Portal:Comedy

The Simpsons is an animated American sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. It is a soft-satirical parody of the "Middle American" lifestyle epitomized by its titular family, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. The show is set in the fictional town of Springfield, and lampoons many aspects of the human condition, as well as American culture, society as a whole, and television itself. Since its debut on December 17, 1989, the show has aired 408 episodes over 19 seasons. It is presently airing its nineteenth season. The Simpsons has won dozens of awards since it debuted as a series, including 23 Emmy Awards, 24 Annie Awards and a Peabody Award. Time magazine's December 31, 1999 issue named it the 20th century's best television series. The Simpsons is the longest-running American sitcom. Homer's annoyed grunt "D'oh!" has been adopted into the English lexicon, while The Simpsons has been cited as an influence on many adult-oriented animated sitcoms.

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Credit: Rick Dikeman

Clowns are comic performers, stereotypically characterized by their colored wigs, stylistic makeup, outlandish costumes, and unusually large footwear. Clowning, in its most basic form, can be described as one form of drama without a fourth wall, however there are other types of drama that are lacking the element of a fourth wall as well. In other words, a clown acknowledges his audience. The clown's humor today is often visual and includes many elements of physical comedy or slapstick humor.

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• ...that Lor Tok, a Thai comedian and actor, had roles in more than 1,000 films from the 1930s to the 1980s?

• ... that The Simpsons episode "In the Name of the Grandfather", scheduled to debut on Sky One, will be the first episode of the show to air in Ireland before airing in the United States?
• ... that Matt Kirshen's Bigipedia article on the "Bee Whisperer" was inspired by an article found using the random article function on Wikipedia?

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Everything is funny as long as it is happening to somebody else. — Will Rogers

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Hugh Grant (born 9 September 1960) is a Golden Globe-winning British actor and film producer. Grant achieved international stardom after playing the alter ego of writer-director Richard Curtis in the sleeper hit Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994). He used this breakthrough role as a frequent cinematic persona during the 1990s to deliver comic performances in mainstream films like Mickey Blue Eyes (1999) and Notting Hill (1999). He established himself, by the turn of the 21st century, as a prominent leading man skilled with a satirical comic talent. In recent years, Grant has expanded his oeuvre with critically acclaimed turns as a cad in Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), About A Boy (2002), and American Dreamz (2006). Grant has been criticised by students of cinema for putting emphasis on nuanced mannerisms, for the predictability of his movies, and for his unwillingness to stretch as an actor. Within the film industry, he is cited as a movie star who approaches his roles like a character actor, with the ability to make acting look effortless. Hallmarks of his patented comic skills include a nonchalant touch of irony/sarcasm and studied physical mannerisms as well as his precisely-timed dialogue delivery and facial expressions. In a career spanning 20 years, Grant has repeatedly claimed that acting is not a true calling but just a job he fell into, while his movies have earned more than $2.4 billion from 25 theatrical releases worldwide.

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• ... that Home and Beauty has been described as both a "little masterpiece of polite merriment" and a "misogynist comedy dipped in vitriol"?
• ... that a song uses satire in Spanish and English to critique anti-Mexican sentiment in the U.S. and anti-American sentiment in Mexico?
• ... that the Willows Inn, headed by chef Blaine Wetzel, was one of the restaurants that inspired the horror comedy film The Menu?
• ... that a clip from the comedy show TV Burp was initially cleared by the UK regulator in 2008, but was banned for being "highly offensive" in 2016?
• ... that an Irish comedy group wrote the film Apocalypse Clown?
• ... that the live-action drama adaptation of the Japanese manga Setsuyaku Rock was reimagined as a buddy comedy?