The American Humorist *Online* *NEW*

When the literary luminaries took their seats at the celebrated Round Table of the Algonquin Hotel, it was, as President Kennedy said on a different occasion, “the most extraordinary collection of talent, of human knowledge, that has ever been gathered together… since Thomas Jefferson dined alone”. Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker, George S. Kauffman, et al were the most celebrated wits and wags of their time — perhaps of all time. But who came before them, and who carried on their legacy of laughs? From Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard to Garrison Keillor’s Norwegian Bachelor Farmer, American humorists have harvested bumper crops of wry commentary over centuries. Is there a through line that links Irving, Twain, Rogers, Perelman, Allen, Ephron, Sedaris(-es), and other sardonic observers of the past and present American scene? Funny you should ask…

Instructor: Joshua Passell

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Instructor

​An amateur astronomer since youth, Josh Passell learned at 20 he wasn’t cut out to be an astrophysicist. Cosmology’s loss was the Humanities’ gain. During a career in travel and cultural journalism, he applied the rigor of the scientific method to literature, art, and music. Now he proposes to apply the lessons of great art to science. Who is a greater creator than the deity, and what masterpiece is greater than the universe?
A writer and editor in New York, London, and Boston over the past 40 years (with a BA in English Literature from Columbia University), Josh Passell has long admired, and occasionally tried his hand at, American humor. New Yorker rejection letters supplied upon request.