14 Comedy Movies From the 1800s
We wouldn’t have Borat, Will Ferrell or the Seth Rogenverse without one dude sneezing through his ‘stache 130 years ago.
‘Fred Ott’s Sneeze’ (1894)
The first comedy film of all time came from New Jersey. Suck pork roll, Hollywood! This was a five-second flick of Thomas Edison’s assistant, Fred Ott, snorting some tobacco and shooting snot rockets through his mustache. It was supposed to be a series of still images for a magazine spread, like a dope trick in a ‘90s skate magazine, but cinematographer William K.L. Dickson decided to stitch it all together and display it on a Kinetoscope.
‘L'arroseur Arrosé’ (1895)
This French film, which in English is called either Watering the Gardener or The Sprinkler Sprinkled, is literally the oldest trick in the book. A kid steps on a guy’s hose until he looks right down the barrel, and gets a face full of high quality H2O. The guy chases the kid down and delivers a spanking for the ages. It was rebooted a year later, replacing the boy with a teenager and the spank with a kick in the ass.
‘Patineur Grotesque’ (1896)
Since French is so helpfully gendered, this title roughly translates to “ugly skater boi.” The famed Lumierre Brothers put together this 47-second silent film that looks like Doctor Robotnik slipping on an icy sidewalk on the way to a black-tie event.
‘Interrupted Lovers’ (1896)
A guy and his best gal are necking in the woods, when two dudes swoop in and break them up. It looks a lot like a kidnapping, until you read the description in Edison’s catalog: “A pair of bucolic lovers discovered by the wrathful father, who teaches the gallant a lesson.” So it’s more like violently enforced patriarchy — aka, comedy gold!
‘In a Chinese Laundry’ (1897)
A cop chases a dude around a well-constructed laundry room set, with legitimately impressive, Three Stooges-esque choreography. The two chase each other around a revolving door — an invention that was only 10 years old at the time. It’s unclear why it’s a “Chinese” laundry, but it’s safe to assume racism.
‘The Milker’s Mishap’ (1897)
This is probably the first use of an animal actor in a comedy. A farmer is milking a cow, when the cow suddenly “becomes frisky” and knocks over the dude and his pail of milk. He somehow thinks it’s his farmhands’ fault, and beats the shit out of them.
‘Daughters’ Pillow Fight’ (1897)
This is just 24 seconds of four little girls absolutely wailing on each other with pillows until they’re swimming in feathers.
‘Young America’ (1897)
It’s unclear who made this, or why, but they absolutely nailed the American sense of humor for the next dozen decades, from American Pie to TikTok pranks. The film shows a couple smooching in a garden, then a stranger sneaking up and attaching fireworks to the dude’s coat tails.
‘The Minister’s Wooing’ (1898)
Comedic premises remained largely horny for a while, but they did start to get a little more intricate. In this one, a clergyman is trying to hook up with “the young lady of his choice,” when a little kid dangles a spider in front of his face. The minister freaks out, knocking the girl off the bench. She thinks he did this on purpose — not a bad guess, considering slapstick pranks were already clearly in the zeitgeist — and she leaves him there, all horny and angry.
‘The Nearsighted School Teacher’ (1898)
What a year for fake spiders and clergymen. In this film, a busy Catholic school teacher is focusing on his work at his desk while his class goes absolutely apeshit around him. Eventually, one kid ties a fake spider to a ruler and dangles it in front of his face. No summary I’ve found has explicitly said so, but presumably, this is when the teacher finally loses his shit.
‘The Old Maid and the Burglar’ (1898)
Remember the scene from Robin Hood: Men in Tights where Richard Lewis falls through the ceiling and lands on the horny witch’s bed? This short film is that exact bit. A lonely old lady habitually checks under her bed for a man — one day she finds one, and even though he’s there to rob her house, she starts trying to make out with him.
‘The Disappointed Old Maid’ (1899)
This is one of the first knockoffs in cinema history: It’s the same basic premise as The Old Maid and the Burglar, but with a bit of a twist. The old maid calls the cops, and when an officer drags the offender out from under the bed, they see it’s just a dummy. She then falls into the arms of the cop, presumably lustily.
‘Little Willy and the Minister’ (1899)
This is one of the first sequels in cinema history: the little kid and the priest from The Minister's Wooing are back, and wooier than ever! The details are unclear, but the promotional materials published by Mutoscope, the company and device that would play this film, say, “This is another one of little Willie’s jokes on the minister, in which the good dominie incurs the wrath of a scrubwoman and is beaten over the head with a mop.”
‘An Exciting Finish’ (1899)
Cinematographer Frederick S. Armitage would go on to join Edison’s company a few years later, but in 1899, he whipped up what feels like a montage of the greatest hits of 19th century comedy cinema. This thing has it all: a horny lady, a mischievous li’l scamp, fireworks. Here’s the catalog description: “A grotesque kitchen-maid is reading a dime novel, and is greatly wrought up by the adventures of the heroine. As she reaches the most exciting part, the small boy of the house sets off a giant firecracker by the side of her chair, making a most realistic climax to the tale.”