Ha-hartford: America’s humor capital?
East is East and West is West, but none of us is gonna meet Mark Twain. — Archie Bunker
With the recent passing of TV comedy legend Norman Lear at 101 (Dec. 5, 2023), it got the comedic fires rekindled in a most of unlikely of places…hartford.
“Huckleberry Finn“, “Tom Sawyer”, “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” were created in Hartford. So, was Archie Bunker.
The creator of Archie Bunker was Norman Lear, a 1940 Weaver High School graduate. When Lear was 9 years old, his father went to prison for selling fake bonds. Lear thought of his father as a “rascal” and said that his father inspired the character of Archie Bunker, while his mother inspired the character of Edith Bunker.
Like Norman Lear, Mark Twain notoriously used humor and satire to comment on contemporary culture. “Huckleberry Finn” was Twain’s response to the racial questions of his day. “A Connecticut
Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” satirizes the flaws of Twain’s 19th Century America. Mark Twain also did a world speaking tour so, in effect, Mark Twain was America’s first “stand-up humorist”.
In addition to Mark Twain and Norman Lear, did you know the producer/writer of “The Office”, “Brooklyn 99” and “Parks & Rec” is a 1993 Hall High (West Hartford) graduate and Mike Reiss showrunner for The Simpson’s grew up in Greater Hartford (Bristol native).
The Mark Twain House & Museum has been a long-time magnet for contemporary American humorists, including David Letterman and Billy Crystal and our own Connecticut Humorist Gina Barreca (a former Mark Twain House & Museum board member).
Humor is the bridge not only to the past, but also to the future of The Mark Twain House & Museum.
The Building Capacity Report (2017) produced by The Hartford Foundation for Public Giving provided the following topline findings from the respondents: The Mark Twain House & Museum demos are older and white. What is missing from the study’s respondents is a core demographic, which every marketer covets, millennials.
The solution to address changing markets is how Mark Twain already defined: Humor. So, why not create “The Mark Twain House & Museum Humor Project.”
Humor would be an effective vehicle to expand the Mark Twain House & Museum market; humor is a great vehicle to engage millennials and new donors. The Humor Project would provide the opportunity to provide new content and programming for The Mark Twain House & Museum.
“Humor Project” components could include but not limited to “Huck ‘n Hops” Comedy Nights (a showcase of regional humorists in the museum’s terrific theater, so part comedy night, part beerfest), a permanent humor writing exhibit, annual Humor Writing Weekend attracting humorists nationally, create the Great American Mark Twain Humor Festival (remember Mark Twain Days) and of course a depository of the greatest humor writing from Mark Twain to Norman Lear to today’s best humor writers and producers.
“The Humor Project” is not a rebranding, but rather brand reinforcement. It wouldn’t necessarily need to create an entire library of new humor programming but bundle existing humor-themed programming under the banner of “The Humor Project”.
As demographics change and competition accelerates, how does the Mark Twain House & Museum compete? And equally important, how does the Mark Twain House & Museum fund and staff these market adjustments? One just needs to look down Farmington Avenue to the Connecticut Science Center, which was conceived as an education and youth-focused center but saw need to re-define programming to attract millennials (i.e., they created the successful Liquid Lounge nights).
So, how do we start making Hartford the Humor Capital of America?
The answer is self-evident. As Mark Twain famously said, “The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”