A quick question—it’s true that Noises Off is the funniest show ever written, but what else is in the top ten? I’m looking for plays (not musicals) that you think are the funniest. Well, not the very funniest, because that spot is taken, but up there for funninessosity. I ask because I was asked by the Director of our recent production, who I assume was looking for possible plays to produce.
Among my nominees would be… well, it’s actually difficult to think of them. I would like to see more productions of Charley’s Aunt, which I think really is a funny play. Would anyone buy a ticket to it? I have no idea. Same for Rookery Nook, which isn’t anywhere near as funny as Charley’s Aunt, but is still pretty good.
Among relatively recent plays, there are several of Alan Ayckbourn’s plays that are not overdone; I might pick A Small Family Business. Of the Charles Busch plays, Psycho Beach Party; of the Charles Ludlum plays, Mystery of Irma Vep. Of Tom Stoppard’s plays, I’m inclined to On the Razzle as the funniest—not the best, but the funniest. Although I do like The Real Inspector Hound. Is Loot funnier than What the Butler Saw? Is Terence Rattigan’s Sleeping Prince funny without Laurence Olivier? Blithe Spirit is the best of Noel Coward’s, I think, although overdone at present.
Let’s see… Educating Rita by Willy Russell has memorable lines and characters. Hysteria by Terry Johnson has lovely bits. I am very fond of Paula Vogel’s Mineola Twins. I would like to see a production of Incorruptible by Michael Hollinger; it doesn’t sustain the premise very well, but the premise is terrific. I know less about recent stuff that wasn’t written in English—I can’t stand Yasmina Reza’s stuff, but people seem to like it. I do really like Vaclav Havel’s plays; my favorite is The Memorandum, but The Garden Party is very funny as well.
Dunno—what have you-all got?
Tolerabimus quod tolerare debemus,
-Vardibidian.
In the Farce line, some Moliere is pretty funny, although maybe a bit dated in various ways that would be objectionable to a modern audience.
Oops, that last one was me.
In the non-Farce line… Is anything else as funny as a Farce?
In the farce line, Feydeau’s farces are extremely funny. A Flea in Her Ear is the only full-length one I’ve seen staged, and it is the second-funniest play I have ever seen.
In the broader field of comedy, The Importance of Being Earnest is a very funny play. Among Shaw’s comedies, Arms and the Man is probably the funniest, although I’ve never seen You Never Can Tell staged. It reads like a very funny play, if I recall correctly.
Going farther back, The Rivals and The Marriage of Figaro are the funniest 18th-century comedies I know.
The London Cuckolds is tremendously funny–the funniest play I know from the era of Restoration Drama.
The Knight of the Burning Pestle is the funniest Renaissance play I know, although The Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare’s most farcical comedy, is a close second. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, if played for laughs, can be very funny also.
I’m not as knowledgeable about post-1950 comedies. Of Stoppard’s plays, I love Travesties, possibly for the Earnest connection. I don’t remember Hound well enough to compare the two in terms of funniness, and I don’t know On the Razzle.
Seconding the votes for A Flea in Her Ear and The Importance of Being Earnest (as the only two of those which I have seen).
Of the productions I saw, A Flea in Hear Ear was vastly funnier, but it was also performed by a much better theater company all around, which I’m sure affected things. (I saw a student production of Earnest, and A Flea in Her Ear at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.)
…Now I want to look for a performance.