Jestbook Class Notes, Part 2
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minstrlmummr--SHAKESPEARE'S JEST BOOKS, 1864, edited / compiled by William Carew Hazlitt. As indicated below, this out-of-print collection is in the Internet Archive's Canadian Collection, courtesy of (I think) the University of Toronto. Three volumes:
Volume I :
A C. (Hundred) Mery Talys, circa 1525
Mery Talys and Quick Answers, 1567
http://www.archive.org/details/shakespearejestb01hazluoft
Volume II:
Merie Tales of Master Skelton, Jests of Scogin (1626), A Sackfull of Newes (1673), Tarleton's Jests (1611), Merie Conceited Jests of George Peel (1607), Jacke of Dover (1604)
http://www.archive.org/details/shakespearejestb02hazluoft
Volume III:
Merie Tales of the Mad Men of Gotham, Merry Jests of the Widow Edyth, Pasquil's Jests and Mother Bunch's Merriments (1607), Pleasant Conceits of Old Hobson the Merry Londoner (1607), Certayne Conceyts and Jests (1609), Taylor's Wit and Mirth (1630), Conceits, Clinches, Flashes and Whimzies (1639)
http://www.archive.org/details/shakespearejestb03hazluoft
Some of the 17th-century books in Hazlitt's collection (particularly many of the works in Volume II) are sole-surviving copies of jestbooks licensed for printing during the 16th century (According to Hazlitt, the licensing records survived, at least until he saw them in the 1860's). Researchers' opinions may vary as to whether books like these fall within the SCA's stated historical scope.
--MEDIEVAL COMIC TALES, 1973, Edited by Derek Brewer
A collection of jests and longer stories in French (13th century), Spanish (12th-15th centuries), English (13th-16th centuries), Italian (14th century), German (13th-16th centuries), Dutch (14th-15th centuries) and Latin (11th-15th centuries). The bibliography is detailed, and contains the history related above, of "Dom Hugh of Leicester".
--ONE HUNDRED RENAISSANCE JOKES, 1988, Edited by Barbara C. Bowen
A real goldmine of jokes from diverse primary sources. Jokes appear in the original Italian / German / Latin, then in modern English. English jokes are reprinted with the original (non-standardized) spelling. This is a small-press, out-of-print (alas) book which, according to the WorldCat library website, is in a number of academic libraries but fewer public ones. Interlibrary Loan may be able to obtain a copy for perusal.
Because this book is so hard to find, I am including here a list of the sixteenth-century primary sources Ms. Bowen used, from which she culled the last sixty jokes in her collection. Some of the German and Italian scholars wrote these books in Latin:
--"De Sermone", Giovanni Pontano, 1502, Italy
--"Facetiae", Heinrich Bebel, 1508-1512, Germany
--"Facetiae" (again), Johann Adelphus Muling, 1508, Germany (contains a description of "a gentleman")
--"De Cardinalatu", Cortesi, 1510, Italy
--"Schimpf und Ernst", Pauli, 1522, Germany (contains the short tale of a greedy priest hiding money)
--"Convivium Fabulosum", Erasmus, 1524
--"Loci ac Sales Miri Festivi", Luscinius, 1524 (contains a "there's a fly in mysoup wine" joke)
--"Iocorum veterum ac recentium duae centuriae", Adrian von Barland (Barlandus), 1524, Belgium/Flanders.
--"A Hundred Merry Tales"
--"Book of the Courtier", Castiglione, 1528, Italy
--"Tales and Quick Answers"
--"Convivalium Sermonum liber", Johann Gast, 1541, Germany
--"Facetie et Motti Argutti di alcuni eccellentissimi ingegni, et nobilissini signori", Domenichi, 1548, Italy (contains a tale about thieves who try to rob a jester)
--"Arte of Rhetorique", Thomas Wilson, 1553, England (contains snarky exchanges about 1) A poor orator and 2) an offended doctor)
--"Rollwagenbuchlein", Wickram, 1555, Germany (contains a joke about bad wine, called "God Save Us!" wine because of everyone's reaction to its taste. Reminiscent of Cosby's "My brother Russell thought his name was "Dammit!")
--"Facecius et Motz Subtilz", 1559, Germany (contains a tale, not so much a joke, about someone betting "a pound of flesh' that predates "The Merchant of Venice" and contains a similar resolution)
A Final thought about sources: Humor is very subjective. I included specific jokes and punchlines in my listings to demonstrate the accessibility of the humor as well as to arbitrarily cherry-pick my favorites. I encourage the reader to check out the primaries for yourself because you may pick up on some very funny material that I might have missed or passed up.
PERFORMING YOUR TALE
Physicality / Spacework--larger-than-life gestures and movements. This is the essence of stage movement. It may feel "phoney" if you're not used to it, but a certain amount of exaggeration is necessary to make sure your audience can see and hear what you're doing. Physicality probably doesn't need to be quite as exaggerated around a campfire as in a feast hall, but keep your speech, movements and gestures clearly defined.
Multiple Characters-- assign broad, contrasting poses or speech patterns to different characters, especially when two characters are having a conversation.
ENDING YOUR TALE
A problem I've encountered first-hand is that the written versions of these tales either peter out (as in, "And I heard say, such a foolish prank was played at Kingston of late days.") or just stop when they stop (as in, "'God's blessing on your heart', said all the company, 'for you have found our neighbor.'".)
Methods of ending a performed story:
Simple: "And THAT (my friends,) is the tale (about the miller who stole the nuts)." This is a method I've often heard experienced tale-tellers use in relaxed settings around the campfire.
Moral: The phrasing often used in the jestbooks is, "By this you may see (or "Here you may see") that (insert moral here)."
Extrapolate a punchline: This is the method which often packs the strongest 'punch' in front of a large audience. It is, alas, the method for which I have found the least direct historical support in the books themselves. When possible, the punchline I'll use contains references based upon knowledge of my intended audience. This practice was documented in records of Italian Commedia performances--someone from the troupe would run ahead to their destination and absorb local news, gossip, etc., so that the commedia performance could be peppered with appropriate local references.
REHEARSAL -- MIND-NUMBING REPETITION
The most important thing about telling a tale or a joke is that you want everyone in the room to feel relaxed, including you. Starting out saying "I'm not sure I remember all of this" means you are not relaxed and your audience will pick up on your stress. You want your story to live in the same zone in your brain as How You Put On Your Pants. The number of repetitions necessary to develop this "muscle memory" may vary (I've heard professionals throw around numbers from fifty to two hundred to two thousand). It's not as much as it first sounds -- two repetitions a day for thirty days = sixty repetitions. I know kids who can tell a joke sixty times before the end of one week 8) Start with more reps than you think you need and, over time, that number may drop.
In closing, I'd like to wish the reader the best of luck finding funny stories and encouraging them to proliferate. I'm pleased when someone tells me they enjoy this class, but when I see and hear a student performing a funny story in a feast hall or around a campfire, I feel honored and humbled, and reminded anew that while humor may be subjective, laughter is timeless.
Volume I :
A C. (Hundred) Mery Talys, circa 1525
Mery Talys and Quick Answers, 1567
http://www.archive.org/details/shakespearejestb01hazluoft
Volume II:
Merie Tales of Master Skelton, Jests of Scogin (1626), A Sackfull of Newes (1673), Tarleton's Jests (1611), Merie Conceited Jests of George Peel (1607), Jacke of Dover (1604)
http://www.archive.org/details/shakespearejestb02hazluoft
Volume III:
Merie Tales of the Mad Men of Gotham, Merry Jests of the Widow Edyth, Pasquil's Jests and Mother Bunch's Merriments (1607), Pleasant Conceits of Old Hobson the Merry Londoner (1607), Certayne Conceyts and Jests (1609), Taylor's Wit and Mirth (1630), Conceits, Clinches, Flashes and Whimzies (1639)
http://www.archive.org/details/shakespearejestb03hazluoft
Some of the 17th-century books in Hazlitt's collection (particularly many of the works in Volume II) are sole-surviving copies of jestbooks licensed for printing during the 16th century (According to Hazlitt, the licensing records survived, at least until he saw them in the 1860's). Researchers' opinions may vary as to whether books like these fall within the SCA's stated historical scope.
--MEDIEVAL COMIC TALES, 1973, Edited by Derek Brewer
A collection of jests and longer stories in French (13th century), Spanish (12th-15th centuries), English (13th-16th centuries), Italian (14th century), German (13th-16th centuries), Dutch (14th-15th centuries) and Latin (11th-15th centuries). The bibliography is detailed, and contains the history related above, of "Dom Hugh of Leicester".
--ONE HUNDRED RENAISSANCE JOKES, 1988, Edited by Barbara C. Bowen
A real goldmine of jokes from diverse primary sources. Jokes appear in the original Italian / German / Latin, then in modern English. English jokes are reprinted with the original (non-standardized) spelling. This is a small-press, out-of-print (alas) book which, according to the WorldCat library website, is in a number of academic libraries but fewer public ones. Interlibrary Loan may be able to obtain a copy for perusal.
Because this book is so hard to find, I am including here a list of the sixteenth-century primary sources Ms. Bowen used, from which she culled the last sixty jokes in her collection. Some of the German and Italian scholars wrote these books in Latin:
--"De Sermone", Giovanni Pontano, 1502, Italy
--"Facetiae", Heinrich Bebel, 1508-1512, Germany
--"Facetiae" (again), Johann Adelphus Muling, 1508, Germany (contains a description of "a gentleman")
--"De Cardinalatu", Cortesi, 1510, Italy
--"Schimpf und Ernst", Pauli, 1522, Germany (contains the short tale of a greedy priest hiding money)
--"Convivium Fabulosum", Erasmus, 1524
--"Loci ac Sales Miri Festivi", Luscinius, 1524 (contains a "there's a fly in my
--"Iocorum veterum ac recentium duae centuriae", Adrian von Barland (Barlandus), 1524, Belgium/Flanders.
--"A Hundred Merry Tales"
--"Book of the Courtier", Castiglione, 1528, Italy
--"Tales and Quick Answers"
--"Convivalium Sermonum liber", Johann Gast, 1541, Germany
--"Facetie et Motti Argutti di alcuni eccellentissimi ingegni, et nobilissini signori", Domenichi, 1548, Italy (contains a tale about thieves who try to rob a jester)
--"Arte of Rhetorique", Thomas Wilson, 1553, England (contains snarky exchanges about 1) A poor orator and 2) an offended doctor)
--"Rollwagenbuchlein", Wickram, 1555, Germany (contains a joke about bad wine, called "God Save Us!" wine because of everyone's reaction to its taste. Reminiscent of Cosby's "My brother Russell thought his name was "Dammit!")
--"Facecius et Motz Subtilz", 1559, Germany (contains a tale, not so much a joke, about someone betting "a pound of flesh' that predates "The Merchant of Venice" and contains a similar resolution)
A Final thought about sources: Humor is very subjective. I included specific jokes and punchlines in my listings to demonstrate the accessibility of the humor as well as to arbitrarily cherry-pick my favorites. I encourage the reader to check out the primaries for yourself because you may pick up on some very funny material that I might have missed or passed up.
PERFORMING YOUR TALE
Physicality / Spacework--larger-than-life gestures and movements. This is the essence of stage movement. It may feel "phoney" if you're not used to it, but a certain amount of exaggeration is necessary to make sure your audience can see and hear what you're doing. Physicality probably doesn't need to be quite as exaggerated around a campfire as in a feast hall, but keep your speech, movements and gestures clearly defined.
Multiple Characters-- assign broad, contrasting poses or speech patterns to different characters, especially when two characters are having a conversation.
ENDING YOUR TALE
A problem I've encountered first-hand is that the written versions of these tales either peter out (as in, "And I heard say, such a foolish prank was played at Kingston of late days.") or just stop when they stop (as in, "'God's blessing on your heart', said all the company, 'for you have found our neighbor.'".)
Methods of ending a performed story:
Simple: "And THAT (my friends,) is the tale (about the miller who stole the nuts)." This is a method I've often heard experienced tale-tellers use in relaxed settings around the campfire.
Moral: The phrasing often used in the jestbooks is, "By this you may see (or "Here you may see") that (insert moral here)."
Extrapolate a punchline: This is the method which often packs the strongest 'punch' in front of a large audience. It is, alas, the method for which I have found the least direct historical support in the books themselves. When possible, the punchline I'll use contains references based upon knowledge of my intended audience. This practice was documented in records of Italian Commedia performances--someone from the troupe would run ahead to their destination and absorb local news, gossip, etc., so that the commedia performance could be peppered with appropriate local references.
REHEARSAL -- MIND-NUMBING REPETITION
The most important thing about telling a tale or a joke is that you want everyone in the room to feel relaxed, including you. Starting out saying "I'm not sure I remember all of this" means you are not relaxed and your audience will pick up on your stress. You want your story to live in the same zone in your brain as How You Put On Your Pants. The number of repetitions necessary to develop this "muscle memory" may vary (I've heard professionals throw around numbers from fifty to two hundred to two thousand). It's not as much as it first sounds -- two repetitions a day for thirty days = sixty repetitions. I know kids who can tell a joke sixty times before the end of one week 8) Start with more reps than you think you need and, over time, that number may drop.
In closing, I'd like to wish the reader the best of luck finding funny stories and encouraging them to proliferate. I'm pleased when someone tells me they enjoy this class, but when I see and hear a student performing a funny story in a feast hall or around a campfire, I feel honored and humbled, and reminded anew that while humor may be subjective, laughter is timeless.
