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comedy

(Encyclopedia)comedy, literary work that aims primarily to provoke laughter. Unlike tragedy, which seeks to engage profound emotions and sympathies, comedy strives to entertain chiefly through criticism and ridicul...

musical comedy

(Encyclopedia)musical comedy: see musicals.

Divine Comedy

(Encyclopedia)Divine Comedy: see Dante Alighieri. ...

evolution

(Encyclopedia)CE5 Plant and animal evolution [Modified from Alfred Gunderson in Brooklyn Botanic Garden Leaflets, Ser. 18, No. 4 (1930); used by permission.] evolution, concept that embodies the belief that ex...

human evolution

(Encyclopedia)human evolution, theory of the origins of the human species, Homo sapiens. Modern understanding of human origins is derived largely from the findings of paleontology, anthropology, and genetics, and i...

stellar evolution

(Encyclopedia)CE5 The above Hertzsprung-Russell (H-R) diagram shows the track of stellar evolution for a typical star. After spending much of its life evolving toward or along the main sequence, the star becomes...

Martin, Steve

(Encyclopedia)Martin, Steve, 1945–, American comedian, actor, and writer, b. Waco, Tex. An Emmy-winning television comedy writer in the late 1960s for the Smothers ...

Epicharmus

(Encyclopedia)Epicharmus ĕpĭkärˈməs [key], c.550–c.460 b.c., Sicilian Greek comic dramatist. He was the first to write a coherent artistic comedy, and he dealt with forms other than personal satire such as m...

Carson, Johnny

(Encyclopedia)Carson, Johnny, 1925–2005, American television entertainer, b. Corning, Iowa. Carson, who grew up in Nebraska, began his career as a magician, then wrote comedy sketches for radio and hosted daytime...

Bredero, Gerbrand Adriaenszoon

(Encyclopedia)Bredero, Gerbrand Adriaenszoon hĕrˈbränt ädrēänˈzōn brāˈdĕrō [key], 1585–1618, Dutch dramatist and poet. He is considered the major Dutch poet of his generation, particularly for his spo...