Case File 11: What was a Jester?

Welcome back to The Comedy Bureau! The office is now open for a fantastic second series with ten upcoming episodes all about different fascinating niche aspects of comedy.In this episode we are discussing jesters and myth busting some of the assumptions you might have about the role of jesters in medieval courts in England.In a Comedy Bureau first, Laura takes the lead on the research and tells Oliver Double all about jesters. In the process she learns what a fine art research is and how editing is key... as she hasn't finessed editing yet this is (we think) our longest episode to date. But, that's just more podcast for you.We look at the very earliest records of jesters, what they did, what they were paid and how the role developed as courts and tastes changed.Our main source for this episode was the fantastic book "Fools and Jesters at the English Court" by John Soulworth - very worth a read and incredibly easy to read too. Full details are here:Soulworth, John (1998) Fools and Jesters at the English Court, The History Press LtdOur other sources for this episode were:Otto, Beatrice K (2007) Fools Are Everywhere, The University of Chicago PressAmerican Journal of Sociology (1949) The Fool As A Social Type - Orrin E Klapp - https://www.jstor.org/stable/90026123History Extra Magazine - Karen Maitland “What Was Life Like For a Court Jester” - https://www.historyextra.com/period/medieval/what-was-life-like-for-a-court-jester/Douglass, Mary (1975) “Implicit meanings - essays in anthropology” University College London, Routledge & Kegan Paul LtdIn this episode Laura mentions a few comedians and things that may be of interest:Nick Page, here's Nick's website: https://nickpagecomedy.co.uk/Mr Methane, she was right, he was on BGT, his website is here: https://www.mrmethane.com/Mischief Theatre, can be found here: https://www.mischiefcomedy.com/We really hope you're glad to see us back in your feed with our comedy nerdery specialist podcast. If you are enjoying what we're putting out, please take a moment to spread the word and give us a glowing review. See you next week!