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Opinions are my own. Comedy: Jonson vs. Shakespeare
Ben Jonson's comedies are actually, unexpectedly funny. Many jokes in these plays will really make sense in the 21st century with or without some minimal changes. In his comedies almost all characters suffer from their own avarice, vanity and jealousy. That aspect of people never change and is even more true in today's society. That's what the playwright jabbed us with and that's timeless.
On another hand, I can count the times I did laugh at a line in any one of Shakespeare's comedy single - handedly. Some contemporary productions of Shakespeare are quite funny, but that's more the contribution of the director and the actors. The original playtexts by Shakespeare are deep, meaningful, witty, yet less funny than that of Jonson to today's audiences (at least, to me).

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