Product Description

On the surface it may seem slightly surprising that a master of verbal humour should also be a devotee of silent comedy, but Paul Merton is completely passionate about the early days of Hollywood comedy and the comic geniuses who dominated it. His knowledge is awesome - as anyone who watched his BBC 4 series "Silent Clowns" or attended the events he has staged nationwide will agree - his enthusiasm is infectious, and these qualities are to be found in abundance in his book. Starting with the very earliest pioneering short films, he traces the evolution of silent comedy through the 1900s and considers the works of the genre's greatest exponents - Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and Harold Lloyd - showing not only how each developed in the course of their career but also the extent to which they influenced each other. At the same time, Paul brings a comedian's insight to bear on the art of making people laugh, and explores just how the great comic ideas, routines, gags and pratfalls worked and evolved. His first book for ten years, this is destined to be a classic.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24878 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

The Independent, 15 November 2007
meticulous... beautifully illustrated, with period stills and playbills, and he decorates this conscientious survey with fascinating first-hand experience.

The Times, 26 October 2007
The personal touches impress... a terrific history of props and pratfalls... I'm a better person for having read this.

The Herald, 27 October 2007
An unabashed labour of love... The most compelling aspect ... is his tracing of the silent clowns' creative rivalries

Customer Reviews

Wonderful
Paul Merton's 336-page journey through the silent comedy era is as informative as it is fascinating. Merton's passion, wit and knowledge of the subject visibly shines through his writing, accompanied by beautiful full-colour images and quotations from the comedy greats. Whether you're reading it for pleasure or using it as reference material, Silent Comedy is a beautiful, thorough, accessible and indispensable book. Put simply, it's brilliant.

A wonderful introductory book to silent comedy
I have long been a fan of silent comedy and found this book an absoloute joy.
Paul Merton's passion and enthusiasm come through in the writing, and it's nice to see an accessible book, written by a fan.

Like his television series and subsequent live shows of Silent Clowns, this book is great for someone who is relatively new to silent comedy. It provides reasonably detailed overviews of the household names as well as some of the perhaps lesser well known; it also nicely covers the beginnings and the end of the silent era of cinema.

Excellent read, but misleading title
This book is a wonderful read, illustrated tremendously and is a thoroughly well researched book by a man who is not just a wonderfully witty wordsmith, but an obvious fan of the subject.

The only problem I have with the book is that it should have eluded within the title that it is about the early Silent Comedy Films, as it will give the impression to the reader that Silent Comedy ended with the introduction of Sound and I feel this is not the case. (Mr Bean, Eric Sykes, Mel Brooks) On page 284 discussing the arrival of sound it states, `A whole new generation of screen entertainers appeared: The Marx Brothers, Eddie Cantor and Al Jolson were all vibrant vocal performers with musical skills aplenty.' It fails to mention that a member of the Marx Brothers was a silent comedian, considered by many as the greatest physical/Silent comedian of them all.

But this is stupid nit-picking... Anyone who was aware what Paul Merton has been up to recently would have known what is contained in this book. I remember watching Chaplin, Harold Lloyd and Laurel and Hardy during my childhood and this book, now, makes me want to see them on the big screen with live musical accompaniment... Paul, please bring your Silent Clowns lecture to Ireland.