“Dying is easy; comedy is hard.” – Edmund Kean, 1787-1833
These last words, allegedly said by the Shakespearean stage actor Kean on his deathbed, tell a lot about our perception of the meaning of life and death, as well as how we normally deal with it. Many may contend that it is the other way around: that comedy is easy and dying is hard. However, in the circles of well-known comedians, this saying is accepted as a truism. The comedian is all too familiar with the humiliation of a stand-up comedy act gone wrong, where he has failed to elicit the expected laughter from his audience. It is an indignity that he fears, and fears justly.
As with comedy, there is also much indignity in death. But there is also humor – albeit a dark one – in deaths that are bizarre and weird. They are ironically funny, as long as one doesn’t dwell too much on the macabre and gory aspect of the way certain individuals met their end. Dying and comedy can be, however strangely and uncomfortably, good bedfellows.
Is there still such an indignity when one already has gone to that realm of no return? What is the point of being embarrassed when one will no longer face the amused crowd ogling the unfortunate way one has died?
This volume chronicles 230 of the most embarrassing exits that have ever been documented, as well as the most hilarious epitaphs that have ever been devised. It shows how dying can really be easy, but also unintentionally funny. The loved ones of the people documented in this book may not find it comedic, but for the rest of us, we can at least find comfort in the fact that we can still poke fun at the most serious and feared aspect of human existence. Even the dying have a sense of dark humor. Death is indeed easy, and bizarre deaths can elicit comedy just as effortlessly.
These last words, allegedly said by the Shakespearean stage actor Kean on his deathbed, tell a lot about our perception of the meaning of life and death, as well as how we normally deal with it. Many may contend that it is the other way around: that comedy is easy and dying is hard. However, in the circles of well-known comedians, this saying is accepted as a truism. The comedian is all too familiar with the humiliation of a stand-up comedy act gone wrong, where he has failed to elicit the expected laughter from his audience. It is an indignity that he fears, and fears justly.
As with comedy, there is also much indignity in death. But there is also humor – albeit a dark one – in deaths that are bizarre and weird. They are ironically funny, as long as one doesn’t dwell too much on the macabre and gory aspect of the way certain individuals met their end. Dying and comedy can be, however strangely and uncomfortably, good bedfellows.
Is there still such an indignity when one already has gone to that realm of no return? What is the point of being embarrassed when one will no longer face the amused crowd ogling the unfortunate way one has died?
This volume chronicles 230 of the most embarrassing exits that have ever been documented, as well as the most hilarious epitaphs that have ever been devised. It shows how dying can really be easy, but also unintentionally funny. The loved ones of the people documented in this book may not find it comedic, but for the rest of us, we can at least find comfort in the fact that we can still poke fun at the most serious and feared aspect of human existence. Even the dying have a sense of dark humor. Death is indeed easy, and bizarre deaths can elicit comedy just as effortlessly.
