ENGLISH LIT 344 / COMEDY & SATIRE Who's Who in American Comedy
First to popularize 'zany' comedy; there were originally five brothers in the act (Harpo, Chico, Groucho, Zeppo and Gummo; the latter two dropped out early in their career). They began in vaudeville and went into films, creating a series of classic comedy movies. The scene below is from their best film "A Night at the Opera". Notice Chico's Italian style of dress and accent (the brothers were Jewish, not Italian) and how the accent plays a role in the final punch line.
[For more details on these people, check their listing in Wikipedia, but note--this is one of the rare times I can accept the use of Wikipedia as a source. I have found that most of the information there about these people is reliable.]
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