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Behind-The-Books Blog

Homage to old laughs

Tuesday, October 12th, 2010

Last Monday evening I had the most brilliant idea for this week’s blog. The epiphany came when, in a lecture on Victorian culture, I snickered in knowing agreement at a typically pithy Oscar Wilde quote regarding the unintentional hilarity of Little Nell’s demise in The Old Curiosity Shop, and allowed my thoughts to wander from thence (inadvertently funny books), to books designed and received as genuine pieces of great comedy.

After which three-minute, fair and all-encompassing reflection I came to the conclusion that, alarmingly, there aren’t many. Three Men in a Boat, by Jerome K Jerome leapt to mind most instantly – the 120 year old masterpiece – followed by P.G.Wodehouse’s loveable fools, and another 1920s creation, Decline and Fall, by Evelyn Waugh, and then more recently, A Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams – which, although more recent, is now 30 years old, and its author dead.

So, what has been written in the last three decades? What is being written now?
Yes (I determined en-scuttle-route from lecture to tube) the dearth in great comic literature has potential as something to write (read: rant) about…

First priority was to defend the validity of my outrage by defining a comedy book.  To be clear then: I am talking fiction. Not amusing memoir, not topical satire redundant in twelve-months; the dross of  TV-annuals, trivia, and quiz books are definitely out. And not just any novel will do. Most contain some witty turn of phrase or amusing observation, but to be comedy, the book must have been written for the purpose of making people laugh, and all else is subverted to this gallant cause. Not the plot but the wish for more wit keeps the pages turning; you re-read favourite passages and, chuckling, regurgitate approximations thereof to your bored relatives; and the most memorable characteristic, the word that occurs most immediately when asked to describe the book, is that it was funny. Or would you define Three Men in a Boat as that interesting survey of the Thames between London and Oxford?

By these rigorous measures I’m in danger of disqualifying even the few books I have so far mentioned. But why are there not more books that fulfil these requirements? Is it not odd that there aren’t more great comic novelists around precisely at a time when the predominant TV comedy is, for want of a better word, ‘wordy’?  I suppose the answer is contained within the question: why would a humorous wordsmith waste time on a novel when greater, more lucrative accolade beckons on screen?

Hopefully my unkindness is bred out of ignorance. If you, fellow laugh-lovers, can nominate further rib-tickling authors, I would be most grateful for enlightenment.

Instead you may by now be responding to this blog with an exasperated ‘But why the devil is any of this important?’  Well, I riposte, there is undeniably a gap of sorts in the book market: perhaps with the popularity of crime and light fiction and the importance attached (by me too) to serious works, good comedy has been neglected. ‘But with laughs being so plentiful elsewhere, must this gap necessarily be filled?’ Ah, astute reader, a fair point. And one I was chewing over by late Monday evening when I finally arrived home and flicked on the radio – to hear the sad news. Another gentleman clown, and an early comedy hero of mine, had joined the jokers in the sky.

‘Yes, it is sad, but you’re digressing,’ you mutter. Well, I’m not. With the tributes to Sir Norman Wisdom mourning not just his passing, but the passing of a style of comedy quite antithetical to today’s mainstream, his death reminds us not to let older forms of comedy fall by the way-side. And for me personally, Norman Wisdom was the man who championed the necessity of laughing at the self-importance of adulthood and the absolute vitality of comedy in our lives. An importance which I wonder, as I continue to work through crime novels by day and heavy tomes by night, whether the book industry fully caters for.

To be serious and sophisticated has its time and place; but perhaps books are taking themselves too seriously, too much of the time, and it’s high time there were a few more that allowed us to follow little Pitkin and, once in a while, roll about the floor with laughter.

Georgina Phipps, Editorial Administrator

Susie Says:


What timing! I was reading Howard Jacobson’s article in Saturday’s Guardian last night (always takes me at least until Monday to finish the weekend’s papers) and he has lots to say about comic novels. And while I’m here, good luck Mr Jacobson at tonight’s Booker Prize ceremony …

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/oct/09/howard-jacobson-comic-novels

Posted on October 12th, 2010 at 3:46 pm

Jennifer Jones Says:


I would highly recommend ‘The Vesuvius Club’ by Mark Gatiss for any lover of comic novels. His use of language creates a witty, entertaining, and wickedly dark novel, whilst still managing to maintain a gripping plot. A comic gem for any fan of modern literature.

Posted on October 12th, 2010 at 4:06 pm

Lara Says:


And the Booker judges have been reading your blog and taken note! The comic novel prevails.

Posted on October 13th, 2010 at 9:52 am

Daniel Says:


I HIGHLY HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend John Kennedy Toole’s ‘A Confederacy of Dunces’. Each time i have read it (which is quite a few) it becomes funnier!

Posted on October 13th, 2010 at 2:25 pm

Bob Says:


I would recommend Danny King. Very blokey, but laugh out loud.It does not all have to high brow…..

Posted on October 15th, 2010 at 12:09 pm

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