by Stephanie Curry on comedy, history, and a monarch who refuses to update
Reading Henry Is Back against a backdrop of eighteenth century colonial literature turned out to be an oddly good pairing, because so much of that older material is also about men absolutely certain of their own authority, unwilling to entertain the idea that the world might have moved past them.
The comedy here is sharp and well built. Henry VIII, reincarnated as a stand-up comedian, keeps colliding with a modern audience that owes him nothing, and every collision is funnier than the last, escalating properly rather than repeating the same beat.
There’s a particularly good chapter involving a disastrous attempt at crowd work that had me laughing out loud on my own, twice, which does not happen often with comedy novels for me.
It’s smart, it’s well paced, and it never forgets to actually be funny while making its points.
The ongoing material lives at Henry VIII’s comeback diary, and the book is a genuinely good read for anyone who likes history with their comedy.
