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By Steve Allen

Illustrations by David Woodman

But Seriously,
Folks...

Written in 1983, this piece captures a turning point when humour was shifting from the written word to mass performance. What it observes as “assembly-line jokes” now feels prescient. Today, comedy is not only performed at scale but distributed, optimised, and increasingly generated by algorithms and AI. The question is no longer whether humour has changed, but whether it can retain depth, authorship, and intent within systems designed for speed and volume. Read now, But Seriously, Folks… offers an early reflection on a trajectory that has only accelerated—where the role of the comedian, and the meaning of humor itself, continues to evolve.

Generated story images using DALL-E 3, based upon the original illustrations in the article "But Seriously, Folks..." , published in the September 1983 edition of Laugh Factory Magazine.

One of the great differences between today and fifty years ago is that today's humor is performed for the most part, whereas earlier humor was meant to be read. Humorists of the 1920's saw themselves as continuing the great tradition of Mark Twain, Artemus Ward, Josh Billings. These literary humorists included Irvin S. Cobb, Stephen Leacock, Robert Benchley, S.J. Pearlman, Frank Sullivan, Ring Lardner and James Thurber. But with the advent of radio, then television, and the rise of the popular co-median, those who might have become humorists in their own right took to writing "comedy material" for the entertainers, and humor became more and more mass-pro-duction, assembly-line jokes.

Illustration 2 from the article "But Seriously, Folks...", published in the September 1983 edition of Laugh Factory Magazine.

Illustration by David Woodman

So today more comedy is being written and more comedians are standing up in front of audiences and making them laugh than ever before. Whether it is as good as the humor of an earlier day is another matter.

Illustration 3 from the article "But Seriously, Folks...", published in the September 1983 edition of Laugh Factory Magazine.

Illustration by David Woodman

The comedian is essentially a social critic. He perceives what is wrong with society and makes fun of it. Since comedy is in some way about tragedy, one of its functions is to alleviate the pain we would be constantly suffering were we to concentrate on the tragedy that characterizes life on this planet.

Illustration 4 from the article "But Seriously, Folks...", published in the September 1983 edition of Laugh Factory Magazine.

Illustration by David Woodman

Perhaps all humor should be warmhearted, playful, affectionate, but in fact it is not. We have humor in incongruity. We have the humor of insults. And a great deal of humor falls off the tree unpicked and unwilled. Humor is a social lubricant that helps us get over some of the bad spots. Humor is a humanizing agent. Which is probably why the toughest criticism for us to accept is the charge that we have no sense of humor.

The End.

Note: The hero image was generated with DALL-E 3 in the style of the original artwork.

What's a Classic Article anyway?

This article originally appeared in the September 1983 printed edition of Laugh Factory Magazine.

Laugh Factory Magazine cover from September 1983 featuring Steve Martin

Laugh Factory Magazine cover from September 1983, featuring Steve Martin.

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