[Ads-l] Everyone's A Comedian

[Andy Bach]

[Begin excerpt]
While putting some finishing touches to the work yesterday he said:
"Did it ever occur to you that every man is a humorist? I am not
referring to the play at Carnegie hall recently, but to every man in
the daily walk of life.

I wonder what the play was - it sort of implies that the title says that
"Every man a Comic"  ... or, I guess: "Every Man in His Humour", Ben Jonson
1598.

On Sun, Jan 14, 2018 at 9:41 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

> Margaret Winters wrote:
> > With apologies to the list if this has been (much) discussed, a friend
> > asked if I knew who said it first -- I don't.
>
> In 1903 the phrase "Everybody is a comedian" appeared in "The
> Pittsburgh Post". The entertainer and painter Charley Abbe explained
> his use of the phrase below.
>
> Date: October 25, 1903
> Newspaper: The Pittsburgh Post
> Newspaper Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
> Section: Three
> Article: The Stage and Its People
> Quote Page 2, Column 6
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> While putting some finishing touches to the work yesterday he said:
> "Did it ever occur to you that every man is a humorist? I am not
> referring to the play at Carnegie hall recently, but to every man in
> the daily walk of life. One business man goes in to see another, and
> the first thing he says is have you heard the latest? And then they
> tell jokes before settling down to business. We are a nation of
> story-tellers—not in relation to the truth, though. Everybody is a
> comedian, and everybody is a critic—that is, on comedians.
> [End excerpt]
>
> The citation above is interesting, but I haven't searched enough to
> make any strong claims about it.
> The phrase "Everybody's A Comedian Now" appeared in the subtitle of
> the1935 newspaper article below.
>
> Date: December 03, 1935
> Newspaper: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
> Newspaper Location: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
> Article: New Craze Hits Air Colony: Everybody's A Comedian Now:
> Reverse a Maxim, Bring It Up to Date - And You're a Member
> Author: Darrell V. Martin (Post-Gazette Radio Editor)
> Quote Page 20, Column 5
> Database: Newspapers.com
>
> [Begin excerpt]
> MOTHER GOOSE UP to date, a la Fred Allen: "Don't kill the goose that
> might win a prize on my amateur hour."
>
> This golden egg is followed by Nick Dawson, who says: "A bird in the
> hand is better than one from the studio audience."
>
> While Jane Froman interrupts to say, "People who live in glass houses
> are called control men" . . .
>
> Jack Benny: "An ounce of pretention is worth a pound on the back, for
> a radio comic.
> [End excerpt]
>
> Garson
>
>
>
>
>
> > ----------------------------
> > MARGARET E WINTERS
> > Former Provost
> > Professor Emerita - French and Linguistics
> > Wayne State University
> > Detroit, MI  48202
> >
> > mewinters at wayne.edu
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



-- 

a

Andy Bach,
afbach at gmail.com
608 658-1890 cell
608 261-5738 wk

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