3766 - (OSHERONLINE) Living off The Laughter: History of Comedy in America (Eddy Friedfeld)
Course Description
This is an Osher Online course, created and offered through the Osher National Resource Center. These courses are different from our regular OLLI at Emory program. These are six-week courses and live attendance required. You must also have an active OLLI at Emory membership and to register. Currently all classes are limited with 13 seats.
This class is supported by the NRC and participation details can be found on our website.
Instructor: Eddy Friedfeld
This course is a history class with a laugh track. We will analyze the significant periods and players of the 20th and 21st Centuries against their historic context and legacy, using humor as the platform. We will discuss how comedy was shaped by and responsive to American society, and how comedians influenced and shaped American life. We will cover Silent Films, Vaudeville, Radio, Screwball and Romantic Comedies, Comedy Teams, and the Golden Age of Television. We will study how America laughed in each generation, and how the change in American character and persona shaped how they laughed and what (and whom) they laughed at.
YOUR INSTRUCTOR: Eddy Friedfeld
Eddy Friedfeld is a film and entertainment journalist and historian. Friedfeld co-authored Caesar’s Hours with Sid Caesar, Directed by James Burrows with James Burrows, and worked with Mel Brooks on All About Me. He was senior consultant for the Emmy-nominated Make ’Em Laugh and a consulting producer on Funny You Never Knew. He has produced tributes to major entertainers including George Carlin, Paul Newman, Dick Van Dyke, among others. He teaches at Yale, NYU, and the Tisch School of the Arts.
Fall 2026 Living off The Laughter-History of Comedy in America | Videos & Movies on Vimeo