A Comedy of Errors

"It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled." -Mark Twain

Some of the most successful sitcoms in television history involved constant misunderstandings and comedy of errors (a situation made amusing by bungling, misunderstanding, mistaken identity and incompetence).

In the 1950's we had Ralph Kramden in "The Honeymooners' constantly trying to outwit his wife Alice, and always getting caught telling a fib or two.

From the 1960's, we saw situational television comedies as "I Love Lucy' flourish with Lucille Ball's constant misunderstandings and mishandling of situations.

In the 1970's, there was 'Three's Company' and John Ritter's incompetence while disguising himself as someone else just so he could share an apartment and expenses with two beautiful women.

In the 1980's, we had sitcoms like 'Bosom Buddies' where Tom Hanks started his illustrious Hollywood career by dressing as a woman so he could live at a complex exclusively for women because the rent was cheap.

And the 90's gave us the sitcom 'Frasier', which took situational misunderstanding and made it into a whole new art form resulting in the show being a huge hit, lasting eleven seasons.

A comedy of errors first originated in the 1500's in one of Shakespeare's early plays that was consequently titled 'Comedy of errors'. A major part of its humor came from slapstick and mistaken identity.

Who would have thought we'd have Shakespeare to thank for the many comedies over the years that brought us laughter through deception and misunderstanding?

-excerpt from volume one of 'Restoring Your Soul through Christmas Movies'