A humorist (US; British humourist) is an intellectual who uses humor in writing or public speaking. Humorists are distinct from comedians, who are show business entertainers whose business is to make an audience laugh, though some persons have occupied both roles in the course of their careers.
The iconic humorist
Mark Twain, pen name of Samuel Langhorn Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), was called the "greatest humorist this country has produced" in his New York Times obiturary,[1] and William Faulkner called him "the father of American literature".[2]
Distinction from a comedian
A humorist is adept at seeing the humor in a situation or aspect of life and relating it, usually through a story; the comedian, on the other hand, concentrates on jokes designed to invoke instantaneous laughter. The humorist is primarily a writer of books, newspaper or magazine articles or columns, stage or screen plays, and may occasionally appear before an audience to deliver a lecture or read a piece of his or her work. The comedian always performs his or her work for an audience, either in live performance, audio recording, radio, television, or film.[3]
According to Study.com, a humorist job requires a bachelor's degree, and according to US Bureau of Labor statistics, earns a 2016 median salary of US$29.44. This is compared to the comedian, which requires a high school diploma and earns a median salary of $17.34.[3]
Comedians who became humorists
Sometimes a comedian will adopt a writing career and gain notability as a humorist. Some examples are:
Will Rogers (1879–1935) was a vaudeville comedian who started doing humorous political and social commentary, and became a famous newspaper columnist and radio personality during the Great Depression. He is an exception to the education rule, as he only completed a tenth grade education.[4]
Steve Martin (born 1945), comedian and actor, started writing humorous plays in 1993.
Hugh Laurie (born 1959) is an English comic actor who worked for many years in partnership with Stephen Fry. He is a fan of the English humorist P.G. Wodehouse, and has written a Wodehouse-style novel.[5]
Mark Twain prize
The United States national cultural center, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, has chosen to award a Mark Twain Prize for American Humor annually since 1998 to individuals who have "had an impact on American society in ways similar to the distinguished 19th century novelist and essayist best known as Mark Twain."[6] Despite the name, this does not make the awardee a humorist; as of 2017[update], the center has chosen to confer the prize on nineteen comedians and one playwright; only two recipients, the comedian Steve Martin and the playwright Neil Simon, are commonly recognized as humorists in the sense of Twain.
Notable humorists
American
Renowned polymath Benjamin Franklin (January 17, 1706–April 17, 1790), as a newspaper editor and printer, became one of America's first humorists, most famously for Poor Richard's Almanack published under the pen name "Richard Saunders".
Robert Benchley (September 15, 1889–November 21, 1945), best known for his work as a newspaper columnist and film actor, began writing humorously for The Harvard Lampoon while attending Harvard University, and for many years wrote essays and articles for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker.
Art Buchwald (October 20, 1925–January 17, 2007) wrote a political satire op-ed column for Washington Post, which was nationally syndicated in many newspapers.
British/UK
Women
Other countries
References
- ^ "Obituary (New York Times)". Retrieved 2009-12-27.
- ^ Jelliffe, Robert A. (1956). Faulkner at Nagano. Tokyo: Kenkyusha, Ltd.
- ^ a b Study.com. "Humorist vs Comedian: What is the Difference?". Study.com. Retrieved December 8, 2017.
- ^ "Adventure Marked Life of Humorist". The New York Times. August 17, 1935. Retrieved July 20, 2007.
- ^ Host: James Lipton (31 July 2006). "Hugh Laurie". Inside the Actors Studio. Season 12. Episode 18. Bravo.
{{cite episode}}: Unknown parameter|serieslink=ignored (|series-link=suggested) (help) - ^ "The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for Humor". Kennedy-center.org. Retrieved 2014-06-25.
External links
- Henry, Patrick (April 15, 2013). "Don't Call Me a Comedian". Retrieved December 7, 2017.