What was the first comedy film? (1895)

19th century filmsFranceTechnologySilent film
Written By Shane Rhyne

Shane Rhyne, the host of Acting Funny, is on a mission to teach himself the history of film comedy, one year at a time, beginning in 1895 and moving forward to the present day. And, his journey begins with questions about the first comedy film and the pair of brothers whose invention of the cinematograph brings us the birth of cinema.

In this episode, Shane reaches out to film studies professor Martin Barnier of the Université Lumière Lyon 2 in France about the history of the Lumière brothers and their landmark comedy film, L'Arroseur Arrosé (The Sprinkler Sprinkled) which is considered by many historians as the first comedy film. Through the conversation, Shane learns more about how the cinematograph was invented and gets answers to his questions about why L'Arroseur Arrosé stood out so quickly as one of the Lumière brothers’ demonstration films. He also learns how the Lumière brothers’ fingerprints are all over many of the technologies we still use today and how their motion picture invention was able to so rapidly change the world as we see it.

In the second segment, Shane finds a parallel in the 40-second comedy from the Lumière brothers in 1895 and the work of two comedians behind the the Video Death Loop podcast in the present day. Who better for Shane to talk about finding big comedy in short media than John Hurst and Aaron Littleton who routinely explore how comedy can be found in thirty-second videos?

Plus, we welcome our first sponsor: Offbeat Agent!

Full episode transcript available. Click on the podcast player below to listen to this episode or to share with your friends. Scroll below to find video and links of interest relating to this episode and its guests.

Fratelli_Lumiere.jpg

Auguste Lumière (1862-1954) & Louis Lumière (1864-1948)

Auguste (left) and Louis (right) Lumière invented the cinematograph in 1895. Their film L'Arroseur Arrosé is widely considered as the first fiction film and first comedy film in cinema. It is the featured film for the first episode of Acting Funny.

What was the first comedy film?

Cinema has no one single inventor and the loss of so much early film often makes it difficult to definitively christen anything in film history as the first of its kind. But, there is an event in film history that many historians tend to pinpoint as a landmark moment. It is December 28, 1895, at a Parisian café, and a small audience of about thirty people have purchased tickets to watch a demonstration of motion pictures on a new device that can project these images onto the wall. This demonstration of ten films produced by Auguste and Louis Lumière of Lyon, France, is often noted as the “birth of cinema.”

Most of the ten films shown were simple scenes of daily life in around Lyon and varied from scenes of children swimming, a baby being fed by its parents, and workers leaving a factory at the end of their shift. There is also a short humorous bit of literal horseplay as some soldiers from a nearby barracks demonstrate a comical trick riding routine for the camera. One film, however, is different from these in that it presents a short, fictional story. L'Arroseur Arrosé (The Sprinkler Sprinkled) shows a young boy playing a prank on a gardener at work watering his plants.

This film is often credited as the first comedy film. But, why? It is not the first film ever made. And, it may not necessarily even be the first fiction film. It is not the first time people have paid to watch a movie. It is not even the first time movies have been projected. So, what makes L'Arroseur Arrosé so special and what role does it play in establishing cinema as something more than a fad?Some links of interest from this week’s show:

Featured Film: L'Arroseur Arrosé (1895, Dir: Louis Lumière)

Guest Links -

Suggested Blog Posts -

Films Referenced in This Episode: (Links can be found on the Movie Listings page)

  • American History X (Dir: Tony Kane) - 1998

  • L’Arrivée d’un train à La Ciotat (Dir: Auguste Lumière and Louis Lumière) - 1896

  • L’Arroseur arrosé (Dir: Louis Lumière) - 1895

  • L’Arroseur arrosé (Dir: ?) - 1896

  • Baignade en mer (Dir: Louis Lumière) - 1895

  • Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (Dir: Pamela B. Green) - 2018

  • Clifford (Dir: Paul Flaherty) - 1994

  • Dennis the Menace (Dir: Nick Castle) - 1993

  • Free Wheeling (Dir: Robert F. McGowan) - 1932

  • Home Alone (Dir: Chris Columbus) - 1990

  • Problem Child (Dir: Dennis Dugan) - 1990

  • Repas de bébé (Dir: Louis Lumière) - 1895

  • La sortie de lusine Lumière à Lyon (Dir: Louis Lumière) - 1895

  • Sullivan’s Travels (Dir: Preston Sturges) - 1941

  • La voltige (Dir: Louis Lumière) - 1895

Books and other Media Referenced in This Episode: (Links can be found on the Resources page)

  • Abel, Richard, ed. Encyclopedia of Early Cinema.

  • Chaplin, Charles. My Autobiography.

  • Cook, David. A History of Narrative Film.

Episode Sponsor - Offbeat Agent

Episode Credits -

Shane Rhyne
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