Comedy scrapbook

Google, which seems to exist simply to cater to my every whim, now houses the entire archive of LIFE magazine photos. Millions of photos – published and not – at our fingertips just by visiting Google Images, pluggin’ in your search, and following it with “source:life”.

Clear your schedule, because one comedy-related search leads to another and another and another. You may take an occasional wrong turn and run into a frightening snapshot of Susan Powter at the 1994 American Comedy Awards, but once you’re back on course with, say, a search for Buster Keaton, life is good again.

A few samples (Johnny Carson; Second City Chicago circa 1960; Bill Cosby in 1968):

It’s difficult to know what’s been seen before and what hasn’t, but that’s hardly the point. It’s simply a great reason to poke through history and look at images we never would have thought to look for before this.

If you come up with something particularly interesting, post it in the comments!

About the Author

Sharilyn Johnson is the author of the book Bears & Balls: The Colbert Report A-Z. Called "one of the city’s most discriminating comedy critics” by NOW Magazine, Sharilyn has been covering comedy for longer than she cares to admit. She served as the comedy reporter for Winnipeg's Uptown Magazine for five years, and was the host of the radio show Laugh Tracks for three seasons. Her work has also appeared in the Toronto Star, the Winnipeg Free Press, The Apiary, and on CBC Radio's national comedy programs LOL and Definitely Not the Opera.