Harvard’s daily newspaper The Crimson published a new comedy-centric issue of its weekly magazine Fifteen Minutes dedicated to the university’s long history with humor, and it’s full of great insight from Harvard grads like Spy magazine co-founder Kurt Andersen, former Simpsons showrunner Mike Reiss, television writer/producer Nell Scovell, comedian/author Baratunde Thurston, Office alum B.J. Novak, and more. Here’s an excerpt from Mike Reiss’s essay “Harvard Comedy (and Other Oxymorons)”:
Back in the ‘70s, Harvard Comedy was considered an oxymoron. Like jumbo shrimp. Or Fox News. (For you legacies, an oxymoron is a contradiction in terms. [For you double legacies, a contradiction is… oh, forget it. You’d never understand.]) Today, many people think that Harvard must be one hilarious place. You and I know better. In fact, a recent poll in the Boston Globe ranked schools in terms of fun and social life. Harvard came in fourth…from the bottom. And my reaction was, “Really? That high?”
Check out the rest over at The Crimson’s website.
