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Funny Then, Funny Now

Thu, 07/19/2012 - 10:24am
Theater: ‘The Imaginary Invalid’
By
Fred Baumgarten
Zachary Booth as Béline, standing, and Ethan Phillips as Argan Photos Cory Weaver

The genius of comedy is that it never changes much. The same things that make us laugh now made people laugh 300 years ago, or a 1,000 years ago. Jokes about sex, marriage, infidelity, body parts, bodily functions and the like are as much in evidence in ancient humor as in an Adam Sandler movie.

Add equal measures of slapstick and verbal jousting (think Marx Brothers and “Who’s on First”) and you have the makings of a classic comedy like Molière’s “The Imaginary Invalid,” a work that perfectly balances broad lunacy and rapier-like wit.

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