June Free Speaker Series: The History of Ha

Ripped from the pages of his award-eligible “Funny: The Book / Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Comedy,” David Misch presents a some-holds-barred survey of absolutely everything funny that’s ever happened, in an hour. (FDA advisory: Some funny things not included.)

Beginning in pre-history with the mythological Trickster, this multimedia presentation looks at comedy from Ancient Greece to yesterday morning, from court jesters to Groucho, from Plato & Aristotle to Abbott & Costello. With stops along the way for commedia dell’arte, a French fartist, and how comedy killed Abraham Lincoln, David uses clips and commentary to look at what comedy is, where it comes from and where it’s going (oddly enough, Philadelphia).

Among David Misch’s TV and movie credits are the Emmy-nominated “Mork and Mindy,” the Emmy-losing “Duckman,” the Emmy-engorged “Saturday Night Live,” and the Emmyineligible “The Muppets Take Manhattan.” In addition to “Funny: The Book,” he’s written “A Beginner’s Guide To Corruption,” is also a playwright, songwriter, blogger, teacher and recovered stand-up comic, and has spoken at the Smithsonian, Yale, Oxford University, University of Sydney (Australia), VIEW Cinema Conference (Torino, Italy), Raindance Film Festival (London), American Film Institute, Austin Film Festival, Burbank Comedy Festival, Willamette Writers Conference, USC, UCLA, Walt Disney Studios, Sony Pictures and Lucasfilm. Too much more at davidmisch.com, not to mention (yet here I am mentioning) funnythebook.com