Charles Farrar Brown becomes famous under the stage name Artemus Ward as America’s first stand-up comedian. He is born in Maine in 1834, learns the newspaper trade as a printer’s apprentice, and publishes the first in his series of Artemus Ward stories in Cleveland’s The Plain Dealer in 1858. Two years later he is the first editor of Vanity Fair magazine while also touring the country in his one man show as Artemus Ward. His appearance on stage is that of a well-dressed and serious lecturer, but that ends when he begins to speak. Suddenly he is an illiterate Yankee recounting a string of what he calls “babes in the woods” stories, all deadpan in broken English, leading to a punch line subtly delivered as an aside. Thus the tale of the bigamist destined to be punished twice for his romantic escapades. As such he emerges as America’s first stand-up comedian, and sets the stage for his friend Mark Twain. Lincoln claims him as a favorite and reads his stories to cabinet members to relieve tensions. But Brown is dead at thirty-two after tuberculosis strikes him while on a successful tour in England.
Charles Browne (aka Artemus Ward)
