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Despite countless efforts to adequately historicize and typify humor, it is still a largely unrecognized and widely misunderstood sector of the arts. These efforts, however noble their intentions may have been, have consistently failed to understand the magnitude of comedic expression and have instead sought to organize its history along the critical lines of similar performing and literary arts. But unlike music or theater, which have enjoyed centuries of institutional support and academic rigor, comedy has developed largely on its own. Guided not by careful curriculum or formal pedagogy, the history of comedy has been forged by individuals acting only on inspiration and intuition. And so, it is in their stories, their unique and incredible journeys that the history of comedy can be told.

History, as we see it, has no one author or grand narrative, it not singularly constructed nor deliberately written. Rather we find that true history emerges organically out of the interwoven narratives of those whose stories it tells. We find significance in their individual accounts and meaning through their collective convergences. It is through the accumulation, rather than the manipulation of these narratives that history can emerge without pretense or predilection.

It is on this foundation that we have established the Archives of the Comedy Hall of Fame: the world’s largest and most comprehensive oral history of comedy as told by its most significant figures.

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