Does 'The Office' television show owe something to the Greek plays of Aristophanes? Was American Vaudeville part of a vernacular tradition that went back to Ancient Rome? Are contemporary jokes about Californians and New Yorkers derived from ancient jokes about Abderites and Carians? In short: has modern comedy - whether on stage or screen, in writing, or even in vernacular performance - developed continuously from Ancient models, or does every culture (re)invent its own comic traditions? Scholars have vigorously argued for both approaches and in this seminar we will explore the problem ourselves, while having good laughs along the way as we read primary texts by Cratinus, Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus, Seneca, the Philogelos, the Querolus, and Anglo-Latin Riddles (just to name a few). These will be in conversation with more contemporary comic media, from Charlie Chaplin and the Marx Brothers, to SNL, standup comedy, and Internet meme culture. No experience in comedy or comedy theory is necessary, and works will be read in translation (although graduate students and advanced undergraduates may read the original Greek and Latin texts for appropriate credit).
3-5 units · Letter or Credit/No Credit
Does 'The Office' television show owe something to the Greek plays of Aristophanes? Was American Vaudeville part of a vernacular tradition that went back to Ancient Rome? Are contemporary jokes about Californians and New Yorkers derived from ancient jokes about Abderites and Carians? In short: has modern comedy - whether on stage or screen, in writing, or even in vernacular performance - developed continuously from Ancient models, or does every culture (re)invent its own comic traditions? Scholars have vigorously argued for both approaches and in this seminar we will explore the problem ourselves, while having good laughs along the way as we read primary texts by Cratinus, Aristophanes, Menander, Plautus, Seneca, the Philogelos, the Querolus, and Anglo-Latin Riddles (just to name a few). These will be in conversation with more contemporary comic media, from Charlie Chaplin and the Marx Brothers, to SNL, standup comedy, and Internet meme culture. No experience in comedy or comedy theory is necessary, and works will be read in translation (although graduate students and advanced undergraduates may read the original Greek and Latin texts for appropriate credit).
Offered in Spring 2026 at Stanford University.