A lost ‘bawdy bard’ act reveals roots of naughty British comedy
The roots of English comedy run deep in a newly discovered naughty narrative from the 1480s. Deposit Photos Libraries are full of unique and missing oddities from long lost letters to famous forgeries. A newly discovered record of live comedy performance in medieval England is yet another example of how deep the roots of British theater run. In a study published May 30 in The Review of English Studies, researchers describe a 15th century manuscript with slapstick, lively text mocking everyone from kings and priests down to lower classes. If that’s not enough, the naughty narrative encourages drunkenness and features a killer rabbit. [Related: Codebreakers have finally deciphered the lost letters of Mary, Queen of Scots.] These new texts also contain the earliest recorded use of a ‘red herring’ in the English language,...