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History has no single author but is written by those whose stories it tells. We are a culture engrossed with history, encumbered by its weight and yet infinitely interested in its impact. We build monuments to commemorate the past and mausoleums to memorialize our forbearers. But while we fill volumes with the history of music and build buildings to the history of art, the history of comedy is a story largely untold and entirely unwritten. Yet it is a history as vast and rich as its counterparts, filled with epic stories and first hand accounts; a history that will be lost forever if it is not preserved.
The Comedy Hall of Fame’s archive is an oral history told by the people who lived it, digitally mastered and stored so that it will exist for all time. To date our archive holds more than 75 volumes from some of the greatest minds in comedy and it is always growing.
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All founding voices
About the Archives
The Archive in its essence is an oral history consisting of a series of filmed interviews with individual artists and industry professionals that define and helped to shape the history of the field of comedy in the twentieth century. The history of comedy is defined by its artists; very much like the fine arts of painting and sculpture.
Through the archives, the public will meet the people behind the brilliant personas, characters and comedic work that they have created. Each archive is portraiture of the comedian as an artist. The archive is a living history, not a repository for the statistics of achievement. Our interest in history is not just the chronological context. How comedians accomplish their art, as well as the road taken are of equal import.
History told in the first person offers a greater and more compelling understanding of comedy for today and for future generations. History is at its best when told by those who create it, those who define the art.
Donate
The primary objective of the Comedy Hall of Fame Archives is to preserve comedic history, by capturing that story in the first person, told by the people who created history. To harness this vision, we have created an archive to honor the rich past and prodigious personalities of comedy.
By supporting the Archives, you can help us to capture more fist hand accounts, by the great comedic artists of the twentieth century, while we can as well as the future legends as they make the history of comedy in the 21st century.
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