A History of Laugh Episodes by Field Study

Every year literally billions of people make the pilgrimage to Edinburgh in search of the perfect laugh episode. But has there always been laughter? Professors Hodge and Danks and their assistant Madeline Brown decided to conduct their own investigation.

From the very beginnings of time, man has laughed. This much can be seen from the most basic of archaeological research into the abdomen structure of early homo erectus. Early man laughed at quite basic things such as a friend falling over a rock or someone being savagely torn apart by wild dogs. Examples of this "primitive" or "base" humour can still be seen in the modern world in such programmes as ITV's flagship Saturday show You've Been Framed as hosted by ex-Tiswas presenter Jeremy Beadle and later Lisa Riley, before being taken over, in voice over alone, by Harry Hill thus revamping a tired format.

While "laughter" has always been with us, Wikipedia states that "comedy," in its modern form, was invented in 1902 along with the teddy bear and the trans-Siberian railway. It was invented by music hall performer Vernon "Chuckles" Fragson at home in his Shoreditch basement. The first ever joke was as follows; "What's the difference between Joan of Arc and a canoe? One is Maid of Orleans, the other is made of wood."

You might not laugh at that now but if you were a Victorian you would literally be beside yourself.

And then there was The Goodies and The Office and that's basically the history of comedy. (Do, please, petition the BBC for repeats of the Goodies at prime time. This travesty cannot be overlooked for much longer.)

To continue the examination into involuntary vocal events otherwise known as 'laughter', the Professors are conducting a Field Study of comedy every day at the Pleasance Below.