My father had few enthusiasms, but he loved comedy.

July 19, 2016 9:11 PM

Dead Man Laughing. Comedy, family, class (British) and death intertwine in this essay by Zadie Smith.

Warning: extended lyrical musing on parental death, bittersweet pitch-perfect understanding of class in the UK, Fawlty towers/Tony Hancock, stand up comics, broad cultural and personal wisdom.

Even though it’s from 2008 it hasn't been posted here before and is somewhat timeless.

posted by lalochezia (7 comments total)

Thanks for that, lalochezia.

Of course, now I've got a whole list of names to look up.
posted by sebastienbailard at 11:24 PM on July 19, 2016

Wow that was really wonderful. Thank you for that.
posted by wyndham at 12:31 AM on July 20, 2016

I am full of feels and do not know where to put them all.
posted by Joe in Australia at 2:35 AM on July 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

what a fantastic essay.
posted by Fraxas at 3:37 AM on July 20, 2016

I had never realized before that Ben Bailey Smith a.k.a. Doc Brown a.k.a. Ben "Baby" Smith (among Wittertainers) was Zadie Smith's brother. Now that I know; it makes perfect sense.
posted by Kattullus at 3:47 AM on July 20, 2016 [1 favorite]

What a great piece. Thank you kindly for posting it. It spoke to me deeply and I thought the tone of writing was superb throughout. Like Kattullus I realised it was Doc Brown from the description before the second realisation the article was written some time ago.

In light of this writing I must put Zadie Smith on my reading todo list.
posted by numberstation at 10:35 AM on July 20, 2016

In light of this writing I must put Zadie Smith on my reading todo list.

I haven't read all of her work, but for me, White Teeth is by far my favorite.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 12:14 PM on July 20, 2016 [1 favorite]