What does a satire by Veronica Geng have in common with Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment? What do either have in common with Gilbert Godfried’s famous performance of “The Aristocrats” a few weeks after September 11? And what do any of those have in common with the Philogelos, a book commonly described as the oldest surviving joke book? The New York Review of Books asks these tough questions in their examination of Mary Beard’s new collection, Laughter in Ancient Rome: On Joking, Tickling, and Cracking Up.
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