Review of PRETEND THE WORLD IS FUNNY AND FOREVER: A Psychological Analysis of Comedians, Clowns, and Actors

Reviews the book, Pretend the World Is Funny and Forever: A Psychological Analysis of Comedians, Clowns, and Actors by Seymour Fisher and Rhoda L. Fisher (1981). Past deficiencies of humor science highlights the value of studies such as are reported in Pretend the World is Funny and Forever, and emphasize the respect deserved by such an exhaustive, but creative, research report as constitutes this volume. It is clear that this volume will be an essential reference text for many humor studies to be made in the future. The authors' orientation has been to illuminate for the personalities and psychological characteristics of comedians, clowns, actors, "child schlemiels," amateur humorists, performers, and entertainers. Their exposition and analysis of the research data, as presented in this book, are no less successful. The Fishers followed a highly complex research design. It is impressive to discover the multi-faceted intricacy of the investigative web used by the researchers. The research carried out by the Fishers is an excellent example of evidence to the contrary; they present fascinating research enterprise and data and interpretation; the research also conveys a deeper meaning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved)