you every wondered why domestic abuse was a regular feature of your childhood "funny pages," and for some reason invariably involved a rolling pin (I'm looking at youn Andy Capp in the 80s) this book is for you!
Organized by topic, this is not an extensive folklore compendium like Gershon Legman, but it does explore the comedy tropes of the last century with encylopedic delight.
Organized by topic, this is not an extensive folklore compendium like Gershon Legman, but it does explore the comedy tropes of the last century with encylopedic delight.
May 9, 2018
As stated on one of the blurbs - "Erudite". Not perfect by any means but excellent for anyone interested in American humor, especially comic art and what people thought was funny from 1900 to 1960 in this country.
April 1, 2019
I keep a copy of this close at hand for all sorts of occasions: bathroom reading, resolving workplace late night dorm room wonderments, interpreting odd Simpsons jokes that don't land on the first listening, finding fun affectations to bewilder my spouse and children. Essential.
February 13, 2021
Lots of fantastic information regarding the ups and downs of American humor over the centuries. It can be surprisingly dry in places, considering the topic, but so great that someone put it all together.
August 6, 2018
Incredibly well-researched and entertainingly written guide to the "Formerly Funny."
April 23, 2020
Awful. Just awful.
July 13, 2022
Takeaway is that people used to be really, surprisingly lax about child death but puritanical about farts for no reason at all.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 27, 2022
I believe I first heard of this book from Alan Zweibel. In any event, I also highly recommend this incredibly well researched and enjoyable encyclopedia of American humor.
August 3, 2021
I thoroughly enjoyed the thoroughness! This compendium of the tropes and themes of comic strips, cartoons and screwball one-reelers is perceptive and insightful. It works best when tongue is firmly in cheek and academic in analyzing why it's a boot thrown at alley cats, the difference between bosom and breasts, etc. In fact, I don't rate it five stars even though it's a singular achievement because of the rare moments when the author puts himself in the text, especially when addressing academia where a dissonant note of bitterness comes through.
But I've already bought a copy for a pal so that's as real an endorsement as I can give.
But I've already bought a copy for a pal so that's as real an endorsement as I can give.
August 4, 2020
An encyclopedic, well-illustrated study of stale humor, catnip for the odd-brained. Very entertaining! Henpecked Husbands, Women Drivers Scaredy-Cats, Money with wings, Plops, aerial anvils. banana peels, flatulence, and Irishmen. The most complete study of!#@! grawlixes I have ever encountered, plus plewds, lucaflects, blurgits, agitrons and, of course, spurls. A nice number of Don Martins SHKLICICH, SKLOOSH, and such. Dont worry, Limburger, Morons, and Mothers-in-Law are included. Each entry has a nice, not necessarily PG, analysis and history. Very very entertaining.
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