The Arts & Academe

Humor is enigmatic, jokes are elusive, and laughter is fleeting, but Emerson College has set out to document and preserve the history and culture of American comedy.

With digitally recorded interviews of three dozen comedic pioneers, the college's American Comedy Archives will eventually cover the evolution of the form — from vaudeville to radio to film and television — in the 20th and 21st centuries. The archive, which Emerson says is the first of its kind, also

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