"There is a grim and ghastly humor -- the humor that is born of a pathetic philosophy -- which now and then strikes me in reading the bright and keen-witted work of our American paragraphers. It is a humor that may be crystallized by hunger and sorrow and tears. It is not found elsewhere as it is in America. It is out of the question in England, because an Englishman cannot poke fun at himself. He cannot joke about an empty flour-barrel. We can: especially if by doing it we may swap the joke for another barrel of flour. We can never be a nation of snobs so long as we are willing to poke fun at ourselves."
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Comedians from the United StatesHumorists from the United StatesJournalists from the United StatesEditors from the United StatesPeople from Maine
Original Language: English
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The Century magazine (1892)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Edgar_Wilson_Nye
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Edgar Wilson Nye
Edgar Wilson "Bill" Nye (August 25, 1850 – February 22, 1896) was a distinguished American journalist, who later became widely known as a humorist. He was also the founder and editor of the Laramie Boomerang.
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