Ian Hislop's Oldest Jokes

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Ian Hislop goes in search of the earliest examples of British comedy staples.

With the help of contemporary comedians, scholars and an appetite for enduring humour, Ian Hislop tracks down the earliest examples of enduring British comedy tropes and jokes.

There are a number of themes or types or techniques in British comedy that seem to survive any social or political upheaval.  We love wordplay, we're suckers for Double entendre and while animals can be cute or terrifying, they can also make us laugh. In this series Ian Hislop looks back to try and find the first examples of these jokes or comedy genres.  We love a good parody but when did that become a thing?  Can we really find Anglo-Saxon Double Entendre? You bet we can, and filthy to boot, another trove of British Humour.  
He visits libraries, museums and chapels, and also talks to comedy stars and writers of today like Nina Conti, Paul Whitehouse, comedy song writing duo Jo and Joan and parodist Craig Brown.

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Ian Hislop's Oldest Jokes: Comic Song

Comic Song

BBC Radio 4 - Ian Hislop's Oldest Jokes, Comic Song

The last of Ian Hislop's series looking for British comedy originals celebrates comic song

In the last programme in his series looking for the origins of British comedy staples, Ian finds himself in a shed in Coventry enjoying an early collection of comic songs.

There are a number of themes or types or techniques in British comedy that seem to survive any social or political upheaval. We love wordplay, we're suckers for Double entendre and while animals can be cute or terrifying, they can also make us laugh. In this series Ian Hislop looks back to try and find the first examples of these jokes or comedy genres. We love a good parody but when did that become a thing? Can we really find Anglo-Saxon Double Entendre? You bet we can, and filthy to boot, another trove of British Humour.
He visits libraries, museums and chapels, and also talks to comedy stars and writers of today like Nina Conti, Paul Whitehouse, comedy song writing duo Jo and Joan and parodist Craig Brown.

In the last programme in the series, Ian joins Chris Green and Sophie Matthews in their shed in Coventry, where they leaf through and perform from a 17th century collection, one of the first in existence, of comic songs.  Pills to Purge Melancholy was the work of Thomas Durfay and is rich in Double Entendre, drinking songs, in fact all the genres that Ian has covered in this series.  But in this iteration they're all coupled to song. It's unlikely that this kind of comic device was new, but there's no record of deliberately minted comic song that pre-dates this printed collection.  Why comic songs work, how they survive over time, and what we might learn from Mr Durfay's collection brings Ian's series to a close.

Producer:   Tom Alban

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