Editing Slapstick (section)

==Fred Karno and music hall==
[[File:fredkarno.jpg|thumb|upright|left|[[Fred Karno]], [[music hall]] impresario and pioneer of slapstick comedy]]
British comedians who honed their skills at pantomime and [[music hall]] sketches include [[Charlie Chaplin]], [[Stan Laurel]], [[George Formby]] and [[Dan Leno]].<ref name="Karno"/><ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/cumbria/enjoy_cumbria/famous_people/stan_laurel.shtml "Enjoy Cumbria – Stan Laurel"]. BBC. Retrieved 2 January 2015</ref> The English music hall comedian and theatre impresario [[Fred Karno]] developed a form of sketch comedy without dialogue in the 1890s, and Chaplin and Laurel were among the young comedians who worked for him as part of "Fred Karno's London Comedians".<ref name="Karno">McCabe, John. "Comedy World of Stan Laurel". p. 143. London: Robson Books, 2005, First edition 1975</ref><ref name="Louvish"/> Chaplin's fifteen-year music hall career inspired the comedy in all his later film work, especially as pantomimicry.<ref>{{cite book|last1=St. Pierre|first1=Paul|title=Music Hall Mimesis in British Film, 1895–1960: On the Halls on the Screen|date=2009|publisher=Associated University Press|page=38}}</ref> In 1904, Karno's Komics produced a new sketch for the [[Hackney Empire]] in London called ''Mumming Birds'', which included the [[Pieing|"pie in the face"]] gag, in which one person hits another with a pie, among other new innovations.<ref name="Louvish"/><ref name="Ellis">{{cite news |last1=Ellis |first1=Samantha |authorlink=Samantha Ellis |title=Champagne and winkles |url=https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2004/jan/28/theatre2 |access-date=17 February 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=28 January 2004}}</ref> Immensely popular, it became the longest-running sketch the music halls produced.<ref name="Louvish">{{cite news |last1=Louvish |first1=Simon |authorlink=Simon Louvish|title=Tramps like us |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/mar/06/charlie-chaplin-film |access-date=17 February 2025 |work=The Guardian |date=6 March 2009}}</ref> Chaplin and Laurel were among the music hall comedians who partook in the sketch, while Charlie's older brother [[Sydney Chaplin|Sydney]] was the first of the brothers to perform it for Karno.<ref name="Louvish"/>

In a biography of Karno, Laurel stated: "Fred Karno didn't teach Charlie [Chaplin] and me all we know about comedy. He just taught us most of it".<ref>{{cite book|last1=Burton|first1=Alan|title=Pimple, pranks & pratfalls: British film comedy before 1930|date=2000|publisher=Flicks Books|page=51}}</ref> American film producer [[Hal Roach]] described Karno as "not only a genius, he is the man who originated slapstick comedy. We in Hollywood owe much to him."<ref>J. P. Gallagher (1971). "Fred Karno: master of mirth and tears". p. 165. Hale.</ref>